Lawmakers continued to introduce legislative bills this week in anticipation of the last day for bill introduction being Wednesday of next week. Thus far, there have been 430 legislative bills introduced and it is anticipated that the final count will be about 700 total bills.

 

This week on Thursday Governor Ricketts outlined, in his State of the State address the need to control spending, provide property and income tax relief, and ease regulations that are burdensome to business.  

 

He stated that the most significant thing that can be done to bring new businesses and more residents to our state is to address the state's anticipated over $900 million budget deficit and that it all starts with controlling spending. State revenues in Nebraska are heavily dependent on the farm economy, which has seen a decrease in revenues from $7.5 billion to $4 billion over the past years.

 

Ricketts encouraged senators to use restraint in keeping spending growth to 1.7% to ease the tax burden on its citizens, whose hard-earned tax dollars we are spending.

 

The governor asked senators to balance the next biennium budget by using some (approx. $200 million) of the cash reserve, but still leaving $500 million in the fund for any future revenue shortfalls.

 

The governor's response to some ideas that have been tossed around was, "Raiding the property tax credit relief fund, raising sales taxes and taxing food and groceries would all harm Nebraska families and be bad for our economy," Ricketts said.

 

His proposed budget will ask for a 2.7% average increase in K-12 education and an additional 3% to special education funding.

Probably the most significant issue that the governor addressed during his speech was that of property and income taxes, corporate and personal.

The governor pointed out that property taxes have risen 137% on agricultural land from 2003 - 2013, despite declining cattle and crop prices. In his plan, he seeks an income potential based property tax assessment methodology for ag land, slowing the growth of ag land valuations increases. This concept is contained in LB338 that was introduced by Senator Lydia Brasch. If this methodology was the current system used, it would have reduced ag land valuations by approximately $2.2 billion.   

As for personal income tax, under current tax rates an individual making $29,831 or more is in the highest tax bracket at 6.84%. This makes Nebraska 15th in the highest marginal rate in the US and impacts more than 90% of Nebraska state income tax payers.

Under the governor's proposal, and contained in LB337 introduced by Senator Jim Smith, he would like to decrease the top tax bracket by 1/10th of one percent annually starting in 2020, until it is under 5.99%, provided state revenue growth exceeds 3.5%.

The governor warned lawmakers that tax shifts, as proposed by some lawmakers is not something he would favor.  "Raiding the property tax credit relief fund, raising sales taxes, and taxing food and groceries would all harm Nebraska families and be bad for our economy," he said.

To view the Governors State of the State in its entirety go to: https://governor.nebraska.gov/press/governor-ricketts-state-state-address-0.

This coming week will begin the committee hearing process. In Nebraska, every bill that is introduced receive a hearing before a committee of jurisdiction. Unlike other states, in which committee hearings are controlled by leadership, here in Nebraska the citizens are considered the "second house" of the legislature and the hearing process gives citizens the ability to weigh in on all introduced legislation.

 

Upcoming Hearings of Interest

 

You may view hearings live on NET Live & On Demand: State Government streaming. Simply click on the committee of jurisdiction to view the content.

 

Bill Number	Introducer	Committee	On Liner
LB21	Riepe	Banking	Change provisions relating to motor vehicle insurance coverage for loaned vehicles
LB37	Harr	Judiciary	Adopt the Uniform Wage Garnishment Act
LB77	Crawford	Revenue	Change provisions relating to access to sales and use tax information by municipalities
LB79	Blood	Retirement	Adopt the Small Business Retirement Marketplace Act
LB93	Hansen	Judiciary	Adopt the Automatic License Plate Reader Privacy Act
LB99	Stinner	Banking	Change provisions relating to conversion of corporations, partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships into other business entities
LB101	Stinner	Government	Change duration requirements for certain state agency contracts
LB164	Geist	Transportation	Change provisions relating to trailers, commercial motor vehicle disqualification provisions, accident reports, and motor vehicle records disclosure and authorize the Dept. of MV to keep and sell certain registration and certificate of title records
LB177	Bostelman	Transportation	Change provisions relating to apportionable and fleet vehicles, motor fuel tax collections and enforcement, and powers and duties of the Director of Motor Vehicles
LB203	Kuehn	Business & Labor	Change provisions relating to maximum annual unemployment benefits and disqualification for benefits
LB271	Hilgers	Transportation	Authorize the Department of Roads to assume certain responsibilities under federal environmental laws and provide for limited waiver of the state's sovereign immunity

 

Dates of Interest

 

Speaker Scheer provided a memo on the following dates of interest for this session.

 

January 17
* Session start time to be determined (10:00am)
* Continue debate of motion to adopt permanent rules if motion still pending
* Bill introduction
* Adjourn by noon
* Public Hearings begin at 1:30 p.m.

 

January 18
* Session start time TBD
* Last day of bill introduction
* Adjourn by noon or when introduced bills have been processed by the Clerk's office

 

January 19
* Session start time TBD
* Begin general file debate of legislation
* Chief Justice Heavican's State of the Judiciary Address-10:00 a.m.
* Adjourn by noon

 

March 8, Prior to Adjournment
* Deadline for senators to submit a letter to the Speaker requesting designation of a bill as a 2017 speaker priority bill

 

March 9, Prior to Adjournment
* Deadline for designation of committee and senator priority bills

 

March 13
* Speaker priority bills announced prior to adjournment

 

March 23
* Date to complete committee public hearings on introduced bills

 

March 28
* Full-day floor debate begins

 

NPCA 2017 2018 Bills of Interest 

The Last Piece of a Regulatory Trifecta

On Wednesday, the House passed by a vote of 238-183 the "Regulatory Accountability Act" (RAA), which would modernize the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), whose rulemaking provisions have barely changed since its 1946 enactment. The RAA would increase the notification requirements in advance of proposed rulemaking, require more reports to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), mandate that regulators calculate the impact of new rules on small businesses and eliminate judicial deference to agencies when bills are challenged.

This is the third and final bill designed to bring transparency, accountability, and integrity to the rulemaking process at federal agencies. Last week, the House passed the "Midnight Rules Relief Act" by a vote of 238-164, which allows Congress to repeal multiple executive-branch regulations at once. The House also passed the "Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act," which requires Congressional approval for regulations that are expected to have an economic impact of at least $100 million per year.

Unfortunately, these bills will face an uphill battle to get the 60 votes necessary to pass in the Senate. With a 52-48 slim GOP majority, 8 democrats would need to side with the GOP to pass the legislation.

PMAA's Marketer Defense Fund wants to thank the following individuals for their contributions during the December 1- 31 timeframe:

Florida: E. Wilson Hinson Jr.
Maryland: Gary Litzsinger, J. Blacklock Wills Jr.
Minnesota: Wade Carlson
Mississippi: Sarah Saucier, Howard Waring
Montana: Bary Moore
Nevada: Gregg Benson
North Carolina: Olin Furr, James White IV
South Dakota: Duane Harms
Tennessee: John P. Small Jr.

Corporate donations are acceptable. MDF funds have been used for various studies, litigation and disaster relief dedicated to strengthening our lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. Click here to donate to the PMAA MDF.