Legislature faces daunting tasks
ISSUES from page!
Time also promises to be a thorn in the
senators’ sides when they create a budget for
the state.
Final revenue projections will not be
available until the end of February or the
beginning of April, which puts an additional
squeeze on senators who will be bogged down
in redistricting woes, Wehrbein said.
A final budget is supposed to hit the floor
for debate on April 20th, he said.
Budget forecasts paint a dreary picture
that shows the state being several hundred
million dollars in the red, Bruning said.
Fueling this budget shortfall, he said, are
proposals for increased teacher pay and a
request from the University of Nebraska for
$50 million more than it received last year.
To pay for these increases and to shore up
the budget, Bruning said, tlje Legislature will
consider several different measures including
expanding the sales tax to cover services and
possibly relaxing property tax levies.
But, he said, most senators are leery about
adjusting property taxes so the revenue will
most likely come from elsewhere or other
government programs will have to be
trimmed.
Beyond the massive redistricting and
budget issues, Wehrbein said the Legislature
will also face controversial topics when it
debates lowering the blood alcohol content at
which drivers are considered legally drunk
from .1 to .08.
The federal government has mandated
that states drop their BAC levels if they want to
receive federal money for road maintenance,
he said.
Wehrbein said the BAC controversy has
created intense debate in the past.
Wickersham said he anticipates conflicts
over the controversial research at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center using
tissues from aborted fetuses.
Last year, he said, several senators voiced
intense opposition to the research and prom
ised more conflict this year.
None of the senators interviewed by the
Daily Nebraskan were willing to speculate on
how these issues would be resolved.
But Bruning said he did know one thing
for certain:
“There will be many spirited debates.”
New senators take over committee seats
\
SENATORS from pagel
sary experience to navigate
through the difficult budget
process.
But she said new senators
with different perspectives also
can improve the Legislature’s
budget and bills.,
“New eyes, on the issues are
good, too,” Brown said.
Freshman dominance also
spilled into the process of elect
ing committee chairmen.
In three of the four competi
tive races for committee chair
men positions, a veteran sena
tor lost to a less-experienced
member.
Senators are elected to com
mittee chairmen positions by a
vote of the entire 49-member
Legislature.
The influential Education
Committee, which played host
to this year's most intense chair
manship battle, fell into the
hands of the least-experienced
senator.
Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln,
elected to the Legislature in
1997, beat out Sens. Elaine Stuhr
of Bradshaw and Nancy
Thompson of Papillion who
both had more experience
under their belts.
Raikes saidthe competition
for the position was intense and
that all the candidates had solid
campaigns.
Raikes cited his interest and
experience in school finance
issues, which will be important
in this session with teacher pay
at the forefront of legislative
issues, as a factor that may have
tipped the hat his way.
With such a divisive issue on
the table, Raikes said, his fellow
senators also might have elected
him because of his moderate
stance on the issue.
The chairman of the
Education Committee, he said,
will be in charge of reconciling
•the conservative and liberal
positions.
"A moderate can get a feel for
both sides,” he said.
As the dust of the committee
battles settled, members of the
Legislature embarked on the
task of introducing this session’s
bills.
Several key bills have
emerged since senators began
introducing legislation on
Thursday::
■ Sen. Chris Beutler of
Lincoln introduced a bill to rec
oncile opposing sides in the
debate concerning research at
the University of Nebraska
Medical Center using tissue
from aborted fetuses.
LB304 would prohibit
groups from selling and trans
ferring fetal tissue. The bill also
mandates that the Medical
Center stop using aborted fetal /
tissue as soon as alternative
sources have been located. In
addition, the bill provides for a
system to monitor the use of the
tissue.
■ Sen. Pam Redfield of
Omaha plans to tackle unwant
ed e-mails that clog Internet
accounts.
Her bill, LB26, would let
Internet users sue for damages
when unsolicited e-mails or e
mail viruses damage their
accounts.
“We want to stop unsolicited
e-mails from jamming boxes
full,” she said.
Redfield said when these
emails shut down systems
because of too much volume,
they hurt users financially and
hinder law enforcement offi
cials who need to use the vari
ous email systems.
■ Nebraska’s method of exe
cution will be changed from
electrocution to lethal injection
if Sen. Ion Bruning of Sarpy
County gets his bill passed.
Many courts seemed poised
to rule that death by electrocu
tion is a cruel and unusual pun
ishment, he said. By passing
LB62 now, Bruning said, the
Legislature will avoid future
work.
Bruning said he supports the
death penalty but believes that
electrocution might be unnec
essarily painful.
“There is no need for extra
suffering,” he said.
■ Several bills addressing
teacher pay were announced
during the last week.
The Education Committee
introduced a bill that meets all
of the recommendations of a
Teacher Pay Task Force estab
lished by the Legislature last
year.
LB305’s most far-reaching
suggestion is to provide teach
ers with salary stipends ranging
from $2,000 to $5,000.
Raikes, chairman of the
Education Committee, said the
committee’s bill will be one of
many dealing with the issue.
■ Late night beer drinkers
will rejoice if a bill from Sen.
John Hilgert of Omaha passes.
LB231 proposes to allow
bars to keep their doors open
until 1:30 a.m. instead of 1 a.m.
■ Cell phone users might
have to ditch their telephones
when driving if a bill introduced
by Sen. David Landis of Lincoln
is passed.
LB42 would mandate that
anyone who was using a cell
phone when involved in a car
accident would be automatical
ly held partially responsible for
the collision.
But,^andis said, courts ^
would examine each situation
individually so people involved
in accidents that had nothing to
do with cell phones would not
be forced to hold the guilty card.
"We’re looking for a reason
able way to address this issue,”
he said.
Passing a bill isn't
as easy as it seems
BILLS from pagel
it’s heard and voted on by the
committee.
Committees vote to either
pass the bill to General File, kill
it or take no action on it.
General File is the first time
the bill, with amendments, hits
the floor for debate by the entire
Legislature.
In General File - the most
crucial step for a bill - legislators
can decide whether to pass the
bill to Select File, amend it or
indefinitely postpone, or kill,
the bill.
If the bill passes General File
status, it is sent to Enrollment
and Review to be checked for
technical errors.
In Select File, the bill is
debated by the entire
Legislature once again and is
either passed, amended or
killed. If it passes, it moves to a
Final Reading.
o, In a Final Reading, the bill is
read aloud by the Clerk of the
Legislature where it cannot be
debated.
The governor then has five
days to approve the bill, veto it,
line-item veto a particular por
tion of the bill or do nothing
with it.
If a bill is vetoed by the gov
ernor, senators can override the
veto with the support of 30 sen
ators.
A bill generally becomes
Nebraska law three months
after the Legislature adjourns
unless it has been granted
emergency status.
There’s not enough time for
every bill to be heard on the
floor. Because of this, senators
are given one bill they can desig
nate to receive “priority” status
within the first 45 days. Priority
bills are the first ones heard on
the floor.
But not all the legislators’
time is spent debating bills.
During an odd-numbered
year or during every biennial
session, the Legislature gets
new senators, prepare^ the
state's budget, assigns new com
mittee chairmen, and elects a
new Speaker of the Legislature.
But for now, the events of the
next few days are what’s on sen
ators minds.
Legislators will debate the
rules for the legislative session,
hear Gov. Mike Johanns’ State of
the State Address and continue
gaining support for their
respective bills within the week.
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