As we approach the final days of the 2022 legislative session, the Nebraska Unicameral has the opportunity to deliver smart criminal justice reforms that will enhance public safety and benefit all Nebraskans. These changes will allow us to better manage our inmate population and provide modern resources to prepare offenders for life after time served—without compromising public safety.
Happy Spring, District One! We are less than one month away from the end of our legislative session, and the Legislature is starting to make a move on some pretty big bills. At the end of this week, we discussed and passed by priority bill on first round, LB 977, that would appropriate $15 million dollars to Falls City for them to secure redundant and resilient access to power. Falls City has almost everything going for it to make it the perfect site to grow Nebraska’s economy—a ready site with access to rail, gas, fast broadband, and a large workforce within commuting distance. In fact, it has a higher population within 100 miles than anywhere else in the state. The one thing they are missing there is access to the electrical capacity needed to grow.
For decades, the abortion industry has pushed the mantra that abortion is a human right. They’ve tried their best to normalize a culture of death, where the most vulnerable among us have fallen victim to the lie that one person’s so-called right to privacy trumps the right of another to live.
We ended this week by taking up one of the most important bills that we will discuss this session– LB 825– a bipartisan compromise that would have been the biggest structural tax relief bill in Nebraska history. We came up one vote short of breaking a filibuster with 32 votes-but the proposal may come up in other bills before the end of session. This legislation would be pivotal in providing structural Social Security, Income, and Property Tax relief.
As war rages on the doorsteps of our NATO allies, the United States is weighing the best path forward to provide additional support to Ukraine and hold Vladimir Putin accountable. The destruction and bloodshed in Ukraine are tragic, and I was moved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s joint address to Congress earlier this week. I was pleased when the House took action on a bill for which I’ve been advocating to revoke Russia’s trade privileges, a vote which President Biden and Democrats in Congress needlessly delayed. The world needs strong, decisive leadership from the United States, and President Zelenskyy has made it clear time is of the essence.
The Nebraska Legislature has reached a critical juncture. In the coming weeks, Senators will make important votes on a budget that will shape the future of our state.
Dear Amy: Seven months ago, my-in-laws took my not-quite five-year-old child for an overnight, and broke the one rule that my spouse and I set for our child’s time with them: NOT to ride their ATV. We do not feel it is safe, particularly on public roads.
In an era of partisanship and polarization, compromise can be hard to come by. Bills that can garner enough support to clear the U.S. Senate’s 60-vote threshold for legislation are the exception, not the norm. It is even more rare to find a bill that all 100 members of the Senate can get behind, but we recently did just that when the Senate voted unanimously to pass my Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act.
I think, just maybe, the weatherman in charge of our part of the world has gone on vacation or else he has changed vocations. Okay, March came in like the most gentle lamb in the flock.
Gas prices are high – as of March 14, the national average is $4.32 per gallon, the highest it has ever been. When President Biden was asked if he had a message for Americans who are paying record prices at the pump, this was all he had to say: Prices are “going to go up. Can’t do much right now. Russia is responsible.”