NTF worksheet: legwatch9.doc. 1-08.

NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM WORKSHEET:

BILLS & RESOLUTIONS IN THE 2008 LEGISLATURE.

GOOD RESOLUTIONS:

LR 224: Fulton. To encourage local and state law enforcement agencies to make agreements with the Dept. of Homeland Security that permits their law officers to enforce specific immigration laws in conjunction with federal immigration officers. Florida, Alabama, and an increasing number of other states and localities already have signed such agreements. This resolution would not mandate that local law enforcement agencies assume these additional duties. Currently, law officers pursue illegal aliens involved in criminal activities but not for civil violations. Officers could check the immigration status of those arrested for violating state or local laws more serious than traffic infractions. Officers could not conduct immigration raids. Militant Hispanic groups in NE and State Sen. Ray Aguilar, a champion of illegal aliens here, oppose this resolution as racist and promoting racial profiling. IN COMMITTEE

LR 233CA: Christensen. A constitutional amendment to ban public agencies like our universities from using reverse discrimination by race or ethnicity in hiring, enrollment, or scholarship awarding. This resolution requires the support of 30 senators to gain ballot access. Reverse discrimination is unfair to white people and degrades minority students by not allowing them to compete fairly for college entrance or scholarships and discriminates in the work force. UNL Chancellor Perlman and the UN Board of Regents oppose this resolution. IN COMMITTEE

GOOD BILLS:

LB 708: Pahls. To establish a state 3-day sales tax holiday for personal property sold at retail. IN COMMITTEE

LB 714: Pahls. Exempt Social Security benefits from state income taxes and from calculation of income for homestead property tax exemptions. This bill would encourage more retirees to remain in NE instead of leaving for lower tax states. IN COMMITTEE

LB 731: Kopplin. To allow spouses of active duty members of U.S. armed forces who reside in or are stationed in NE to teach, if they hold valid teaching certificates or permits in another state within 3 yrs. of application for NE certification. IN COMMITTEE

LB 732: Kopplin. To exempt from local property taxes the first $25,000 of valuation of single-family residences, including duplexes, but not apartments. Average savings would equal $513 per dwelling. The bill would require passage of a state constitutional amendment to exempt residential property from the unfair requirement of uniform and proportional taxation. IN COMMITTEE

LB 733: Kopplin. To offer homeowners a $25,000 homestead exemption on property taxes for primary residences only. State aid would reimburse local subdivisions for property taxes lost, further burdening the state income and sales pressure. IN COMMITTEE

LB 735: Fulton. Allow political subdivisions to enact ordinances to prohibit areas where registered sex offenders are employed. IN COMMITTEE

LB 737: Fulton. To allow state income tax payers, who claim a dependent a tax credit equal to 100% of the federal credit permitted by the IRS. These tax credits cannot exceed $1 million per year. IN COMMITTEE

LB 739: Fulton. State agencies and political subdivisions could not impose a fine or penalty on a small business for a first violation of information collection requirements, unless a company did not correct such violation within 6 mo. after written notice mailed to a business. IN COMMITTEE

LB 746: Aguilar. If a National Guardsman is unable to finish a course of study at a NE college or university within a 10-yr. period because of deployment on federal or state active duty for not less than 180 days, such guardsman can extend his entitlement period for up to 5 yrs. IN COMMITTEE

LB 762: Avery. To not charge sales tax on sales of personal property for 3 days in August on clothing sold for $100 or less, school supplies costing $100 or less, computers costing $1,500 or less. IN COMMITTEE

LB 770: Cornett. To exempt from federal gross income military retirement benefits not exceeding $48,000 per married couple filing jointly if both spouses receive such retirement benefits or $24,000 per tax year for other returns. IN COMMITTEE

LB 778: Pirsch. County boards of equalization would meet to review and decide written protests on property valuations beginning on May 1 instead of June 1 and end on or before August 10 instead of July 25, giving property taxpayers more time to amass documentation to challenge their higher valuations. IN COMMITTEE

LB 780: Pirsch. Anyone leaving the scene of a personal injury vehicle accident would lose a drivers license for 1 yr. IN COMMITTEE

LB 781: Rogert. To criminalize obtaining money or property under fraudulent pretenses or promises, selling, distributing, or supplying property to further such schemes, offering an unrequested check through the mail to promote goods or services, if cashing or depositing the check obligates endorser to pay for goods or services, or mails unsolicited billing statements, invoices, or other documents that seem to obligate a consumer to pay for services or items not ordered. IN COMMITTEE

LB 784: Howard. Prohibit NE businesses from obtaining business tax incentives if they knowingly hire illegal aliens who have been unauthorized to work in the U.S. during the 5 yrs. prior to date of employment application. Employers must make conscientious efforts to verify an employee citizenship status. Other states like Colorado and Georgia are considering similar bills. Violating businesses would lose or pay back tax incentives. IN COMMITTEE

LB 787: Gay. Anyone who assaults an emergency services provider or health care provider by intentionally and knowingly causing serious bodily injury while such employees are performing official duties would face a Class II felony. Class III and Class IIIA felonies apply to lesser assaults. IN COMMITTEE

LB 794: McGill. Someone who is drunk is criminally responsible for his conduct, and his condition is not a defense against any offense and cannot undergo consideration to determine the existence of mental state which is an element of the offense, unless defendant proves by convincing evidence that he did not understand that it was an intoxicating substance when consumed, smoked, or injected. Insanity does not include conditions caused by voluntary ingesting, inhalation, or injection of intoxicants. Such actions cannot prove a defense of not responsible by reason of insanity. Criminals regularly use the excuse of drunkenness or drugged state to avoid harsher charges and criminal penalties. IN COMMITTEE

LB 797: HHS Comm. The Dept. of Health & Human Services would establish an administrative disqualification process and disqualification periods for the ADC program and child care subsidy program for intentional provider and individual program violations. IN COMMITTEE

LB 804: Burling. Allow jurors to take notes during trials for later jury deliberations. Notes must be destroyed immediately after verdict returned. IN COMMITTEE

LB 808: Synowiecki. Anyone convicted of motor vehicle homicide reckless driving could not drive a vehicle or hold a drivers license for at least 1 yr. and not more than 15 yrs., instead of for 6 mo. under present law. IN COMMITTEE

LB 815: Fischer. Geographic location information data created or stored withheld from the public to protect public officials. IN COMMITTEE

LB 826: Christensen. Applicants for concealed carry firearms permits can apply as NE residents if members of the armed forces and stationed at a NE military base for at least 6 mo. IN COMMITTEE

LB 844: Karpisek. To increase penalty for knowingly or intentionally possessing from 1+ ounce to 1 lb. of marijuana from a Class IIIA to a Class II misdemeanor. Penalty for possessing 1 ounce or less of marijuana will face a Class III misdemeanor instead of an infraction charge with $100 fine. IN COMMITTEE

LB 850: Erdman. School district insurance policies could not cover spouses or dependents of school board members. School boards that offer insurance coverage would pay the same proportion of the insurance premium for board members as for permanent school district employees. IN COMMITTEE

LB 863: Langemeier. To lower state income tax rates for singles, married couples, and estates and trusts. IN COMMITTEE

LB 872: Pirsch. Those convicted of motor vehicle homicide would become prohibited from driving for from 1-15 years, with drivers license revocation for same period. IN COMMITTEE

LB 883: Johnson. Exempt from child care licensure requirements recreation facilities, centers, and programs managed by government subdivisions. A suggested positive subsequent step would exempt private facilities from several burdensome state regulations. IN COMMITTEE

LB 887: Burling. To lower state corporate taxes at two levels, including one higher tax bracket. Smaller businesses would see proportionally larger tax cuts. IN COMMITTEE

LB 888: Burling. To lower state corporate taxes at two levels. These 2 bills would make NE more competitive for businesses seeking to locate subsidiaries and for NE businesses considering expansion. NE now has higher corporate state income tax rates, except for 1 category, than all adjacent states. IN COMMITTEE

LB 891: Gay. To allow NE residents 20% state income tax credit for specialized medical equipment or supplies or home modification that assist in daily living functions and allow a taxpayer or spouse or dependent to remain in the home instead of relocating to an expensive care facility. Such credit could not exceed $1,500. IN COMMITTEE

LB 894: Gay. Increase federal income tax deductions for long-term care savings plans from $2,000 to $5,000 for married couples filing joint returns and from $1,000 to $2,500 for other returns. IN COMMITTEE

LB 901: Johnson. Immunity for trained volunteer emergency care workers from civil liability while helping after natural disasters. This bill would encourage additional such workers to volunteer following such disasters. IN COMMITTEE

LB 902: Pankonin. To criminalize use of additional dangerous drugs. IN COMMITTEE

LB 908: Pirsch. Veterans could place special veterans license plates on an unlimited number of their vehicles. IN COMMITTEE

LB 909: Pirsch. To aggregate the amounts in forged check schemes to classify more seriously an offense. IN COMMITTEE

LB 913: Wightman. To lower the state inheritance tax from 13% to 10% for relatives of deceased person inheriting over $15,000. IN COMMITTEE

LB 917: Fischer. To increase the truck weight limit by amounts necessary to compensate for additional weight from idle reduction mechanisms, not exceeding 400 lbs. IN COMMITTEE

LB 930: Cornett. For dangerous sex offenders, a mental health professional would include with an affidavit an opinion on what components to include in appropriate treatment for such individual following release. IN COMMITTEE

LB 934: Ashford. Anyone who possesses a knife and who previously was convicted of a felony or who is a fugitive from justice commits an offense of possession of a deadly weapon by a felon or fugitive. IN COMMITTEE

LB 943: Pedersen. To allow release by law enforcement agencies of drivers license pictures to parole and probation officers. IN COMMITTEE

LB 945: Pedersen. Natural resource districts could not have authority to cooperate with or make agreements with anyone who sells or leases residential or commercial real estate, if such cooperation or agreement when such financial aid relates to property grabbed by the district through eminent domain. The legislation would forbid transfer of land to a commercial developer, if the NRD gained the property through eminent domain. This bill would prevent NRDs from helping to enrich private developers of dammed lakeside property at taxpayer expense. IN COMMITTEE

LB 950: Pirsch. Anyone involved who fails to stop at the scene of an accident would face a Class IIIA or Class III felony, if accident resulted in serious injury or death. IN COMMITTEE

LB 961: Flood. To provide deficit appropriations. IN COMMITTEE

LB 962: Preister. No local taxing authority governing body could force a person in attendance to place his name on the meeting agenda prior to such meeting in order to speak on an agenda item. Several taxing authorities have used prior sign in before or on meeting date in order to prepare counter-arguments to points advocated by members of the public speaking at the meeting. IN COMMITTEE

LB 963: Friend. To prohibit state agencies and local government subdivisions from giving federal, state, or local public benefits to illegal aliens. Each agency and local government must verify the lawful presence, as a citizen or legal alien, of anyone who applies for such benefits administered by them. Included benefits are the following: grants, contracts, loans, professional licenses, commercial licenses, retirement benefits, welfare benefits, food stamps, health benefits, disability benefits, subsidized housing benefits, post-secondary education benefits, and unemployment benefits. However, there are several exceptions to these exclusions: emergency medical care services and products like baby deliveries, vaccinations, testing and treatment of communicable diseases like gonorrhea, disaster relief, soup kitchens, and crisis counseling. This bill apparently would repeal the 2006 law that bestowed in-state tuition rates on illegal aliens. Verification would occur through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE) managed by the Dept. of Homeland Security. Every state agency or local government that administers designated benefits would send an annual report to the Governor and Clerk of the Legislature evidencing compliance with the legislation and including the total number of applicants rejected for cause. The latter requirement will highlight how much illegal immigration is impacting our safety net services. Because federal law mandates several public benefits, some of which entail matched federal and state funding, it remains unclear how LB 963 would clarify which benefits or what percentage of a benefit illegal aliens could not access. Also, exempting emergency medical care services would encourage illegals to gravitate towards hospital emergency wards, further increasing hospital costs. Illegal aliens do not deserve disaster relief, which sometimes is lengthy in term, costly in benefits, and raises our private insurance premium costs. Militant Hispanic and other leftwing groups in NE oppose the legislation. The Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on this bill soon. IN COMMITTEE

LB 971: Pedersen. To prevent larger NE cities from forcibly annexing towns and villages without majority voting approval of residents facing annexation, voting done at the next state primary or general election. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1000: Pirsch. To lower state income tax rates for singles, married couples, and estates and trusts. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1004: Cornett. To lower state income tax employer withholding amount from 3% to 1 ½% of gross wages. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1012: Gay. Allow a state income tax credit totaling 25% of specific long-term care insurance policy premiums. Credits could not exceed either $500 or taxpayer income tax liability, whichever is less, for each policy. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1039: Janssen. To create the Agricultural land Valuation Task Force including the Property Tax Administrator and 8 others, which would develop a report to serve as the basis for an income capitalization approach to valuing ag land. The legislature would use this report to help to develop an income capitalization formula to use in valuing ag land. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1076: Rogert. In emergency or disaster situations, state and local governments could not impose on individuals added restrictions on the lawful possession, transfer, sale, storage, display, or use of firearms and ammunition. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1084: Flood. To criminalize assault against a welfare dept. behavior health service employee. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1089: Dierks. To reconstitute Class I and Class VI rural school districts, as voters repealed the 2005 law that dissolved them. The state teachers union opposes this bill, because the union can more easily control teachers in larger districts. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1105: Fulton. To prohibit the workers compensation court from revealing to the public information contained in electronic files that reveals the identity of an employee, specific injury, employee medical condition, extent of disability, amount, kind, or duration of benefits paid anyone, or application information for self-insurance. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1106: Pirsch. To criminalize use of electronic communication devices like computers to intimidate, annoy, harass, threaten, or terrify, to transmit indecent, lewd, lascivious, or obscene language that suggests indecent, lewd, or lascivious acts, threaten to cause injury to person or property, or to attempt to extort money. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1170: White. To allow the state att.-general, a political subdivision, or private citizen to sue an employer who knowingly or recklessly recruits and employs illegal aliens in order to recover costs for paid public services, including public education, health care, and welfare costs given illegal aliens, their family, spouse, or other dependents. The bill would target companies that increase their profits by hiring illegals and not offering health insurance. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1176: Dubas. To allow the state welfare dept. to limit adult welfare recipients to one pair of glasses every 2 yrs., 1 hearing aid every 4 yrs., a $1,000 yearly limit for dental services, a yearly limit of 12 chiropractic visits, and a yearly limit of 60 outpatient medical rehab visits. IN COMMITTEE

BAD BILLS:

LB 204: Synowiecki. To force contractors in each county to register with the State Dept. of Labor and increase penalties for failing to register from $500 to $5,000 fines. This bill would burden small contractors with additional paperwork and expense. SELECT FILE

LB 205: Howard. Another state mandate to require each school district to implement a bullying policy with annual review that would reassign, suspend, or expel bullies at school. Currently, about 20% of districts already have bullying policies, and 90% mention it in student codes of conduct. School districts should handle this problem with their own specific volunteer policies, like offering martial arts training, so that the bullied could neutralize whoever bullied them. IN COMMITTEE

LB 235: Nantkes. To offer cash rebates of up to 25% of production costs for films, TV shows, and commercials made in Nebraska. Size of the rebate would depend upon the magnitude of the movie project and the number of crew members hired locally. Projects must have a budget of at least $2 million, with at least $1.25 million of production costs here. This tax exemption would only shift the burden to us remaining taxpayers. Created jobs would become temporary. GENERAL FILE

LB 467: Chambers. To force the state ombudsman to investigate at least 70 county jails from an additional 500 cases of impropriety every year. The bill would require hiring 2 more state employees and cost about $114,000. County and city officials oppose having to incur additional costs to defend themselves from state investigation of bogus charges.

LB 722: Engel. To tax tobacco products at 65c per ounce. IN COMMITTEE

LB 754: Synowiecki. To calculate the number of persons instead of number of families within a high concentration of poverty area to calculate state aid to the Qwest Convention Center & Arena. IN COMMITTEE

LB 758: Hudkins. To raise fuel taxes from 10 1/2c to 11 1/2c. To raise fuel taxes for compressed fuel, producers, suppliers, wholesalers, and distributors from 2c to 4c per gallon. IN COMMITTEE

LB 776: Wightman. To permit county registers of deeds and county clerks to charge a fee raised from $5 to $10 per first page and $6 per each additional page for recording a deed, mortgage, etc. IN COMMITTEE

LB 803: Aguilar. To allow voters to register to vote on general election days. 90% of eligible Nebraskans had registered to vote in Nov. 2006, so registration is not a problem. Citizens can download voter registration forms from the Internet, obtain them from the phone book, get one at a library, or register when obtaining a drivers license. This bill would encourage illegal aliens to vote, because no one could verify their citizenship before counting of their ballots. College students could vote in their home states and at their college locations. IN COMMITTEE

LB 807: Aguilar. To expand Medicaid to cover costs of smoking cessation counseling and RX drugs. IN COMMITTEE

LB 811: Kruse. Appropriate $5 million for public transportation aid in FY 2008-09. IN COMMITTEE

LB 818: Avery. Under AABD welfare program, eligibility would extend to children under 19 and pregnant women with family income of less than 200% instead of 185% of federal poverty level. IN COMMITTEE

LB 824: Schimek. Politically-correct bill to make all state appointive boards, commissions, committees, and councils at least 50% female or 50% male. IN COMMITTEE

LB 830: Lathrop. A Nebraskan could join the Healthy NE RX Card Program if a resident, is eligible for Medicare, and has net family income less than 300% of the federal poverty level. The cost would total $1 million in FY 2008-09. IN COMMITTEE

LB 833: Lathrop. To raise weekly unemployment compensation from 50% of individual’s average weekly wage to 70%.

LB 836: Howard. To prohibit anyone from smoking in a vehicle in which there are persons under 16. Fines would range from $50 to $150. IN COMMITTEE

LB 843: Pedersen. Any minor convicted of a Class I or Class IA felony and ages 16-18 would serve from 50 years to life in prison and win parole after only 25 yrs. Any minor convicted of such felonies and under age 16 would serve 40 years in prison and win parole after only 20 yrs. This bill would only encourage vicious gangs to put firearms in the hands of youngsters and order them to commit murders, knowing that the youth would serve less time in prison. 30 killers sentenced before age 19 currently are serving life terms without parole. Liberal advocacy groups support this bill. IN COMMITTEE

LB 846: Fischer. Producers, suppliers, distributors, wholesalers, and importers of fuel would pay 5% tax of the average wholesale price of gas. Gas retailers would pay 5% tax of the average wholesale price of compressed gas. IN COMMITTEE

LB 858: Engel. To prohibit recall of irrigation district officers or board members. IN COMMITTEE

LB 870: Avery. No state constitutional officer, state senator, public service commissioner, state board of education member, or university regent could act as a lobbyist until at least 2 yrs. following service in office. This bill restricts the right of citizens to become gainfully employed in the private sector. IN COMMITTEE

LB 873: Kopplin. To increase state aid to school districts with student populations growing at a specific rate. IN COMMITTEE

LB 880: Kopplin. To allow the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District to issue long-term general obligation bonds to finance 30 dams costing about $400 million and other unneeded projects. The district does not have access to sufficient property tax revenue to fund them. This attempt is the 3^rd at trying to convince skeptical state senators to give bonding authority. Residents within this taxing authority jurisdiction would see a 30% hike in their property taxes! Factoring in valuation hikes, the NRD could issue $450 million in bonds by 2013. The NRD opposes allowing residents to vote on bond issuance, fearing voter rejection. Douglas and Washington County officials oppose this bill, favoring other, more economical, water retention strategies. IN COMMITTEE

LB 881: Stuthman. To impose an excise tax of 3c per gallon of ethanol on ethanol production facility owners. 50% of the tax would go to the Dept. of Roads, 25% to counties for road purposes, and 25% to municipalities for street purposes. Violators would face a Class III misdemeanor. IN COMMITTEE

LB 903: Lathrop. To establish another layer of bureaucracy in elementary school regional councils that can levy property taxes for construction, purchases, renovations, or leases. The tax levy, up to 5 1/5c per $100 of property valuation, could continue for up to 5 yrs. This legislation would bypass the current requirement for voters to approve bond issues for such spending. IN COMMITTEE

LB 905: Avery. To give $50 million from the state Cash Reserve Fund to the NE Educational Telecommunications Programming Fund to subsidize public TV and radio, despite the emergence of and adequate service given the entire state by private telecommunications companies. IN COMMITTEE

LB 911: Hudkins. To mandate REAL ID drivers licenses and state ID cards that would constitute national ID cards and cost the state dept. of motor vehicles millions to implement. IN COMMITTEE

LB 912: Avery. To reconfigure the formula for giving state financing to the Omaha convention/arena by including in the formula private hotels and public and private hotels within 450 yds. instead of 200 yds. of the facilities. IN COMMITTEE

LB 916: Revenue Comm. To apply state sales tax to music, ring tones, movies, or books purchased and downloaded from the Internet from vendors like Amazon.com or Apple Inc. This bill would only encourage piracy and illegal downloading. Congress for years has opposed imposing a sales tax on digital goods and services. NE recently passed a law requiring customers to report catalog and Internet sales on their income tax returns and pay sales tax on them. Most taxpayers are either unaware of this law or ignore it; the same will occur in this new situation. Such taxes impede the growth of new market forces on the Internet. The state tax commissioner admits that such tax would accrue only about $150,000 yearly, hardly worth the enforcement effort. IN COMMITTEE

LB 922: Dubas. To create a pool of $5-10 million in incentive grants for cellulosic ethanol plants and research facilities. New taxes would hit natural gas, oil, and railroad businesses, thus raising consumer energy costs. IN COMMITTEE

LB 926: Lathrop. To prohibit the state from mandating overtime work hours or 7 consecutive work days from employees at 24-hour care facilities. IN COMMITTEE

LB 929: Chambers. To ban hunting, fishing, and trapping in Nebraska. Fishing infused almost $203 million in state revenue in 2007. In 2006, hunters spent over $198 million here. IN COMMITTEE

LB 936: Friend. To force non-union members to pay a fee to a union if the union is the collective bargaining and contract representative for the bargaining unit representing the employee. This fee cannot exceed the amount of dues required for union membership. Employees refusing to pay would face court action initiated by the union, court costs, and attorney fees. IN COMMITTEE

LB 946: Burling. Impose an excise tax of 2c per gallon on the production of ethanol on owners of ethanol production facilities. Anyone violating this law would face a Class III misdemeanor. IN COMMITTEE

LB 952: Lathrop. To give specific state departments, part of the executive branch, authority to subpoena witnesses to attend investigative hearings and bring documents. Such authority normally resides in the judicial branch. IN COMMITTEE

LB 958: Ashford. To force owners to report lost or stolen firearms within 48 hrs. of discovering the loss or theft to a local law enforcement agency or face a misdemeanor with $500 fine. Repeat offenses would earn up to 3 mo. in jail. Gun owners who leave firearms where minors can access them, if such minors hurt or kill themselves or others, would face felony charges. Guns stolen and used in crimes could place in legal jeopardy owners who did not realize that someone had stolen their firearms. All firearms dealers must include gun or trigger locks with firearms sales or face $500 fines as a Class IV misdemeanor. The bill would create a bureaucratic Gun Violence Commission. This bill would not have stopped the Von Maur store massacre, as the perpetrator broke several current laws. Federal law already prohibits selling firearms to mentally ill people and requires gun dealers to provide trigger locks with handguns, and most sellers provide locks with rifles and shotguns, so the bill is redundant. Most shameful is that Sen. Dwite Pedersen, who claims to be an NRA member, co-sponsored this bill. IN COMMITTEE

LB 959: Flood. Deficit appropriations for… IN COMMITTEE

LB 969: Pankonin. To force insurance companies in their policies to cover a category of prosthetics. Every such mandate raises premium costs for other insurance policyholders. IN COMMITTEE

LB 973: Raikes. To increase state aid to community colleges. IN COMMITTEE

LB 979: Karpisek. To allow county building tax levy authority to continue for 20 yrs. instead of 10 yrs. IN COMMITTEE

LB 984: Cornett. To eliminate requirement for 1^st class cities to hold public hearings and publish resolutions when attempting to annex. This bill would stifle opponents eager to voice objection.IN COMMITTEE

LB 987: Raikes. To create a new bureaucratic commission and office to regulate state school testing and accountability. The Governor would appoint 5 commission members and a director of education accountability, subject to confirmation by the Legislature. IN COMMITTEE

LB 991: Avery. To allow voter registration and voting on election day. This bill would allow many people who are ineligible to vote to actually vote, before election officials could verify their eligibility. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1001: White. Families whose incomes are 150% or less of the federal poverty level could receive utility grants paid for by public power company state taxes. A family of 4 could earn about $130,000. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1007: Dierks. To remove local property tax levy lid provisions from drug prevention and enforcement costs and from capital improvements, another lid buster. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1009: Avery. To allow a property tax levy for school safety, security, and student transportation purposes. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1013: Gay. To offer $2,000 annual scholarships to NE high school students with the 5% highest scores on the ACT college entrance exams. Scholarships, to NE public or private universities and colleges, could renew for 4 yrs., if recipients maintain a 3.5 grade point average. Eventual cost is $6.4 million. The objective is to retain college graduates to work in NE, though high taxes are encouraging such graduates to migrate to other states. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1035: Louden. To transfer $16 million from the Cash Reserve Fund to the Expressway Construction Fund, depleting the cash reserve of needed dollars. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1053: Erdman. To offer tax credits to biodiesel producers for up to 1 million gallons per year. Private capital, not taxpayers, should encourage such production. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1059: Lautenbaugh. To add a $1 fee to each deer hunting permit to fund a hunger cash fund. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1061: Louden. To add a $3 fee on each item of electronic equipment sold at retail in NE. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1063: Chambers. To replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, although the murderers later could win parole through another legislative change. Only 26 senators oppose repeal. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1074: Nantkes. To force operators of commercial swimming pools to employ at least 1 certified pool operator, another state regulation. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1079: Raikes. To allow public school districts to break the spending lid to pay for legal expenses in excess of the state aid formula. This bill would allow districts like OP$ to spend more property tax dollars to sue the state for additional funding. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1080: Raikes. To allow public school districts to break the taxing lid, adding another 5c per $100 of valuation, to pay for building fund expenses. This bill would allow districts like OP$ to spend more property tax dollars on construction and renovation without obtaining approval from voters at bond issue elections. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1081: Raikes. To allow educational service units to exceed spending lid provisions. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1092: Harms. To force all NE public school districts to equip their school buses with seat belts, adding another expensive, unfunded mandate for districts. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1096: Friend. To force all 1^st class NE cities with over 20,000 people to employ a full-time fire chief with training, credentials, and experience. The mayor, with city council approval, would appoint the chief. The bill affects Kearney and Bellevue. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1098: Hudkins. To allow cities to levy an additional tax not more than 10 1/2c per $100 valuation annually to defray costs of establishing a sinking fund for construction, purchase, improvement, extension, or repair of buildings to house equipment of a fire dept., to buy firefighting and rescue equipment, to buy land, or pay principal and interest for incurred indebtedness. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1100: Adams. To give all NE public school teachers tips of $2,500 annually. State taxpayers would pay $50 million to 20,000 NE teachers in 2008, with an additional $100 million paid them over the next 2 yrs. The bill would grab $200 million from the Cash Reserve Fund and pay teachers with its interest. The bill sponsor is a former teacher. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1121: Johnson. To expand Medicaid benefits to disabled persons who are employed, whose family income is less than 450% of the federal poverty guideline for family size. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1141: Schimek. To force home-schooled students to take yearly state-approved standardized tests for evaluation. Students deemed to have failed such test must attend an accredited public or private school. Teacher union members would conduct the evaluations. Parents or guardians must reimburse the state education dept. for the evaluation. The bill sponsor, whose husband for years was the teachers union lobbyist, intends to cripple home school attendance. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1152: Raikes. To allow public school districts to exceed budget limitations for transportation, special education, poverty students, English as a 2^nd language students, telecommunications costs, downsizing classes, and new focus schools. This bill would render useless the current budget lids. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1156: Synowiecki. To spend $20 million in state tax dollars from the Cash Reserve Fund to rebuild or renovate Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. The City of Omaha would have to provide $60 million in order to gain the $20 million. State taxpayers already chafe at having to spend millions more in state aid for the Qwest Center. IN COMMITTEE

LB 1166: Nelson. To give the City of Omaha authority to annex across county lines, impeding the growth of small cities in Sarpy and Washington Counties. Sarpy County residents and city officials strongly oppose this bill. IN COMMITTEE