Tuesday marked the deadline for committees and senators to designate their priority bills for this session and Speaker Hilgers announced his speaker priority bills Wednesday. Bills marked with a priority designation move to the top of the agenda when Speaker Hilgers schedules bills. Because of the number of bills in such a short session, it is unlikely that bills without a priority will get debate time and a vote on the floor by the whole body.
Bills without a priority designation could still get amended into existing priority bills that deal with a similar subject. We will continue to monitor priority bills for these additions.
Below are bills CSN supports that received a priority designation and will soon get scheduled for debate:
- LB698 (Introduced by Kolterman, Speaker priority)- Adds glucose monitoring to the list of devices covered by Medicaid
- LB730 (Introduced by Lindstrom, Revenue Committee priority)- Provides tax credits for employers with skills training programs
- LB737 (Introduced by Bostar, amended into Banking Committee priority LB863)- Creates a council to examine barriers and solutions to increasing access and use of primary care
- LB741 (Introduced by DeBoer, Vargas priority)- Gives the State Child and Maternal Death Review Team the ability to review all stillbirths, their causes, and ways to prevent
- LB777 (Introduced by Brewer, Speaker priority)- Creates a searchable archive of video recordings of the legislature and committee hearings
- LB852 (Introduced by Day, Walz priority)- Require schools districts have a behavioral health point of contact who has knowledge of community service providers and resources available
- LB854 (Introduced by Day, amended into HHS Committee priority LB1173)- Require DHHS DIvision of Children and Family Services to notify DHHS Division of Public Health when investigating child abuse or neglect by child care provider
- LB917 (Wayne priority)- Incentive of tax deduction on wages paid for employers to hire those recently convicted of felonies
- LB920 (Introduced by Lathrop, Judiciary Committee priority)- Implements recommendations from the NE Criminal Justice Reinvestment Working Group and the Crime and Justice Institute
- LB921 (Introduced by Lathrop, J. Cavanaugh priority)- Requires that all sentences of Class III, IIIA, or IV felonies or for a maximum term of imprisonment of less than one year to be served in county jail. This will prioritize state prison beds for the most serious criminal offenders
- LB1024 (Introduced by Wayne, Urban Affairs Committee priority)- Use $450 million in ARPA funds to create a special legislative committee to provide grants to North Omaha in: housing and homelessness, community and small business recovery, community well-being, and community assistance and programming. Committee AM1920 adds South Omaha to the bill
- LB1037 (Arch priority)- Require DAS to hire a consultant to evaluate the state’s procurement practices
- LB1068 (Stinner priority)- Expands capacity of the University of Nebraska Behavioral Health Education Center to address the shortage of behavioral healthcare workers, especially in rural areas
- LB1069 (Williams priority)- Makes changes to the Rural Workforce Housing Fund to make it more accessible
- LB1073 (Introduced by Wayne, M Hansen priority)- Creates the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Committee AM1969 guts the original bill and adds language to require the state to apply for the second round of federal emergency rental assistance.
- LB1173 (Introduced and prioritized by HHS Committee)- Creates a child welfare practice model work group that includes directors at DHHS, the commissioner of Education, the State Court Administrator, Supreme Court designee, and members of tribes to transform child welfare system in Nebraska
For a list of all the bills CSN is following this session, view our 2022 bill tracker.