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monday, november3, 1975 volume 99 number 40 lincoln, nebraska
xon s eas
s move
- I
h bill
to floor ofleaislature
By Dick Piersol
Gov. J. James Exon's three-bill package,
designed to avert a state cash flow shortage
in January, without raising tax rates, goes
to the floor of the Legislature today. Only
one of the bills will be reported in its
original form.
Cash flow refers to the necessity to have
enough cash in the general fund to pay the
state's bills as they come due.
LB4, as introduced by Exon and passed
by the Revenue Committee Thursday,
would avoid tax rate increases by allowing
the State Board of Equalization to
discontinue the current five percent
overlevy requirement.
The other two bills, LB 3 and LB6,
have been overhauled and amended by the
Legislature's Appropriations Committee.
LB6 would have cut state general fund
expenditures three per ccnt but it was
rejected by a 5 to 4 vote by the committee
Thursday and replaced by a proposal intro
duced by Utica Sen. Douglas Bereuter and
approved 7 to 2.
Amendment avoids shortage
Bereuter's amendment would free $5.7
million destined for capital construction
and add it to the general fund to help
avoid a cash flow shortage.
Bereuter said after reviewing more than
30 authorized capital construction pro
jects and conferring with architects,
engineers and contractors for those
projects, he found that some of the money
appropriated would not be spent as soon as
had been expected.
He said the executive cash flow model
had anticipated this, but he and legislative
fiscal analysts found far more potentially
idle funds than the cash flow model had
predicted. " -
Capital construction is paid for by three
funds, according to Bereuter, including the
general fund, the Nebraska Captial
Construction Fund (NCCF), which is
basically cigarette tax money, and revenue
sharing funds.
"There is money which won't be spent
in all three accounts, he said. "Money
not spent from NCCF and revenue sharing,
by the amendment, will be transferred
to the general fund. I'd like to stress that
this will not actually delay any construc
tion, it just transfers money."
Budget cuts
Bereuter said he believed some budget
cuts still could be made in the special
session.
"I will try to introduce cuts from the
Revenue Dept., Department of Administra
tive Services, the State Fire Marshal and
the Department of Health," Bereuter said.
"Some of these would be larger than three
per cent, but an across the board three per
cent cut would have been like using a meat
cleaver for brain surgery."
Bereuter said there could have been no
acceptable budget cuts from NU or from
the state colleges. ,
After hearing testimony Friday from
county, city and school board officials
from across the state, the Appropriations
Committee also killed Exon's LB3, 8 to 1.
:. ,
wmrarmnttftfi iik ii. m m Silw i ----- '-- - r wm v-n.itofcjl
" Pfcoto by Tad Kirfc
State Senator Robert Clark of Sidney, sponsor of an amendment to
LB3.
That bill wuld'havc waived specific date
requirements of disbursement of funds to
governmental subdivisions, allowed
issuance of state warrants to delay those
payments if the general fund falls short
and establish priorities of state drafts from
the general fund. ,
One argument presented by state
officials against LB3 was that issuing
warrants to counties, cities and school
boards was simply transferring the state's
cash flow problem to them. Several also
objected to the lowest priority assignment
for general fund drafts given to govern
mental subdivision payments. They siad
that those payments arc not grants or gifts,
but are funds owed those subdivisions
because of properly tax and homestead
exemptions passed by the Legislature.
The committee will meet at 8:30
a.m. today to complete an amendment
replacing LB3. That amendment was
being prepared oyer the weekend by the
committee's fiscal analists according to a
plan offered by Sen. Robert Clark of
Sidney.
G
ade: officer dfesfdence could lead to unionization
By Randy Dlauvelt
UNL Campus 'Police Chief Gail Cade
said Thursday although there currently
are no strong indications of a police
unionization attempt, what he called
evident dissidence and unhappiness among
some officers could be the first step
toward eventual unionization. '
' Gade said many of the complaints made
recently by officers td the Lincoln livening
Journal and in a letter to NU Regent
Robert Prokop were "unjustified."
"We've got a real fine bunch of people,"
Gade said, "but a few want to make issues
of anything."
The pfficers reportedly have complained
about what they call defective patrol cars,
a bad radio communication system,
training programs, salaries, reassignment
policies and a lack of communcation
within the department.
Gade said the blame for defective cars
should not be leveled at the auto pool
because "the officers don't take care of
them (cars)."
- He said that recently there have been a
few accidents that were the officers' fault
and the auto pool is "doing everything
they can" to keep the vehicles in running
condition.
"If they (officers) would take better,
care of the cars, they would operate
better," he said. "But, the ideal solution
would be to have new cars."
Gade said officers were rightfully dis
appointed with radio communications
because of frequent interference.
'There are certain parts of the campuses
where we can't receive or transmit," Gade
said. "The officers justifiably feel they
should be able, to get help when they need
it." .
The problem is being studied, he said.
Gade said a clearly-written policy on
"gun pulling" refutes criticism that the
officers' training program broadens the
number of situations where guns should be
readied.
The policy says officers should not pull
their guns unless their life, or the life of
another person, is in danger. y
According to Gade, a "high" tuinovcr
of officers is caused by better pay offered
by other local law enforcement agencies.
Officer complaints that reassignment of
police without regard for seniority is not
valid, Gade said.
"Rcassignmcnts arc not to be based on
seniority," he said. "We put the officers
where we think they will do the best
job."
About complaints of u lack of
communication between officers and
himself, Gade said lie was available for
discussion at "any and all times."
"We're constantly having meetings,"
he said. "We're not separating ourselves
from the officers."
Gade said the complaint probably
comes from "a handful", of officers who
fail to follow proper grievance procedure.
'They should quit creating a poor image
for the rest of us," he said.
inside
lcfistj
General degree proposed
Women and Politics: Officeholders
give pointers at weekend
conference. , p.5
Proposed Solar Energy Research
Institute: "Hundreds of ideas"
contributed p.3
Also Find:.
Editorials. ........... ." '; . . . p.4
' Aits and Entertainment. ..... p.6
Sports p.7
Crossword p. 8
Short Stuff . , .. ..p.3
'. " Weather '
Monday: Decreasing cloudiness and
warmer. High temperatures in the mid to
upper 60s. Southeast winds ranging from
5-15 m.pJi.
Monday night: Partly cloudy. Lows in
the upper 30s.
Tuesday: Temperatures ranging from
mid to upper 60s.
y t WON'T ff
i
ech mowed for treatment
David Zcch, who fell from his tenth
floor Abel Hall window Aug. 26, was re
leased from Lincoln General Hospital
Friday morning to receive; rehabilitation
treatment at Omaha's inimanuel Medical
Center, according to llobbin Wolfe, a
Lincoln Genera! public relations spokeswoman.
She said Zcch is "coining along well" in
his treatment following the fall.
Zcch, 18, of Douglas, was registered as a
freshsrian at UNL at" the time of his fall on
the second day of classes, lie suffered
several broken bones and head injuries, and
remained in a coma and in critical condi
tion for several weeks.
By Sandy Mohr
Faculty members of the College of Arts
and Sciences will be -voting soon on a
proposal for a new degree program called
a Bachelor of General Studies (BGS).
Friday, the 140 faculty members
present at u faculty meeting voted to put
the BGS a degree program th,at has no
group requirements, to a mad vote. A
simple majority of the approximately 500
faculty members could approve the
proposal.
If passed, the proposal needs the
approval of the NU Board of Regents
before becoming an official degree program
at UNL.
Although the BGS frees the student
from group requirements in the B.A. and
B.S. degrees, other 'requirements remain.
The student must have 125 hours for
graduation, 60 taken in courses numbered
above 199 and 30 above 299.
Tho proposal further states that a
student may or may not choose a major. In
addition, the student must apply to the
dean's office of the College of Arts and
Sciences to be accepted into tlw program.
A quota' of 200 full-time students per
year in the program would be filled on a
first-come, first -served basis.
The BGS currently is being offered in
several colleges and universities thoughout
the nation.
The Arts and Sciences Student Advisory
Board Curriculum Committee first drafted
the BGS proposal in 1973.
"The BGS represents an option for
students with interdisciplinary or alternate
interests who wish to pursue these interests
in a program of individual design," the
committee's proposal states, "or for
mature persons who wish to return to the
university for further studies."
Associate Dean Raymond Haggh cited
cases of housewives who. he said, wanted
to return to school to get a degree, but the
math or language requirements hindered
them.
Objections raised at the faculty meeting
questioned whether students would receive
a quality education under the program.
The .program would be cheating u
student, English Professor Robert Knoll
said, because "yu lead-him to think he's
getting an education when he's not."
llaggh said studies at other colleges
have shown students enrolled in the BGS
program "tend to be very goal oriented
and creative in their programs."
He added that careful advising should
prevent a student from acquiring a degree
that is cither too highly concentrated or
too general.
