The term Sine Die is Latin and the translation is "without day". The meaning to the Legislature is to adjourn without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing.The Legislature adjourned Sine Die yesterday evening. In other words they have finished the 102nd Legislature, shut the doors and have gone home!
After adjourning on the 59th day, the Legislature waited a week before convening for the last day of session. The 60th day was postponed to allow for the five day period given to the Governor to sign bills or veto bills. They did this to be sure that for any vetoes that the Governor may make, the Legislature has an opportunity to override the actions of the governor. If the body was adjourned the opportunity is lost.
Four Bills were vetoed by the Governor and there were four motions to pass a bill notwithstanding the objections of the Governor.
LB806, introduced by Senator Lautenbaugh to allow for betting on historic horse races was the first bill to be taken up. Unfortunately, the bill sponsor fell one vote short of the necessary 30 votes to override the Governor. LB 806 will not become law.
LB 357 was the next bill up. LB 357 would allow cities to leverage an additional half cent sales tax following a vote of the people. This time the motion to override was successful. LB 357 will become law.
LB 1020, legislation that would fund an initiative to put health centers in schools using lottery funds also failed to receive the required votes to override the Governor's objections.
Finally, LB 599, dubbed the prenatal care bill, was presented for an override motion. The bill would provide prenatal care for low-income mothers, including those that are in the United States illegally. This was a highly controversial bill that ultimately did become law as the Legislature voted to override the Governor's veto.
NREA did well in the final days of the session. LB 997, LB 742, and LB 1049 were all signed by the Governor and will become law on July 18.
LB 352, legislation that would expand the zoning authority for airports, never made it back on the agenda. Senator Bob Krist has vowed that he will introduce legislation next year and that he hopes we can come to an agreement that will provide economic benefit for airports without creating negative impacts for utilities. We will be working with the airport representatives over the interim to draft legislation that would be able to advance without objection. I'll keep you updated on the progress.
This will not be the last entry in my blog. I will use this venue to update you on interim studies of interest and other legislative issues that come up before the 103rd Legislature convenes.
This is an election year and I will provide updates to keep you apprised of the changes in membership that we will face next year.
For those of you with access, tomorrow I will post the final disposition of bills on the NREA website. I will also draft my end of year "hard copy" Legislative Update.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Productive Day!
It has been a busy day at the NREA office. The Grassroots Coordinators and the Communicators held their annual meetings in our conference room. Our IT consultant replaced my old laptop with a new one and so far it is working perfectly. The best part of the day was that the last of the bills of interest to NREA passed on Final Reading.
LB 742 , dealing with Nebraska Power Review Board process for approving transmission and provisions for Special Generation Applications, passed this morning with a vote of 47-0-2.
LB 997, NREA's bill introduced by Senator John Wightman dealing with High Voltage Safety and the movement of oversized loads under power lines, passed on a vote of 45-0-4. The four votes were senators that were excused and not voting. I want to send a special thanks to Senator Wightman and his Legislative Aide Roger Keetle for their work on our behalf!
LB 1049, Senator Cornett's bill dealing with scrap metals purchase by salvage dealers, passed on a vote of 44-1-4. The single vote against the bill came from Senator Bloomfield. Senator Bloomfield attempted to amend LB 1049 on Select File by removing the provision requiring the payment for copper to be mailed to the seller if the amount was greater than $100. His amendment failed soundly, receiving only one vote. While we would like to remove the $100 threshold entirely, the incremental change in law is a good thing.
Legislation that is passed and is not vetoed, will become law three months after the session ends. The exceptions are bills that are passed with the "e-clause". The e-clause, or emergency clause means the bill becomes law the day after the Governor signs the bill, or after five days pass without a Governor's signature. Most legislation will become law either July 13 or 18, depending on when the session adjourns sine die.
NREA had a pretty good year legislatively.
It looks like LB 352, the expanding airport zoning bill, will not be dealt with this year. Even though many hours have been spent working towards an agreeable amendment, time is short and there are still a few issues to resolve. LB 352 does not have priority status and will not have an opportunity to be discussed again this year even if an agreement is reached. We will work with the Department of Aeronautics over the summer to re-draft legislation for introduction in 2013.
For those of you that have access, the NREA Bill Tracking document will be updated tomorrow and posted on the Members Only section the the NREA website.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
LB 742 , dealing with Nebraska Power Review Board process for approving transmission and provisions for Special Generation Applications, passed this morning with a vote of 47-0-2.
LB 997, NREA's bill introduced by Senator John Wightman dealing with High Voltage Safety and the movement of oversized loads under power lines, passed on a vote of 45-0-4. The four votes were senators that were excused and not voting. I want to send a special thanks to Senator Wightman and his Legislative Aide Roger Keetle for their work on our behalf!
LB 1049, Senator Cornett's bill dealing with scrap metals purchase by salvage dealers, passed on a vote of 44-1-4. The single vote against the bill came from Senator Bloomfield. Senator Bloomfield attempted to amend LB 1049 on Select File by removing the provision requiring the payment for copper to be mailed to the seller if the amount was greater than $100. His amendment failed soundly, receiving only one vote. While we would like to remove the $100 threshold entirely, the incremental change in law is a good thing.
Legislation that is passed and is not vetoed, will become law three months after the session ends. The exceptions are bills that are passed with the "e-clause". The e-clause, or emergency clause means the bill becomes law the day after the Governor signs the bill, or after five days pass without a Governor's signature. Most legislation will become law either July 13 or 18, depending on when the session adjourns sine die.
NREA had a pretty good year legislatively.
It looks like LB 352, the expanding airport zoning bill, will not be dealt with this year. Even though many hours have been spent working towards an agreeable amendment, time is short and there are still a few issues to resolve. LB 352 does not have priority status and will not have an opportunity to be discussed again this year even if an agreement is reached. We will work with the Department of Aeronautics over the summer to re-draft legislation for introduction in 2013.
For those of you that have access, the NREA Bill Tracking document will be updated tomorrow and posted on the Members Only section the the NREA website.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Capitol
Friday, March 30, 2012
Day 53
We are down to the last seven days of the session. April 12 is the scheduled last day of session, but there is a possibility that they will adjourn on April 11 (Day 59), wait five days to see if the Governor vetoes any bills and then convene on April 18 (Day 60) to conduct any overrides as necessary and then adjourn sine die. The reasoning is that the Governor has five days to address legislation that comes across his desk. He can sign it and allow it to become law, he can veto it, or he can do nothing and the bill becomes law without his signature. Waiting to convene the 60th day until after the five day period is over allows the Legislature to attempt to override any vetoes as necessary. There is no official word as to what the Speaker will do, but most are planning on an April 18 adjournment.
This was a very busy end to the week. Today they took up the Select File Consent Calendar Bills. Things started a bit rough for LB 1049, Senator Cornett's bill dealing with metals theft. Senator Bloomfield, decided he did not like the provision that would require a check to be mailed for the payment of copper over $100 for personal reasons. Since LB 1049 was on the Consent Calendar there was a 15 minute time limit to discuss the bill and at the end of the 15 minutes a vote would be taken. Additionally any bill on the Consent Calendar can be removed from the agenda if the Speaker is presented with a letter signed by three senators requesting it be removed. Senator Bloomfield indicated to Senator Cornett that if she wanted LB 1049 to pass she would have to agree to the amendment to remove the mailed payment provision. He said that he had three senators that would sign a letter to remove the bill from the agenda if his concern was not addressed. She did agree and we did discuss this with her staff. We agreed that we would not let the entire bill to go under if our provision would cause it to happen. The thing to remember is there are 49 total senators in the body--we shared our concerns with all of them before the bill came up. The amendment came up, the discussion went on for just under 15 minutes and then the vote took place. Senator Bloomfield's amendment received one vote...his. No letter was presented to the Speaker and LB 1049 advanced to Final Reading on a voice vote with the mailed check provision preserved.
LB 997, our High Voltage Safety Bill, was also back up on the Consent Calendar, it advanced quickly on a voice vote. Sweet...I needed that!
LB 742 also advanced on a voice vote today.
We are still trudging through an amendment onLB 352, the airport zoning bill. I could just cut an paste from last Friday's blog and say the end to this week "would be a bit nicer if I had in hand a final amendment in hand for LB 352." We keep waiting. As each day passes by it will become less likely that the bill will come up on the agenda at all. There are still a significant number of priority bills that need to be heard and non-priority bills will fall to the end of the list. LB 352 did not make the AGENDA for Monday.
Enjoy the record heat this weekend. I'll be back with more next week.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This was a very busy end to the week. Today they took up the Select File Consent Calendar Bills. Things started a bit rough for LB 1049, Senator Cornett's bill dealing with metals theft. Senator Bloomfield, decided he did not like the provision that would require a check to be mailed for the payment of copper over $100 for personal reasons. Since LB 1049 was on the Consent Calendar there was a 15 minute time limit to discuss the bill and at the end of the 15 minutes a vote would be taken. Additionally any bill on the Consent Calendar can be removed from the agenda if the Speaker is presented with a letter signed by three senators requesting it be removed. Senator Bloomfield indicated to Senator Cornett that if she wanted LB 1049 to pass she would have to agree to the amendment to remove the mailed payment provision. He said that he had three senators that would sign a letter to remove the bill from the agenda if his concern was not addressed. She did agree and we did discuss this with her staff. We agreed that we would not let the entire bill to go under if our provision would cause it to happen. The thing to remember is there are 49 total senators in the body--we shared our concerns with all of them before the bill came up. The amendment came up, the discussion went on for just under 15 minutes and then the vote took place. Senator Bloomfield's amendment received one vote...his. No letter was presented to the Speaker and LB 1049 advanced to Final Reading on a voice vote with the mailed check provision preserved.
LB 997, our High Voltage Safety Bill, was also back up on the Consent Calendar, it advanced quickly on a voice vote. Sweet...I needed that!
LB 742 also advanced on a voice vote today.
We are still trudging through an amendment onLB 352, the airport zoning bill. I could just cut an paste from last Friday's blog and say the end to this week "would be a bit nicer if I had in hand a final amendment in hand for LB 352." We keep waiting. As each day passes by it will become less likely that the bill will come up on the agenda at all. There are still a significant number of priority bills that need to be heard and non-priority bills will fall to the end of the list. LB 352 did not make the AGENDA for Monday.
Enjoy the record heat this weekend. I'll be back with more next week.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:State Capitol
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Bulldozing Through the Agenda
The Legislature started their day with Final Reading on Budget and Claims bills as well as Final Reading on a potpourri of other bills.
Included in the bills that passed today was LB 735, legislation introduced by Senator Schumacher to allow for the governing bodies of community colleges and public power districts and public power and irrigation districts to hold meetings by videoconferencing or teleconference. This is not a blanket authority to hold any and all meeting by video or teleconference, but an authority to hold a limited number of meetings which can be no more than half of the required meetings of the governing body. Directors of the governing boards will not be able to attend meetings while sitting on the beach in Mexico or from their winter condo in Arizona. They will be required to participate in public locations that are identified in the meeting notice, that the public will also be able to attend. In many ways this new authority will expand the opportunity for members of the public to participate as well as provide an additional opportunity for efficiency to the governing board. The bill passed on a vote of 47-0-2 and is now on the Governor's desk waiting for his signature. NREA supported LB 735.
The Legislature will be working late into the night today. At 4:45 p.m. they will take any Select File bills on today's AGENDA that don't have any pending amendments other that E&R amendments and take them up on a voice vote. No discussion just a quick vote. Then at 5:00 p.m. they will take up Senator Janssen's bill, LB 239, controversial legislation that will require that voters present a government issued photo I.D. before being able to vote in elections. It is expected that this bill will need to be debated for up to eight hours before a vote can be taken. The bill will be filibustered by several senators tonight and they expect to adjourn around 10:00 p.m. without taking a vote. They then will take up the bill again tomorrow morning before taking the bill to Cloture. Cloture is a parliamentary action to cease debate on a bill and vote immediately on its advancement. It takes 33 votes to invoke cloture and then 25 votes to advance the bill. At this time we don't know what else will be on tomorrow's agenda--we have to wait until they adjourn and the new agenda is posted. Of course, this is all just speculation and someone could throw a wild card in tonight and change everything!
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Included in the bills that passed today was LB 735, legislation introduced by Senator Schumacher to allow for the governing bodies of community colleges and public power districts and public power and irrigation districts to hold meetings by videoconferencing or teleconference. This is not a blanket authority to hold any and all meeting by video or teleconference, but an authority to hold a limited number of meetings which can be no more than half of the required meetings of the governing body. Directors of the governing boards will not be able to attend meetings while sitting on the beach in Mexico or from their winter condo in Arizona. They will be required to participate in public locations that are identified in the meeting notice, that the public will also be able to attend. In many ways this new authority will expand the opportunity for members of the public to participate as well as provide an additional opportunity for efficiency to the governing board. The bill passed on a vote of 47-0-2 and is now on the Governor's desk waiting for his signature. NREA supported LB 735.
The Legislature will be working late into the night today. At 4:45 p.m. they will take any Select File bills on today's AGENDA that don't have any pending amendments other that E&R amendments and take them up on a voice vote. No discussion just a quick vote. Then at 5:00 p.m. they will take up Senator Janssen's bill, LB 239, controversial legislation that will require that voters present a government issued photo I.D. before being able to vote in elections. It is expected that this bill will need to be debated for up to eight hours before a vote can be taken. The bill will be filibustered by several senators tonight and they expect to adjourn around 10:00 p.m. without taking a vote. They then will take up the bill again tomorrow morning before taking the bill to Cloture. Cloture is a parliamentary action to cease debate on a bill and vote immediately on its advancement. It takes 33 votes to invoke cloture and then 25 votes to advance the bill. At this time we don't know what else will be on tomorrow's agenda--we have to wait until they adjourn and the new agenda is posted. Of course, this is all just speculation and someone could throw a wild card in tonight and change everything!
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:State Capitol
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Smooth Sailing
As was expected LB 742 advanced easily on General File. No discussion, just an introduction from the bill sponsor, Ken Schilz, the amendment introduction by Senator Langemeier, and finally a brief comment of support by Senator Haar. Two quick votes later the combined bill advanced to Select File.
It was a similar story with LB 997. No drama just a quick advancement of a common sense piece of legislation. it was a nice way to end the legislative work week. I got lucky too... The Legislature had a tornado drill scheduled for the Capitol at 11:45 a.m. and LB 997 finished up at 11:40 a.m.!
It would be just a bit nicer if I had in hand a final amendment for LB 352. Not everyone wants to work on my time table and I just need to be patient, but not too patient. So goes the process of negotiating amendments. Time is running out and I want to be good to go when the bill comes up on Select File next week.
The Legislature will be on recess Friday and Monday. When we meet on Tuesday there will be only 10 days left in the session. As I see it there is a lot of work left on a lot of bills. This means they will work longer days to get done what needs to be done, but it also means that a number of issues will go unfinished. The Speaker indicated that not every prioritized bill on General File will be heard. Controversial Bills are taking up precious floor time.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
It was a similar story with LB 997. No drama just a quick advancement of a common sense piece of legislation. it was a nice way to end the legislative work week. I got lucky too... The Legislature had a tornado drill scheduled for the Capitol at 11:45 a.m. and LB 997 finished up at 11:40 a.m.!
It would be just a bit nicer if I had in hand a final amendment for LB 352. Not everyone wants to work on my time table and I just need to be patient, but not too patient. So goes the process of negotiating amendments. Time is running out and I want to be good to go when the bill comes up on Select File next week.
The Legislature will be on recess Friday and Monday. When we meet on Tuesday there will be only 10 days left in the session. As I see it there is a lot of work left on a lot of bills. This means they will work longer days to get done what needs to be done, but it also means that a number of issues will go unfinished. The Speaker indicated that not every prioritized bill on General File will be heard. Controversial Bills are taking up precious floor time.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:State Capitol
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
It's Quiet on the Legislative Front, But That is About to Change!
It has been quiet at the Capitol on our issues. We have been patiently waiting for Consent Calendar to be scheduled so our bill LB 997, that addresses safety issues with oversized loads and the lifting of high voltage conductors to accommodate the load, could be heard by the body. Consent Calendar is a listing of bills that have advanced from their respective committees with no opposing testimony and no dissenting votes. The bills on the Consent Calendar are non-controversial, simple topics that could advance with limited debate on the floor. It is the Speaker's discretion to place bills on the Consent Calendar and it is also his/her choice if there will even be a Consent Calendar. We are fortunate that LB 997 has a spot on the Consent Calendar and should advance very quickly. With safety as a key focus there is little to argue against.
A complete listing of Consent Calendar Bills can be found as an attachment to today's AGENDA.
You may recall that two bills that we are in favor of, LB 741 and LB742, were combined into one bill as an amendment (AM1934) to LB 742. LB 741 gives authority to the Nebraska Power Review Board to consider regional benefits when approving new transmission projects and LB 742 expands the simplified special generation application provisions for small renewable projects to private developers. The combined package LB 742 will also be on the Consent Calendar.
One additional bill on the Consent Calendar of interest to NREA is LB 1049. This bill makes the purchase of manhole covers and sewer grates by scrap recyclers illegal unless the seller provides written proof that they are entitled to re-sell the material. Added to the bill is a provision that requires that checks for the payment of scrap copper must be mailed to the seller if the amount of purchase is $150 or greater. While NREA brought the mailed check provision to Senator Cornett, the bill sponsor, we did not establish a threshold amount prior to the provision being implemented. We feel very strongly that the $150 threshold is much too high to have an impact on copper theft in Nebraska. It has been estimated that it would take copper ground wires removed from about 78 power poles to equal a resale value of $150. The damage value is easily 10 times the resale value of the stolen wire. The safety and reliability threats are even more concerning. Scrap copper is difficult to identify by source and even with increased penalties for damaging utility infrastructure, copper thefts continue to rise. The goal should be to prevent the theft. If copper thieves can't receive immediate payment for copper, they won't steal it. If they have an immediate need for cash and they can't get it right away and they have to provide a legitimate address for payment to be delivered it is likely they will look somewhere else for revenue.
The arguments from the scrap metal buyers just make me shake my heard. "It's too expensive and too time consuming to draft a check and mail it." The reality is they are buying stolen copper and they should be just as concerned as we are about the theft of the material.
We will not interfere with the passage of LB 1049, there are beneficial changes in the bill that we support and they should be implemented. We just want senators to know that even with a beneficial incremental change it doesn't address the problem by leaving a $100-$150 threshold prior to delaying the payment by mailing the check. We will address this issue again in the future.
With only 12 more days left in the 2012 Session senators are working into the evening to try to get to all the priority bills. I'm not sure all priority bills will advance, but they will be given an opportunity to be heard.
Senators have been discussing General File bills. The list of Select File bills is growing and I do expect them to move to Select File bills next week.
One bill on Select File LB 352, makes changes to zoning regulations for airports. The bill broadly expands an airports ability to zone for precision instrument approaches for runways. While this zoning provision is meant to provide for additional safety for commercial airline traffic into airports, the bill was drafted too broadly and needs changes prior to passage. As drafted the bill could have negative impacts on some transmission and distribution lines and could impact the Broken Bow II Wind Farm. We agreed to allow the bill to advance from General File with the agreement that we would work with the airport lobby to amend the bill to address concerns. We don't have an agreed upon amendment yet, but I am hopeful that we will soon...at least before next week!
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
A complete listing of Consent Calendar Bills can be found as an attachment to today's AGENDA.
You may recall that two bills that we are in favor of, LB 741 and LB742, were combined into one bill as an amendment (AM1934) to LB 742. LB 741 gives authority to the Nebraska Power Review Board to consider regional benefits when approving new transmission projects and LB 742 expands the simplified special generation application provisions for small renewable projects to private developers. The combined package LB 742 will also be on the Consent Calendar.
One additional bill on the Consent Calendar of interest to NREA is LB 1049. This bill makes the purchase of manhole covers and sewer grates by scrap recyclers illegal unless the seller provides written proof that they are entitled to re-sell the material. Added to the bill is a provision that requires that checks for the payment of scrap copper must be mailed to the seller if the amount of purchase is $150 or greater. While NREA brought the mailed check provision to Senator Cornett, the bill sponsor, we did not establish a threshold amount prior to the provision being implemented. We feel very strongly that the $150 threshold is much too high to have an impact on copper theft in Nebraska. It has been estimated that it would take copper ground wires removed from about 78 power poles to equal a resale value of $150. The damage value is easily 10 times the resale value of the stolen wire. The safety and reliability threats are even more concerning. Scrap copper is difficult to identify by source and even with increased penalties for damaging utility infrastructure, copper thefts continue to rise. The goal should be to prevent the theft. If copper thieves can't receive immediate payment for copper, they won't steal it. If they have an immediate need for cash and they can't get it right away and they have to provide a legitimate address for payment to be delivered it is likely they will look somewhere else for revenue.
The arguments from the scrap metal buyers just make me shake my heard. "It's too expensive and too time consuming to draft a check and mail it." The reality is they are buying stolen copper and they should be just as concerned as we are about the theft of the material.
We will not interfere with the passage of LB 1049, there are beneficial changes in the bill that we support and they should be implemented. We just want senators to know that even with a beneficial incremental change it doesn't address the problem by leaving a $100-$150 threshold prior to delaying the payment by mailing the check. We will address this issue again in the future.
With only 12 more days left in the 2012 Session senators are working into the evening to try to get to all the priority bills. I'm not sure all priority bills will advance, but they will be given an opportunity to be heard.
Senators have been discussing General File bills. The list of Select File bills is growing and I do expect them to move to Select File bills next week.
One bill on Select File LB 352, makes changes to zoning regulations for airports. The bill broadly expands an airports ability to zone for precision instrument approaches for runways. While this zoning provision is meant to provide for additional safety for commercial airline traffic into airports, the bill was drafted too broadly and needs changes prior to passage. As drafted the bill could have negative impacts on some transmission and distribution lines and could impact the Broken Bow II Wind Farm. We agreed to allow the bill to advance from General File with the agreement that we would work with the airport lobby to amend the bill to address concerns. We don't have an agreed upon amendment yet, but I am hopeful that we will soon...at least before next week!
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:State Capitol
Thursday, March 8, 2012
This has been a quiet week for our issues, primarily because the members were debating some controversial issues that took significant time. The bills relating to child welfare involved constructive debate, while other bills such as LB 806, legislation that allows for wagering on historic horse races, involved a lot of talking with most minds already made up. LB 806 was discussed for mor than eight hours and the bill still sits on General File.
We did see LB 1043 get signed by the Governor on March 7 and became law today because of the e-clause.
LB 828 and LB 836 were also signed by the Governor yesterday, but without the e-clause they will wait to become law three months following the end of the session. That would make it the middle of July.
LB 997, our bill dealing with the high voltage safety statutes and addresses prohibiting unauthorized and unqualified individuals fro messing with our power lines, was advanced from the Business and Labor Committee yesterday with no dissenting votes. That is important. Since no one testified in opposition the bill and no one in the committee opposed the bill, it will qualify to be included on the Consent Calendar. The Speaker has indicated that he will have Consent Calendar in the middle of March...that could be as early as next week.
The Legislature is in Recess tomorrow and Monday. Next week they will begin "late nights". This means they will continue to manage legislation on the floor past 5 pm. Back when I was a staffer at the Capitol, "late night" meant just that, we would go until 9-10 or 11pm. My expectation is that for the most part they will still adjourn before 7pm on most of the scheduled late nights. New this year they will also convene starting at 8am on the days that are scheduled late. The Speaker thinks that an early start will reduce the amount of time they go into the evenings.
Tuesday, the Legislature will also begin debate on the budget. There are a lot of hands out and not a lot of money to go around. I wonder if budget bills will get pushed through on General File so that the differences can be worked out off the floor before Select File? This practice is still not a favorite of mine.
I am going to be out of the office Tomorrow and Monday. My grandson and my daughter will be visiting from Kentucky and they will get my undivided attention as long as the Legislature is in Recess.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
We did see LB 1043 get signed by the Governor on March 7 and became law today because of the e-clause.
LB 828 and LB 836 were also signed by the Governor yesterday, but without the e-clause they will wait to become law three months following the end of the session. That would make it the middle of July.
LB 997, our bill dealing with the high voltage safety statutes and addresses prohibiting unauthorized and unqualified individuals fro messing with our power lines, was advanced from the Business and Labor Committee yesterday with no dissenting votes. That is important. Since no one testified in opposition the bill and no one in the committee opposed the bill, it will qualify to be included on the Consent Calendar. The Speaker has indicated that he will have Consent Calendar in the middle of March...that could be as early as next week.
The Legislature is in Recess tomorrow and Monday. Next week they will begin "late nights". This means they will continue to manage legislation on the floor past 5 pm. Back when I was a staffer at the Capitol, "late night" meant just that, we would go until 9-10 or 11pm. My expectation is that for the most part they will still adjourn before 7pm on most of the scheduled late nights. New this year they will also convene starting at 8am on the days that are scheduled late. The Speaker thinks that an early start will reduce the amount of time they go into the evenings.
Tuesday, the Legislature will also begin debate on the budget. There are a lot of hands out and not a lot of money to go around. I wonder if budget bills will get pushed through on General File so that the differences can be worked out off the floor before Select File? This practice is still not a favorite of mine.
I am going to be out of the office Tomorrow and Monday. My grandson and my daughter will be visiting from Kentucky and they will get my undivided attention as long as the Legislature is in Recess.
Kristen Gottschalk
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Day 41
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