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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1996)
Travis Heying/DN Sen. Dave Landis of Lincoln and his daughter, Melissa, share a lighthearted moment on the final day of the 1996 legislative session. 1996 Legislature calls it quits By Ted Taylor Senior Reporter The neckt ics were a 1 itt le brigh ter Thursday, the smiles were a little wider, and Lt. Gov. Kim Robak -even let an in Legislature fam on the floor ■Oft t °f Legisla 5,0 ture. Jli Welcome to the last day ot the 1996 Legislative session. Senators fin ished the 60-day 1_|| M J 1996 session at u— 2:42 p.m. Thurs day afternoon, but not before law makers made a run to override some of the governor’s vetoes. All at tempts failed. Speaker of the Legislature Ron Wi them of Papi 11 ion said there were no major questions left unresolved as senators adjourned for the year. “There was very little that didn’t get addressed,” he said. W i t hem said he also was pleased that almost all of the measures he called “major proposals” were not only addressed but passed. Those proposals dealt with speeds limits, the budget, gambling, properly taxes, the Conjunctive Water Act and the restructuring of the department of Social Services. Every bill but one, which dealt “People are tired, and they want to go home. ” SEN. ARDYCE BOHLKE Hastings with expanded gambling in the state, was passed and signed by the gov ernor. The property tax package, Withem said, was definitely the most important bill passed by the Legislature. But Withem said he wasn’t sure if his declaration of the major pro posals sent them through any quicker. He said he thought it had a psy chological impact because legisla tors seemed to work harder when debate on the bills started. “Their work ethic seemed to change,” he said. “And I think they took them a little more seriously.” Hastings Sen. Ardycc Bohlkc said she was amazed at the number of issues the Legislature addressed, and the number of bills it passed. Boh Ike said the “last day of sixth grade” atmosphere could be attrib uted to one thing. “People are tired, and they want to go home,” she said. The short session, she said, made the senators more willing to recog nize that some bills had come to the end. But Bohlke said the senators’ jobs were not done. “They’ll go home and reassess what didn’t get done.” All bills that were not on final reading are indefinitely postponed and must be reintroduced next ses sion. Bills at the end of the 90-day session can be carried over. Gov. Ben Nelson addressed the Legislature shortly before it ad journed. He thanked the senators for following through on his Janu ary request to turn challenges into opportunities. “Today, three months later, I’m here on behalf of all Nebraskans to thank you for doing just that,” Nelson said. “If the father of the unicameral, George W. Norris, were standing up there in the balcony now, he would be proud of what you have been able to accomplish in what is called a short session.” But Nelson reminded senators that some challenges remained for the future, such as finding a way to give Nebraskans a tax cut, keeping a focus on crime and continuing a commitment to agriculture. “We must continue our efforts to turn our state’s brain drain into brain gain, by providingjob oppor tunities for our best and brightest right here at home,” he said. Two outgoing senators honored by Legislature By Ted Taylor and Erin Schulte Senior Reporter and Staff Reporter Four boys no older than 11 could be blamed for the Nebraska Legislature losing two state senators. They are the sons of Sens. John Lindsay of Omaha and David Ber nard-Stevens of North Platte. Both senators said they would resign after the session this year for a chance to spend more time with their boys and their wives. And both were honored for their eight years ofservice to the state Thurs day during the last day of the 1996 Legislative session. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who often butted heads with Lindsay, stood before the body to present a plaque to his fellow Omahan. Chambers said the Legislature would be poorer and the state would be lesser with Lindsay’s absence. Lindsay, 39, said he had carried a lot of titles in his life—senator, chair man, and at his Omaha law practice, counsel. But my favorite title has to be daddy,” he said as looked toward his wife, Mary Beth, who sat under the South balcony. “Now I get a chance to play a little t-ball with Johnny (5), and fly a kite with Patrick (3),” he said,nearly break ing into tears. Before the final day of the session, Bernard-Stcvens said it was a difficult decision to resign from his seat, but home and family called. “It’s a family thing when you’re in the Legislature, and we decided we didn’t have it left in us,” he said. “I just asked myself, 'What are my real pri orities?”’ Bemaru-btevens will go Home to his wife, Janet, and two sons, David, 11, and Matthew, 5. And Thursday, when Bcrnard Stcvens stood at the clerk’s podium addressing his colleagues of nine years, he too nearly cried. “There’s a lime when you say,' It’s time,’ and you go to the higher priori ties,” he said. Bernard-Stcvens, the 1982 Ne braska Teacher of the Year, said he had no idea what he would do next, but he hoped it involved education. “I would look toward the educa tional field — but I am not in any rush,” the 1974 University of Ne braska-Lincoln graduate said. Appointed by the governor and then elected in 1988,1990 and 1994, Bcr nard-Stevens also was named one of the nation’s top four teachers in 1983. Speaker of the Legislature Ron “Jt s a family thing when you ’re in the Legislature, and we decided we didn’t have it left in us.” Sen. David Bernard Stevens of North Platte “My favorite title has to he daddy. ” Sen. John Lindsay of Omaha Withem of Papillion presented Ber nard-Stevens a plaque and called him a “strong defender of the state.” Lindsay, an Omaha native and Creighton University graduate, said he dreamed of becoming a state sena tor since he was a child. Before being elected in 1988 at the age of 29, he attended the College of Law at UNL, where he graduated in 1982. “I took my law books to the balcony to study,” he said, referring to the balcony looking over the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber. “I’ve truly lived my dream.” He planned on returning to Omaha and taking some time off before get ting back into Lindsay and Lindsay, the law practice he and his brother operate. “But right now,” Lindsay said as they turned the lights off in the Legis lative chamber, “I’m going to a movie with my wife.” Forum Continued from Page 1 performed them. Stenberg said the only exception he favored to an abortion ban would be to save the life of the mother. On the issue of taxes, Stenberg pointed out that the taxes had be come far too complicated and high. In 1948 Stenberg’s parents paid 2 percent federal income tax, compared to today’s 24 percent average tax rate. Large-scale tax reform is over due, Stenberg said. Again Hagel agreed and said a new tax plan should reward, not pun ish, people for saving and investing. The only issue Hagel and Stenberg disagreed on was the role of federal government in farm subsidies. Hagel said the recently passed farm bill, which gives farmers more control over their crop yields and prices, would bring growth to the state’s agriculture. “This could be a golden age for farmers and ranchers if we pull gov ernment off their backs,” Hagel said. Stenberg said the farm bill helped farmers but had disadvantages. “I think we need to maintain some tics between price levels and some support payment.” Stenberg said he would like to reopen the issue on the Senate floor if enough other Republicans would sup port changes. UNL Horticulture Club’s w Spring Bedding Plant Sale April 19th & 20th 7:30am to 4:30pm Greenhouse East of Plant Science Building Featuring: Annuals, Perennials, Vegetables, and Herbs Questions Call: 472-2854 Lectures by Richard White nature’s nation APRIL 22-24, l99& Richard White is a professor of history at the University of Washington. He is the author of The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815, which won the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association, the Rawley Prize presented by the Organization of American Historians, and the Francis Parkman Prize. His other works include “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own: ” A History of the American West, The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change among the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos; and The Organic Machine. zz April Natures Nation 7:30 pm The Politics of an American Nature and the Nature of an American Politics in an American Canon Z3 April Knowing Nature 7:30 pm Work and Leisure in the Construction of an American Nature 24 april Disney’s Land 7:30 pm Walt Disney, Popular Culture, and American Nature All lectures will take place in the Steinhart Room, Lied Center All lectures will be free and open to the public. Sponsored by the University of Nebraska Press, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Great Plains Studies, the Departments of History, Sociology, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, and Geography, and the Great Plains Art Collection.