Legislature Back in Full Swing

The 2nd Session of the 107th Legislature convened on January 5 and there have been just over 600 legislative bills and resolutions introduced by State Senators. The 2nd Session is the “short session” with a schedule of 60 legislative days and they are scheduled to adjourn April 20. There are several unique elements of the Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska is the only state currently operating as a Unicameral (one-house) Legislature. Because of our Unicameral, it is important for the citizens of Nebraska to serve as the “second house” of our government. Each of the more than 600 bills and resolutions introduced will have a public hearing. The public hearings for bills introduced are in full swing and public hearings are scheduled to conclude on March 3.

As the “second house” of our government, it is important we stay engaged in the process and allow our voices to be heard by our elected officials. With more than 600 bills and resolutions, it is quite a task to understand all of the legislation being introduced. You can go to www.NebraskaLegislature.gov and click on “introduced legislation” to see the bills introduced, learn the status of each bill introduced, and find out when the committee hearings will be held. I also urge our members to pay attention to the weekly policy updates being sent by our policy and research coordinator, Jack Russell. Each week Jack sends an update of bills of interest, the status, and other happenings
related to government activity at all levels of government.

As the voice of small business, LIBA will be focused on testifying on several different bills this session in line with our legislative priorities adopted by our Board of Directors. The priorities include: (1) Requiring a vote of the people to establish a new Joint Public Agency; (2) Increase transparency in political subdivisions; (3) Limit taxing authority to property tax asking plus Midwest CPI and growth; (4) Eliminate personal property tax on Nebraska businesses; (5) Performance of Nebraska eighth grade students; (6) Adjust election schedule to simplify voting; (7) Reduce regulations on business; (8) Build the East Beltway; and (9) Infrastructure. Each of these priorities are important to small business owners in our community and we will be focused on these priorities as we determine bills where we will provide testimony.

Please allow me to share an example of how business owners engaging in the process can have an impact on elected officials and impacting laws. Recently the Lincoln City Council introduced an ordinance on the City engaging with contractors and the requirements surrounding which contractors (and sub-contractors) may be chosen. There were flaws in the ordinance and some unintended circumstances when discussing this ordinance with local business owners.

The impact of the ordinance would have been detrimental to local businesses as some of the requirements eliminated them from consideration. Mostly, this ordinance would have negatively impacted local small business owners who generally serve as sub-contractors. If this ordinance would have passed, most, if not all, of the sub-contracting would have been awarded to businesses outside of Lincoln and Lancaster County. This would have directly contradicted the previous micro-purchasing ordinance passed by the City to support local, small businesses. We shared the ordinance with our members and asked them to contact City Council members and share the impact this would have on our small, local businesses. The business owners responded with calls and emails to Council members and the ordinance has been delayed to be improved by working with local business owners to support our small, local businesses. The people have the power to impact our laws when we engage with elected officials. I encourage all business owners to be engaged in the process and with elected officials. It is our duty!