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Johanns rejects aid bill
after new amendment
AID from page 1
mg if the Legislature cut state aid, he
said.
“Within the framework we have
imposed on them, they have no place
else to go,” he said. But he said he
offered the amendment only to struc
ture the debate - he did not support
Kristensen’s amendment, even with the
change he proposed
Kristensen supported
Wickersham’s amendment, which
eventually passed, but the possibility of
raising property taxes made other sena
tors nervous.
Wahoo Sen. Curt Bromm said
reducing property tax levies required a
tough battle and a deliberate plan.
“We have to follow through with
what we started,” he said
Sen. George Coordsen of Hebron
said the last time the state saw a revenue
reduction was 1936. Since then, he said,
the biggest reduction was actually a
lower increase from a previous year.
“The administration seems to be
talking about an Armageddon,” he said
If an economic downturn is on its way,
he said, the first ripples have been seen
in agriculture - the very industry that
would suffer by an increase in property
tax levies.
But Plattsmouth Sen. Roger
Wehrbein, who supported the
Kristensen amendment; said his sup
port was not based on a looming eco
nomic disaster. If tough times come, he
said, schools should share in the cuts.
“(The amendment) simply says
we’re going to leave that option if and
when that time comes,” he said. “You
have to say where we are going to draw
the line.”
But Hastings ben. Ardyce Bohlke
joined other senators in saying the bill
would send schools back to die instabil
ity that prompted LB149.
The Kristensen amendment,
Bohlke said, would not let schools
know for certain how to plan budgets
until the end of the legislative session.
“I believe it pulls the rug out from
the whole issue of predictability and
stability,” she said.
The bill exempts schools from pay
ing back $19.3 million via cuts because
of a miscalculation. It also changes the
date for recertification of state aid to
Feb. 1 to allow for more accurate bud
get figures in time for schools to meet
April 15 deadlines for making staffing
decisions.
Stanton Sen. Stan Schellpeper
agreed. Schools in his district will not
be able to operate without additional
state aid, he said. The real thrust behind
Kristensen’s amendment, he said, was
Johanns’ property tax rebate plan.
Kristensen said his motivation for
introducing the amendment traced
back to arguments against failed
Initiative 413, which would have set a
constitutional limit on spending. It was
hard for him to explain senators could
not touch half the state budget, he said.
Set items in the budget force sena
tors to look at university and state col
lege funding or courts or smaller items,
he said.
“You arc not stewards of each indi
vidual school district’s budget,” he said.
“You are stewards of the state budget
first”
After Wednesday’s vote, he said he
was disappointed.
“The Legislature missed a great
opportunity to remove the entitlement
concepts of state aid,” he said. “We
More fees on traffic
tickets proposed
Omaha Sen. Deb Suttle presented
a bill Wednesday that would tack on
an additional $20 fee for traffic
infractions in addition to the cost of
the ticket and court costs.
LB222, heard by the Judiciary
Committee, aims to protect the public
amid inadequate law enforcement of
traffic laws by making breaking the
law more expensive, Suttle said.
The additional fee money under
the bill would go to individual law
enforcement agencies that made the
traffic conviction.
Domestic-violence convicts
face limited gun access
Trenton Sen. Tom Baker wants
to bring Nebraska into accordance
with federal law designed to pre
vent handgun purchases by people
convicted of misdemeanors that
involve domestic violence.
LB613, heard by the Judiciary
Committee on Wednesday, would
require law enforcement to make fin
gerprint cards that designate an
assault as a domestic violence
assault. LB613 would bring
Nebraska un to sneed with reauire
ments in the federal Brady
Bill.Although domestic violence
itself is not an offense, it is an element ,
in some assaults. Domestic violence
may occur when a person such as a
guardian or spouse assaults an
acquaintance such as a current or for
mer spouse, or parent or guardian
who is living with them.
Omaha Sen. Kermit Brashear
pointed out that it is already possible
to track down domestic violence
offenders.
Bill proponents, which included
law-enforcement groups and anti
violence coalitions, said tracking
down people who commit acts of
domestic violence sometimes
requires determining the county
where the offense was committed,
which can be tedious.
Bill would cut down on
prisoner transports
Brashear asked the Judiciary
Committee on Wednesday to consid
er his bill, LB623, which would give
prisoners the option to appear in court
via television.
Members of various law agencies
testified in favor of the bill, saying it
would make the public, corrections
staff and prisoners safer.
The bill would give offenders the
option to appear via television instead
of in the courtroom. The bill does not
apply to trials, but to procedures such
as preliminary hearings.
Sgt Ron Ochsner, with the Hall
County Sheriff’s Department, said
prisoners walk in chains up and down
three flights of stairs and pass by a
public door on the way to court in
Hall County. A prisoner once escaped
out that public door while walking to
court.
Eliminating that trip to court and
replacing it with a video appearance
is safer and could save time and
money, he said.
“We feel it’s a safety issue, and it’s
a benefit for everybody,” he said.
Statewide S.T.O.P. classes
proposed under new bills
Currently about half of
Nebraska’s 93 counties offer a traffic
safety class as arraltemative to being
convicted of a minor traffic infrac
tion, such as speeding.
Two bills heard by the Judiciary
Committee on Wednesday would
mandate Safety Training Option
Programs as a pre-trial diversion
across the state. Traffic violators
would be given the option to take the
V1UOO.
LB565, sponsored by Ord Sen.
Jerry Schmitt, and LB593, sponsored
by Columbus Sen. Jennie Robak,
would coordinate statewide traffic
diversion programs.
Schmitt said the fee for S.T.O.P.
classes varies greatly from county to
county.
Traffic violators in Omaha can
opt to pay a flat $35 fee for the class,
while Hooker County residents pay
$ 150 for the class plus court costs.
He also pointed out it is hard to
track who has taken the class and
when. Traffic violators are allowed to
take the class once every three years.
Schmitt said people who gamer
offenses in different counties quite
often take the class more than once in
three years.
Kent Turnbull, from die Nebraska
County Attorneys Association,
opposed the bill because he felt cur
rent county programs were adequate.
He also said mandating programs
may not be the fairest route because
people in Omaha and people in west
ern Nebraska have different driving
experiences.
Compiled by senior staff writer
Jessica Fargen
missed an opportunity to give the sys
tem flexibility, and that’s a real shame.”
Chris Peterson, Johanns’ press sec
retary, agreed.
“This is about who drives die bus,”
he said. “LB 149, as it is currently writ
ten, asks the governor and the
Legislature to take a seat on the bus
while the computer drives the bus.”
Lincoln Sen. LaVon Crosby, who
joined Omaha Sens. Ernie Chambers
and Pam Redfield as the only dissent
ing votes on the bill, said she was
against the bill from the beginning.
“I’m not for the concept of just
handing (schools) the money,” she said.
“But obviously it’s on a fast track.”
Bohlke, who has been the chief pro
ponent of LB 149 as the Education
Committee chairwoman, said she was
pleased with the vote despite pressure
from the governor’s office. Senators are
committed to property tax relief and
quality schools, she said.
When asked if she thought LB 149
supporters had dodged a bullet
Wednesday, she said:
“I would say it just stowed that we
have bulletproof vests when it comes to
those issues.”
Corrections
Because of a reporting error, Monday’s story about
{ a UNL distance-education program contained incor
rect information. The Communications Learning and
Assessment in a Student-centered System curriculum
for high school will improve upon, but not replace,
UNL’s paper-based correspondence courses. Twenty
CLASS courses are available, and 55 - enough to com
plete a high school diploma - will be offered by
October 2001.
-E
Because of an editing error, a story last week about
student loans contained incorrect information. NEB
HELP went from a nonprofit organization to a for
profit organization.
Because of a reporting error, Wednesday’s story on
the J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer
Science and Management contained incorrect infor
mation. Fifteen students who will be recruited region
ally will enroll in the graduate program in August.