Legislative Update #5
If I were King of the Legislature, I would space out all the bills that I have to provide testimony for, either from clients or myself, I would spread them out so there would only be one or two things per afternoon that I needed to pay very close attention to, or at least I would keep everything in the same dang hearing room for the day. But there is no King in the Nebraska Unicameral I am nothing but a lowly lobbyist at the mercy of the almighty Yellow Sheet, which is what we affectionately call the weekly-issued, multi-page legal sized document containing the hearing schedules for each committee. I think there are yellow and black tire treads on my face and back today after a week of literally running between the office and the statehouse and inside that beautiful building to multiple hearing rooms per afternoon hour.
But alas, we have survived another week of hearings amid below zero temperatures, and the sun is shining outside my window as I type. Several committees remained in session beyond the 7:00 hour this week, although there was only one instance of overflow into the hallways. Progress!!
Senators sent their first set of bills for the session to the Governor this morning. They voted 18 bills off Final Reading this morning; most of which were very small changes to law, including some cleanup to references to federal law, an extension of a sunset day on a recycling act, the removal of some obsolete statutes, and so forth. They also had their first cloture motion of the year to break a filibuster on a bill about classifying Uber and Lyft drivers in the labor laws. Thirty-three votes were required, which is exactly how many Senator Hallstrom got. Ok, on to the next battle!
Next week will bring warmer weather and some discussion about kids and their online devices. Shouldn’t be any controversy there, I should think! I was lucky enough the past two weekends to avoid the office altogether; however, that will not be the case tomorrow. When we lobbyists are locked in the Capitol from 9 to 6 every day, the desk work piles up deep and wide! It’s a 5-day work week, so there will be lots to prepare for.
See ya soon!
~Kent