Legislative hearings make for some very long days

    Day-long hearings and a lot of testimony filled the Nebraska Legislature last week, according Dist. 44 Senator Teresa Ibach, who updated constituents at her Tuesday call-in.
    Floor debates began  Monday this week, which was partly filled with approvals for department heads and directors of agencies. Ibach said she is looking forward to moving by that process and onto legislative business.
    Ibach said the Ag Committee, on which she serves, heard several bills Feb. 7. One of them was LB 562, sponsored by Senator Myron Dorn, which would require fuel stations to carry E-15 within the next four years.
    “There wasn’t much testimony for the bill, either for or against,” Ibach said.
    Some of the opposition came from gas station operators, who stated it will be cost prohibitive. However, the renewable fuels industry would make $30 million available over the next three years to help change out pumps at stations to have one available to carry E-15, she said.
    “There is a little bit of push-back with this proposal, but not enough to prevent it from getting out of committee and onto the floor,” Ibach said.
    “For the most part I think it is a really amicable bill that supports our farmers and the ethanol business,” she said.
    Ibach encouraged feedback from District 44 constituents on the bill.
    Also presented last week was Ibach’s LB 218. The bill would increase the appropriation to the Noxious Weed and Invasive Plant Species Assistance Fund from $3 million to $6 million beginning in FY23-24 for the management of vegetation within the banks or the flood plain of a natural stream.  
    Ibach said the bill did not meet any opposition.
    “Several Natural Resources District representatives and weed management districts were in Lincoln to support it,” she said.
    LB 229 clarifies that cattle that do not travel directly from a point of origin to a registered feedlot are subject to brand inspection upon arrival at the registered feedlot.
    Ibach said that feedlot owners, including Brad Foote of Imperial Beef, were on hand to testify against the bill.
    “Currently, there is litigation in the supreme court that will most likely settle this,”  she said. “The bill will most likely get tabled in committee until that litigation is heard in court in March sometime.”
    Ibach highlighted two other bills that will be heard in the Ag Committee this week.
    One is LB 740, which would standardize and streamline the permitting and inspections processes for food trucks,encouraging entrepreneurship and maintaining dining choices for consumers.
    The other bill, LB 662, would amend the Nebraska Right to Farm Act to protect agricultural operations from frivolous lawsuits.
Business, Labor Committee
    Because the Business and Labor Committee did not meet last week and the group only has four days left to meet, Monday’s committee meeting was “marathon.”
    One of the bills heard in that committee dealt with detasseling.
    LB 393 would require seed companies to report the number of acres to be planted to the Director of Agriculture and limits the working hours for employees hired for detasseling work to 10 hours per day, 60 hours per week and limits the daytime working hours to between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
    “We don’t have a lot of detasseling in District 44, but in central and eastern Nebraska they do,” she said.
    Another bill to be heard in that committee will be LB 327 that would cap an increase in the minimum wage based on the Consumer Price Index at 1.5%.
    “We were doing the math and by 2030 the minimum wage with the CPI language in it could reach $30 to $31 per hour,” Ibach said.
    “This bill intends to cap that after the $15 an hour,” she said.
    She indicated that those who voted for the minimum wage increase probably were not looking at the CPI language and what it could do to the minimum wage in the long-term.
    “The fallout (if the cap is not implemented) is increased prices at restaurants and grocery stores because owners will pass that wage on through to the cost of food,” she said
    “I am really engaged with this bill because it could really affect everyone in our small towns,” she said.
    LB 335 would establish a health care staffing agency registration. This would require nursing and other hospital employee hiring agencies who come into Nebraska and provide staff to pay a $500 annual fee, which “would level the playing field,” she said.
    “Those dollars go back into funding local health care providers.”
Judiciary Committee
    In the Judiciary Committee, LB 219 will be heard, which would direct the Department of Health and Human Services, Medicaid and Long-Term Care Division to rebase inpatient interim per diem rates for critical access hospitals.
    The department shall rebase the rates using the most recent audited Medicare cost report. This would help get payments out to the hospital quicker, she said.
    “There weren’t a lot of opponents to the bill, and there was a lot of positive feedback,” she said.  “ I think it will make it out of committee.”
    Also heard was LB 220, which would require the Board of Pardons to notify a victim whose name appears in the file of a convicted person, via certified mail, of any pardon or commutation proceedings at least 90 calendar days prior to the proceeding and within 10 days if a pardon or commutation has been granted.  
    Ibach said this bill will correct a breakdown that happened when the Board of Pardons shifted to the Board of Parole.
    “The notification language was lost in transition,” she said.
    LB 588 would adopt the medical cannabis act and provides all regulatory framework to establish access to cannabis for medical purposes.
    In Ibach’s opinion, the bill is unconstitutional because the FDA has not approved medical marijuana yet.
    “I do feel it will get out of committee, but I’m not 100% confident where it will go because there is push back.”
    LB 730, which deals with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) stipulations, was also discussed.
    The bill would require banking institutions, credit unions and insurance providers to provide products and services to persons based on quantitative financial standards adopted in advance by the particular institution.     
    Additionally, it provides that any banking institution, credit union or insurance provider that adopts a policy or standard based on subjective, nontraditional criteria must disclose the policy and standard to the appropriate state entity and includes a consumer notice requirement if services are denied on the basis of non-traditional criteria.
    LB 575 would prohibit the participation of biological males in interscholastic K-12 athletics designated for biological females and biological females from competing in interscholastic K-12 athletics designated for males, with the exception that biological females may compete in interscholastic athletics with biological males where no other opportunity to compete with biological females exists.
    It also prohibits biological males from using restroom or locker room facilities designated for biological females and biological females from using those facilities designated for biological males with certain exceptions for coaches, authorized personnel and emergency personnel.
    Finally, LB 575 defines terms, provides cause for civil action for violation of the act and empowers the Attorney General to defend any public institution subjected to a lawsuit for compliance with the act.
Short week
    Ibach said that this week and next week will be short ones for senators as they have a Friday/Monday recess.
    She encourages all constituents to reach out to her with any needs or questions they may have, or join her on the call-in next Tuesday. Those wanting to participate in the call-in should contact Kevin Poppe for more information, kpoppe@gpcom.com.