Sen. Hughes grades session A- to B+

    Senator Dan Hughes, who represents the 44th Legislative District, just completed his seventh year In the Nebraska Legislature.
    Looking back at the 90-day session of the 107th Legislature, Hughes said the biggest difference this year was having some revenue to work with.
    Despite COVID-19, the state collected more tax revenue than anticipated, giving the body some breathing room.
    It was nice having some money to work with, he said. That’s a contrast to many of his sessions when state revenue was tight and budgets were being cut.
    Overall, he graded the session an A- to B+.
    The most positive actions accomplished he cited included;
    •Enacting significant property tax relief;
    •Reducing taxes on Social Security benefits  and making military retirement fully deductible;
    •Reducing corporate income tax rates and;
    •Bolstering reimbursement to health providers delivering Medicaid services.
    Conversely, the conduct of his colleagues during the session brought the overall grade down.
    Hughes said, at times, he witnessed a lack of professionalism by some of his fellow senators, that to him was very disappointing.
    He also cited the lack of civility.  There seemed to be a lack of willingness to compromise and accept defeat gracefully. He said he saw an attitude that “if I don’t get my way, then I’m going to burn the house down.”
Tax relief
    With unobligated state revenue, Hughes said they were able to add $1.7 billion to the Property Tax Relief Fund. That equates to $850 million  in property tax rebates to property owners over the next two years.
    “That’s a pretty significant number,” he noted.
    They also reduced the income tax on Social Security benefits.
    “That was a big number on what that costs,” he said.
    They also made military retirement benefits fully deductible, which is good for the state to keep military retirees here, he said.
    That’s especially key in the Omaha area with the strong military presence there due to Offutt AFB. It keeps Nebraska competitive with neighboring states, he added.
    A cut in state corporate income tax does the same on the business side, making Nebraska more competitive and encourages investment in the state.
    “So we did a lot of tax cuts,” he noted.
    Stimulus funds were used to increase the Medicaid reimbursement hospitals and care facilities receive for providing services to Medicaid patients.
    Hughes said that increased reimbursement is key to the financial health of hospitals and rest homes in the 44th District and throughout the state.
    Senators also adopted legislation that reduces the tax burden on agland for school bond issues.

    Presently, for property tax purposes, agland is valued at 75% of actual value.
    Under the new law, agland can only be valued at 50% of actual value. This reduces the tax impact on agland when a school bond issue is passed.
    The legislation applies only to school bonds.
More broadband money
    Senators added a total of $40 million over two years to improve the availability of high speed broadband access to unserved or underserved areas of the state.
    Previously, an area was not eligible for the state funds if it already had access to download speeds of 25 mbps and upload speeds of 3 mbps.
    LB 338 defines underserved as any area incapable of receiving download and upload speeds of 100/100 mbps. Basically, those speeds are only achievable with fiber optics to the premises.
    Hughes said it’s possible that more broadband money could be made available through stimulus funds the state will receive. Nebraska is projected to receive around $500 million in federal stimulus funds.
    Rules and guidelines on how the stimulus money can be spent is anticipated in mid-July.
Gambling legislation
    Hughes said the body made a good first attempt to set the rules and regulations for the casinos and gambling coming to the state.
    Casino gambling and other forms of gambling were approved by Nebraska voters in the 2020 election.
    It was the responsibility of the Legislature to develop the legislation to accommodate that.
    He said there were so many specifics to have to address and feels they did a good job in doing so. “Did we get it absolutely right the first time? Probably not,” he said, but they can fine tune it more in the future as needed.
Exec Committee Chair
    During the organization of the new legislative session, Hughes was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee.
    During the session, the Speaker is responsible for the operation of the Unicameral.
    All other times of the year, the Executive Committee oversees the operation of the capitol building and staff.
    That includes a $20 million budget to run the Unicameral and overseeing a staff of more than 400 people for the Unicameral and capital operations.
    “I make sure the trains run on time and the lights stay on,” he said.
    “I’m always up for a good challenge and I got one,” he quipped.
    As expected, the duties of the chair occupied more of his time. In anticipation of that, he didn’t introduce much legislation this session.
    His major piece of legislation this year, LB 336, passed 49-0 on final reading and was signed by the governor.
    The bill increases the park fee for out-of-state residents. The change will take effect next year.
    It set the resident vehicle annual permit at no more than $35. The non-resident annual vehicle permit shall be two times the resident fee or $60, whichever is greater.
    Initially, the concept was a separate park sticker just for Lake McConaughy and Lake Ogallala.
    Then, a percentage of that revenue would go to Keith County to cover the additional costs the county incurs, especially on holiday weekends, for law enforcement, first responders, etc.
    Working with Game & Parks on the bill, they determined a separate sticker wouldn’t be feasible, so opted for the increase in the park sticker permit for all state parks in Nebraska.
    The goal is to funnel more funds toward all state parks in the state. He was assured by G&P that McConaughy would get its fair share of the additional funds.
Redistricting awaits
    The Legislature will re-convene in a special session this fall after the Census Bureau delivers population figures for Nebraska, which is anticipated in late August.
    Those population figures will be used to divide the state into equally represented legislative districts.
    Hughes said he is not on the redistricting committee but said rural Nebraska is well-presented by senators who will work to preserve rural districts in the redistricting process.