Week of February 24, 2025
Dueling Time Change Bills Advance
A victor has not yet been declared in the legislative “Time War” between Sen. Hunt’s and Sen. Murman’s competing clock changing proposals, as legislators voted to advance both bills to Select File last week. It was an engaging debate to watch as one of the few issues that draws robust discussion and differences of opinion completely independent of political persuasion. While some members spoke adamantly in favor of either moving to permanent daylight saving time or standard time, several others spoke about the pros and cons they could see to each approach and indicated they’d vote for both in an effort to give the bills further chance for discussion, saying they’d take the question to their constituents in the meantime.
If passed, each measure has conditions that must be met in order to take effect. Under Murman’s bill – that’s the permanent standard time proposal, which states are already federally authorized to adopt – the change wouldn’t take effect in Nebraska until Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, and Wyoming adopted the same policy. Under Hunt’s permanent daylight saving time bill, we’d need a federal act permitting states to do this, and three neighboring states would have to adopt the same policy. Two neighbors, Colorado and Wyoming, already have.
For the most part, there seems to be agreement among a good portion of the body that the act of changing clocks twice a year has negative impacts on our well-being. The question comes down largely to personal preference and lifestyle, if one prefers more morning or evening light. If you have a strong opinion one way or the other, let your senator know!
Governor’s Budget Bills Heard
The Appropriations committee heard testimony on the Governor’s biennial budget proposal in a combined hearing last week. This year’s package is comprised of five bills introduced by Speaker Arch on the Governor’s behalf: LBs 260-264.
Pillen’s office is touting the bills as representing a half-percent reduction in General Fund spending over last biennium’s budget in an effort to provide some hundreds of millions in property tax relief over the next two years. That figure is achieved through what’s become a Pillen signature strategy of “creatively” raiding cash funds and moving money designated for a specific purpose from one fund to another, including about $183 million in sweeps of various state cash funds and cutting $77 million from various recently passed incentive and aid programs. Most state agency spending would be held flat, regardless of growing needs. By their math, the package of bills would close the looming $432 million budget shortfall and leave a healthy cash reserve balance.
Agencies and stakeholders affected by the potential loss of funding raised concerns, such as the Nebraska Environmental Trust, which stands to lose half its funding for community-driven conservation projects under the Governor’s proposal. Housing and Economic Developers opposed the proposed $10 million raid of funds previously earmarked for affordable and rural workforce housing that would be placed back in the General Fund at a time when availability of affordable housing is a major concern. Also on the chopping block are funds for rural broadband, the early childhood education Trust, the University of Nebraska, and rural health providers.
One positive standout is an $8 million annual increase to reduce the waitlist for developmental disability services. Interestingly, no one testified in support of the package.
Now it’s the Appropriations Committee’s job to look closely at the Governor’s proposal, hear further testimony from individual agencies, determine what they want to keep or change, and eventually vote on the recommended package they’ll send to the full body for debate. The Committee’s preliminary budget report was recently released, but it’s in early stages as the committee continues to hold hearings. The Committee must submit its proposals to the body by April 29.
Gig Worker Bill Filibuster First Test of New Legislature
LB 229, Sen. Hallstrom’s bill that became the first major filibuster debate of the year, was advanced to Final Reading. It’s the bill that would classify ride-share and delivery drivers (think Uber, Lyft, and Doordash) as independent contractors rather than employees under state employment law. This has been an interesting one to watch as a “test case” to give us some idea of how future votes and dynamics might play out in this new legislature. It advanced with just the 33 votes needed for cloture, but not along party lines: Sen. Raybould, a Democrat, voted with Republicans to advance it; while Sen. Wordekemper, a Republican, swapped places with her to join progressives in voting No on the bill.
While this vote isn’t necessarily predictive of what might happen on other types of issues, it does tell us that Sen. Wordekemper is willing to break ranks with the majority on labor issues, and that Sen. Raybould may not be counted upon to vote with her minority colleagues when it comes to workers’ rights. Sen. Wordekemper, a firefighter, was endorsed by many union groups in his R-on-R race, and Sen. Raybould’s family owns B&R stores, a chain of grocery stores in Lincoln.
Other Bites
- Sen. Quick’s LB 192 advanced to General File. It would eliminate the statutory sunset date for the current SNAP income eligibility limit of 165% FPL, preventing it from reverting to the previous 130% FPL.
- Sen. Bostar’s LB 182 passed Final Reading and now goes to the Governor for signing into law. It contains a nonrefundable tax credit up to $100,000 for donations made by individuals or businesses to eligible child care programs. It also makes certain nonprofits eligible for affordable housing tax credits, and is intended to increase investment in early childcare and affordable housing.
What’s Next
Speaker Arch made an announcement about the designation of priority bills. Now that the body has made considerable progress in working through most of the noncontroversial legislation on the worksheet, we’re getting to the point at which senators will need to start thinking carefully about which of their bills stand a chance of advancing, and which might need the extra scheduling advantage of a priority designation.
The deadline for senator and committee priority bill designations is Friday, March 14, and Speaker priorities will be announced on March 17.
With last Friday’s Day 30 down, we’re ⅓ of the way through this long session.
