Chamber Ready for 2019 Legislative Session
The first session of Nebraska’s 106th Legislature is underway. At the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, we are prepared for a busy next few months protecting and advancing business interests at the State Capitol.
Some of our key policy priorities for 2019 include: updating state business tax incentives, proposals that support talent retention and attraction, proposals that support improving the state tax and regulatory climate, and supporting state legislation to assist communities with building sports complexes. Others will be added after we review over 700 legislative proposals we expect to be submitted.
The Legislature welcomes 13 new senators this year, with one senator who previously served in the Unicameral. We know that the new composition of the Legislature will change the dynamics of how the legislative body will work together. How this plays out exactly will evolve over the course of the session.
Various committees will look quite different than in years past, with the early election of senators to those committees giving us an early indication of just how much legislative dynamics could change this year as debate and discussion of bills will heat up.
The revenue committee, which is obviously a critically important committee, will change dramatically because of term-limits. This is one among many committees where the chair position is an open seat.
The Unicameral will be a 90-day session this year. The projected final day is not until June 6, which allows for extensive scrutiny, review, debate, and adoption of a two-year state budget.
The state budget will include several subsets of debates, such as: how to implement the voters’ approval of the ballot measure to expand Medicaid coverage; replenishment of a depleted state cash reserve fund; taxes (cuts, shifts, and increases); state education funding (K-12 and Higher Ed); corrections funding; and the myriad of other state agency spending.
To make sure that business interests are protected, we work closely with elected officials at all levels. When public policy is developed, we consider it our number one job to make sure elected officials understand the impacts on business and our community at large.
We are proud of the diverse and thriving Lincoln community and our dynamic economy. Lincoln is leading the way on quality of life, career opportunities and innovation. We will work for state policy that assists us and we will challenge and oppose policy proposals that undermine our growth.
Throughout the legislative session, we look forward to working with the governor and senators to keep Lincoln and Nebraska growing!
The Chamber’s mission is to improve the lives of Lincoln residents by providing increased economic opportunity and can only be accomplished together. For more information on the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, (www.lcoc.com) please contact Jaime Henning at jaimehenning@lcoc.com.