Week of January 20, 2025
In one of his first public appearances since being severely injured in a horse riding accident last month, Governor Pillen returned to the legislative chamber Wednesday to deliver his State of the State Address. An annual early-session tradition, the speech generally serves as an opportunity for the Governor to lay out some specifics of what he/she will be pushing senators for in the coming year.
Pillen’s remarks began with some emotional reflection about how humbled he was by his accident, which he said reminded him of his own mortality and has inspired him to strive to make the most of every moment. After a brief commendation of the newly sworn in senators, he quickly returned to a familiar refrain: calling for further shrinking of state government and lowering of the tax burden. In acknowledgement of the projected $432 million budget shortfall the legislature must contend with balancing, Pillen touted his newly unveiled budget proposal, which he said would shrink spending over the next two years by 0.5%. This is achieved by focusing on “needs, not wants”, he said, and that requires making sometimes unpopular choices which won’t make everyone happy. You can read a more detailed analysis of how Pillen’s proposed budget closes the gap from the Nebraska Examiner here. We’ll likely talk more about the budget in future posts – but for now, remember that the Governor’s proposal is a starting point for the Appropriations Committee, who will now hold hearings and formulate their own budget recommendations in response.
While we had some idea of what his priorities were already, Governor Pillen used the remainder of his address to give us a more specific idea of the bills he’ll be backing:
- Revamping school funding: Pillen will be backing an effort by Sen. Hughes (LB 303) to establish a School Finance Reform Commission and increase the amount of foundation aid the state pays to districts per student. Our state’s school finance formula, TEEOSA, is 30 years old. Pillen noted that as time goes on, fewer and fewer school districts are receiving state aid under the formula, which many agree has outlived its useful life. I think if you ask any senator or education-focused stakeholder around the building, they’d agree that something should be done to revamp or replace it. The devil will be in the details. Pillen said with this bill he aims to establish a commission of experts to recommend a new school finance model for the legislature to adopt.
- Ending the inheritance tax: Pillen said he will support another effort by Sen. Clements to end what they have called the “death tax”. (not yet introduced)
- Shrinking government: Eliminating or consolidating boards and commissions that he says are outdated or duplicative of work of other agencies (Arch – not yet introduced), and merging the state Departments of Environment and Energy and Natural Resources to be one Department of Water, Energy & Environment (Brandt LB 317).
- Winner Take All: A renewed push to transition our presidential electoral system to a Winner-Take-All system, because our current split-vote allocation is diminishing our state’s electoral impact, says Pillen. It’s also better timing with no high-stakes election around the corner. (Lippincott, LB 3)
- Regulating kids’ internet, social media, & cell phone use: He’ll back a slate of bills he says will protect kids from the harmful impacts of technology and the internet: Sanders LB 140 limiting the use of cell phones in classrooms, Hardin LB 172 criminalizing AI-generated child pornography, and Storer LB 383 restricting minors’ rights to social media use without parental consent or involvement.
- Restricting trans rights: We knew this one, but he reiterated support for what he says is protecting women’s and girls sports and spaces in Kauth’s LB 89.
- Banning the sale of lab-grown meat: LB 246 (DeKay) would make the sale of these products a deceptive trade practice, which Pillen says is necessary for consumer protection and to defend our state’s agricultural economy.
Rule Change Proposals Heard
New Rules Committee chair Lippincott had emailed the legislature about an hour before Thursday’s hearing began to say that “in a return to tradition”, the hearing would not be streamed for the public to view. Backlash was swift as multiple senators and I’m told many members of the public called on Lippincott, the Clerk and the Speaker to reverse that decision, which Lippincott ultimately did. Though legislative rules are pertinent to the body’s own internal conduct of themselves, a rules hearing is very much a matter of public interest. Legislative rules guide the lawmaking process and have a major impact on the degree of (non)partisanship and whether and how any given bill might stand a chance at passage.
In a hearing that was unusually calm and brief relative to the rules hearings of recent years, 24 proposals were heard, and the majority were ideas we’ve seen before. We won’t dig into each of them here, but those of most concern include:
- Attempts to lower the threshold for cloture (Rule Change #s 8, 9, and 22)
- Eliminating the secret ballot for leadership elections (#11)
- Prohibit members of the press from covering committees’ executive sessions (#12)
- Remove the requirement for equal partisan balance on the redistricting committee (#17)
One positive change a lot of us are hoping to see advanced is Rule Change Proposal #1, which would undo the 20-bill limit per senator passed by the body last year. It may be unlikely that the legislature would vote to undo the change it just recently implemented, but with senators now experiencing the downsides of limiting themselves in this way, it could happen eventually. It’s relevant to everyday citizens and advocates especially because it’s the special interest lobbyists and groups with paid representation that are generally able to get to senators with bill requests first and who start filling up their slates well before January.
As a staffer, I saw this happen firsthand this winter, and I’m hearing many of my colleagues had similar experiences. Professional lobbyists have a leg up in this system. They have experience with navigating the legislative process, are paid to watch and interact with legislators, and draft or pitch bills all day. (No shade to them, many are great!) But some senator offices would have 10-15+ of these types of requests in addition to our office’s own ideas prepared in advance; then as we get into January and have constituents or community/nonprofit groups reaching out, senators are in a tough position of either walking back a commitment or needing to say no to a constituent that doesn’t have the luxury of a pitching a bill before the 10-day intro period. And things inevitably come up last minute, but if a senator has 20 good bills they already want to introduce, they have to let something go. The 20 bill limit is arbitrary and limits senators’ ability to serve the public they represent- there’s no magic number of how many proposals will be adequate in a given year.
What’s Next
Monday is a state holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Wednesday is Day 10, marking the final day of bill introduction and the beginning of committee bill hearings. Wednesday through Friday will feature morning floor debate on those rule change proposals advanced by the Rules Committee, followed by afternoon committee hearings.
Until Next Week,
Your Capitol Fly on the Wall
