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January 11, 2019                                                        Legislative Report Archive 

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 convenesLegislature Convenes on January 9
The 106th Legislature, First Session convened on Wednesday for a "long" 90-day session. Senators began bill introductions on the second day and will continue to introduce bills during the first ten days of the session. By the end of the third day, 218 bills and three constitutional amendments had been introduced. Bills that were not passed or killed in 2018 did not carry over and bill numbers began again this year with LB1.

Thirteen new senators joined the body. A Iist of senators and their contact information is here.

Senator Jim Scheer of Norfolk was re-elected Speaker. New committee chairs and other leadership positions were also elected. Senators were assigned to standing and special committees. A complete list of committee chairs and members is available here.

Committee hearings on all introduced bills will begin mid-January. After hearings conclude in late March, the Legislature will begin full days of debate. If a committee advances a bill to the full legislature, it must advance through three rounds of debate -- General File, Select File, and Final Reading -- before passage. Bills that pass will be sent to the Governor for a signature or veto. Adjournment is tentatively scheduled for June 6.

The Legislature's website contains information pertinent to legislative activities: daily and session calendars, text of bills and amendments, daily agendas, hearing schedules, senator contact information, transcripts of debate, state laws, and more. Live video streaming of floor debate and committee hearings is provided by Nebraska Educational Television (NET). It is also available as a live mobile app.

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 legmtgNACO's Legislative Committee Meeting on January 25
NACO's Legislative Committee will meet on Friday, January 25 to review and take positions on 2019 legislation. The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the NACO office at 1335 H Street in Lincoln.

After brief introductory remarks, affiliate groups will meet for discussion of bills pertinent to their membership. After the groups have met, the NACO Legislative Committee will reconvene as a whole to review and take positions on the entire list of bills. All county officials are encouraged to attend or discuss areas of concern with their NACO Board representative prior to the meeting. The NACO Board of Directors makes up the NACO Legislative Committee.

Because lunch will be provided, please notify the NACO office at (402)434-5660 or leslie@nacone.org if you plan to attend. Because the Legislature is in session, parking around the Capitol may be limited. Public parking is not available behind the NACO office or in the MIPS lot. A parking garage is available at the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel at 12th and L Streets.

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 snapsSnapshots of County Issues
A number of bills introduced this week could have an impact on counties. Some of these include:
 
County Operations
  • LB9 (Blood) Prohibit cities, counties, and villages from taxing or regulating distributed ledger technology
  • LB11 (Blood) Provide for interlocal agreements regarding nuisances
  • LB23 (Kolterman) Change the Property Assessed Clean Energy Act
  • LB28 (Kolterman) Authorize damages for property taxes and special assessment paid on property lost through adverse possession
  • LB45 (Chambers) Repeal the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Management Act
  • LB63 (Groene) Change tax levy provisions relating to rural and suburban fire protection districts and change the Mutual Finance Assistance Act
  • LB124 (Crawford) Change provisions relating to jointly created clean energy assessment districts under the Property Assessed Clean Energy Act
  • LB148 (Groene) Change requirements for public hearings on proposed budget statements and notices of meetings of public bodies
  • LB184 (Friesen) Adopt the Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act
  • LB186 (Lindstrom) Adopt the Online Notary Public Act
  • LB204 (Briese) Require approval of voters for bonds under the Interlocal Cooperation Act
     
Elections
  • LB72 (Hansen, M.) Provide for nonpartisan election of county officers
  • LB144 (Hughes) Provide for voter approval of nonpartisan nomination and partisan election of county officers
  • LB163 (Hunt) Permit counties to conduct elections by mail
  • LB211 (Crawford) Provide for nonpartisan nomination and election of county officers
     
Jails
  • LB108 (Bolz) Change provisions relating to placement of Department of Correctional Services inmates in county jails
 
Motor Vehicles
  • LB38 (Hilkemann) Provide for one license plate and In Transit decal per vehicle
  • LB111 (Howard) Change a certificate of title application signature requirement as prescribed
 
Public Records
  • LB47 (Chambers) Change provisions relating to when a grand jury report may be made public
  • LB118 (Arch) Provide a procedure to withhold residential address of physicians in county records
  • LB150 (Brewer) Change provisions relating to access to public records and provide for fees
  • LB152 (Brewer) State rights of Nebraska National Guard members and provide for confidentiality of member's residential addresses
     
Retirement
  • LB35 (Kolterman) Change provisions relating to reemployment, reinstatement, repayment, and age eligibility for certain members under the County Employees Retirement Act and State Employees Retirement Act
 
Roads
  • LB82 (Friesen) Change provisions relating to contracts and state aid for bridges, land acquisition for state highways, functional classification, minimum standards, six-year and one-year plans, and distribution of funds and to change and provide duties as prescribed
  • LB97 (Wayne) Change provisions relating to highway funding
  • LB117 (Hilgers) Change provisions relating to bridge and highway construction contracts, certification of financial showing, and obtaining contract plans prepared by the Department of Transportation
 
Taxation
  • LB76 (Williams) Change provisions relating to the nameplate capacity tax
  • LB103 (Linehan) Change provisions relating to property tax requests
  • LB158 (Brewer) Change provisions relating to the assessed value of real property
  • LB183 (Briese) Change the valuation of agricultural land and horticultural land for purposes of certain school district taxes
  • LB185 (Friesen) Change provisions relating to the special valuation of agricultural and horticultural land
  • LB218 (Lindstrom) Redefine tangible personal property and gross receipts for tax purposes
  • LR3CA (Erdman) Constitutional amendment to provide income tax credits for property taxes paid
  • LR5CA (Brewer) Constitutional amendment to limit the percentage of funding for schools that comes from property taxes  
 
Tax Equalization and Review Commission
  • LB4 (Stinner) Change mileage reimbursement and filing fees under the Tax Equalization and Review Commission Act
 
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