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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1981)
page 2 daily nebraskan Wednesday, april 1, 1981 Legislative bills represent expense to taxpayer By Kim Hachiya More than one-fifth of the legislative bills introduced this session have been killed so far 112 of the 555 bills. Even so, these bills represent a cost to the taxpayer. Richard Brown, assistant clerk of the Legislature, es timated the cost of processing a bill passed by the Legis lature at $10,000 to $15,000 per bill. He said he arrived at what he termed an "unscientific estimate" by dividing the Legislative Council's budget by the number of bills signed into law last session. Brown said, however, that this estimate did not include bills killed or held over and included some hard-to-define expenses such as the state Ombudsman's Office, which is funded from the Legislature's appropriation. Hie Legislature's allocation for fiscal 1980-81 is about $5.8 million and as of March 1 , about 50 percent of it had been spent, according to Laura Ashelford, accountant for the Legislative Council. Oomisa be fooled! on Mpral feels Try your am taste test. Compare Sdtlrtz with the beer you're present drinkmj. lVe think you'll prefer the quality taste of Sehlitz. iii Save on almost everything in the store at Today through Sunday only. Get Big Discounts on Levi's, Brittania, Jordache, etc. This coupon good for OFF Any Women's Jeans Levi's, Brittania, Calvin Klein, Chic. (Sale items excluded) at king Jeans Coupon good through April 5, 1981 This coupon good for OFF Any Painter's Pants at king Jeans ' I Al l A r r n wiupon guuu inrougn Mprii ijjo I This coupon good for r This coupon good for OF i i Any Levi's Movin' on, j Brittania, Jordache I I I (Sale items excluded) at I king Jeans i Coupon good through April 5, 1981 This coupon good for OFF Any Guy's or Gal's Shirt or Top (Sale items excluded) at KING Jeans Coupon good through April 5. 1981 OFF Any Jean or Pants Regardless of price! at KiNGjeans Coupon good through April 5, 1981 mm mm mmm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm This coupon good for o Any Levi's Recycled Jeans at KiNGjeans Bon't miss this chance to save! 14th & 0 Expenses include postage, telephones, computer time, publications, salaries, supplies and travel. Publications costs large part Although salaries and benefits represent the largest chunk of the legislative budget, publications costs are a large portion of the daily operating expenses. The bulk of legislature and agency printing needs are performed by the State Print Shop in the basement of the Capitol. Donnabelle Millet, legislative bill room supervisor, said 1,200 "green" copies are made of each bill as it is intro duced. Half are mailed to agencies and others who request them, 300 to state offices and senators and 300 are re served for the public. Millet said the bill room tries to limit the number of bills a person can pick up to 10, but, she said, the office sometimes runs out of copies of controversial bills and has to have some reprinted. One thousand "buff" copies are printed for bills in final reading on the floor. Millet said if a bill is extensively amended, it may be reprinted several times. Copies approved by governor One thousand white copies of the bill as approved by the governor also are printed. Nearly $250,000 was spent on publishing during Feb ruary. Computer times also represents a portion of the opera ting budget, with several offices using computers for re search. About $85,000 was spent on computer times in February. Every bill submitted must be reviewed by the Fiscal Analyist's Office for Fiscal Impact, and Gerry Oligmueller, deputy director of the office, said compu ters help with this analysis. Oligmueller said the time involved in developing a fiscal analysis depends on the kind of bill submitted for review. "Some legislation is so simple it takes five minutes to fill out the form," he said. "Others are more complicated and can take several hours or days to complete." He said bills that significantly affect tax statutes or retirement statutes that require actuarial analysis are the most time consuming. Another office that makes significant use of computers is the Bill Drafter's Office, which draws up and reviews every bill. Dale Godfrey, an attorney in the office, said a staff attorney or technician can spend anywhere from half an hour to two weeks working on a bill. Continued on Page 3 nu Don't Be fin April Fool! EARN UP TO $90 PER MONTH $10 paid per donation (and you can donate twice weekly) A $2.00 bonus will he paid to new donors on their first donation with this ad CALL FUR AN APPOINTMENT1 UNIVERSITY PLASMA CENTER Open Monday - Saturday 8:00 a.m. -6 p.m. 1442 '0' St. 475-8645