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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 85 " . TTTT
_January 17,1996_
Major cuts
necessary,
senators say
By Matthew Waite
Senior Editor
Not one senator said Tuesday
whether he or she opposed property
tax relief or advocated raising income
and sales taxes in what will most likely
be the coolest of property tax debates
of the 1996 session.
- But agreement
Legislature on a resolution, de
* J signed by its spon
sors to promote
broad debate on
property taxes,
stopped with a gen
eral agreement that
a tax shift was not
the answer and ma
jor cuts in govern
ment services were
coming.
The non-binding resolution, intro
duced by Sen. Jerome Warner of
Waverly, was the only issue on the
agenda for the morning. The body
adjourned before senators could vote
on the matter.
Speaker Ron Withem of Papillion
said he would not schedule the resolu
tion for today. The issue probably will
not come back untilafterFeb. I, when
the four property tax measures make
their way through different commit
tees.
The resolution was a general state
ment of the Legislature’s intent on the
property tax issue. Warner said he
See TAX on 3
Task force
will sponsor
violence forums
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
A task force created in the wake of
the Lawrence Phillips incident has
been researching violence and what
groups are more likely tobevictims,a
co-chairman said Tuesday.
“It’s a delicate issue, when you get
into violence and what causes it,” said
George Tuck, a UNL news-editorial
professor.
The 12-member Task Force on
Conduct Standards and Behavioral
Expectations was appointed by In
terim Chancellor Joan Leitzel in No
vember after Phillips, an NU football
player, assaulted his former girlfriend.
The task force primarily has been
focusing on campus violence, but other
issues such as campus robberies and
other crimes were being discussed,
said Peg Blake, director of the Uni
versity Health Center and co-chair
woman of the task force.
The task force also has been work
ing on a survey on violence, gathering
statistics and getting ready to sponsor
public forums on campus.
Blake said four public forums
would be held soon to discuss vio
lence on campus. She said the dates,
times and locations of the forums
would be released after the task force
meets bn Friday.
“We have set tentative dates,” she
said. “We dbn’t want to release them
until they are confirmed with the rest
of the task force.”
Tuck said everyone would be wel
come at the forums and that no spe
~ See COMMITTEE on 6
Court rejects Nebraska’s protest
By Chad Lorenz
Senior fteporter
The U.S. Supreme Court Tues
day upheld a federal law forcing
Nebraska to allow Medicaid funds
to be used for abortions in pregnan
cies resulting from rape or incest.
The court rejected Nebraska’s
argument that states participating
in the federal Medicaid program
had to fund abortions only in cases
when the mother’s life was endan
gered.
“We’re not surprised,” said at
torney Lawrence I. Batt, who rep
resented the doctor bringing the
case against the state. “Every court
that has seen this case has agreed
with us, and now the Supreme Court
has finally put it to bed.”
Gov. Ben Nelson said in a state
ment that he was disappointed by
the ruling and that the court misin
terpreted the law’s intent.
“The bottom line is that we ob
ject to the federal government tell
ing us, in this matter and in others,
what we as a state must do,” Nelson
said. “I think most would agree that
the federal mandates are not neces
sarily in the best interests of the
states.”
Under the 1976 Hyde Amend
ment, Congress has regulated
Medicaid funding of abortions for
poor women. From 1981 to 1993,
Medicaid paid for abortions only
when a woman’s life was at risk.
In 1994, Congress required all
states to allow Medicaid-funded
abortions for victims of rape or
incest, but Nebraska refused to pay
for those abortions.
Dr. William G. Orr and his
Omaha obstetrics-gynecology prac
tice sued the state in 1994 after
officials refused to provide Medic
aid for an abortion performed on a
woman who had been impregnated
from rape.
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive
director of Nebraska Right to Life,
said the state shouldn’t be respon
sible for abortions.
“We don’t think it’s the state’s
duty to pay to kill your child,”
Schmit-Albin said.
The Hyde Amendment should
be limited to saving the lives of
mothers, she said. President Clinton
included aid for rape and incest
victims based on his support for
abortion rights, Schmit-Albin said.
“I think the state taxpayers
should not be forced to pay this
expanded version of abortion cov
erage.”
Susan Hale, a lobbyist for
Planned Parenthood of Council
Bluffs, Iowa, said the state would
be wrong in denying funds under
those circumstances.
“It is a tragedy to victimize
women who have already been vic
tims of rape or incest,” Hale said.
“It (Medicaid) needs to be there for
those horrendous moments.”
Hale said Nelson was being un
fair to refuse abortion aid to rape
and incest victims while promoting
welfare reform in which women
didn’t get additional aid for having
more children.
“This is the height of hypoc
risy,” Hale said. “It is immoral of a
state to place women in a lose-lose
situation.”
The Associated Press contributed to
this report
Travis Heying/DN
Laura Valenziano, computer services manager for the Legislature, oversees the Unicameral’s new site on the World Wide Web.
Cyber Capitol
Legislature’s web site helps inform citizens
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska State Capitol is now
open 24 hours a day—with the right
key.
And everyone with access to the
World Wide Web now has it: http://
unicam 1 .lcs.state.ne.us/.
Since Jan. 2, the Nebraska
Legislature’s web site has allowed citi
zens to monitor the day-to-day activ
ity of state senators.
Thanks to Sen. Don Preister of
Omaha* web users can access legisla
tive bills* check the daily agenda and
tlnd general information about the
Unicameral.
A priority bill for Preister in 1994,
“There were no real added expenses for putting up
the web site. We were able to do it because of other
projects we had going on. ”
LAURA VALENZIANO
computer services manager
LB1359 was initially killed in com
mittee, but was amended, passed and
signed by Gov. Ben Nelson as LB 1243
in April of that year.
When asked why it took two years
to finally get up and going, Preister
could only speculate.
“Nobody openly admitted it
wouldn’t be a good idea,” he said.
“But it took two years, so there was
obvious opposition.”
Laura Valenziano, computer ser
vices manager for the Legislature and
creator of the web site, said the stale
mate couldn’t have been over cost.
“It didn’t real ly cost anything,” she
said. “There were no real added ex
penses for putting up the web site. We
were able to do it because of other
projects we had going on.”
Preister said the time had come for
the Unicameral to get in line with
other states — such as California —
and get on-line.
“It was my priority bill in ’94 be
cause I thought it was extremely im
portant,” he said. “We had the capac
ity, capability and resources to make
all our legislation available to the pub
lic.”
Valenziano said the web site would
help constituent service.
“I think the main thing is that it
provides access to legislative deci
See ON-LINE on 3
