Legislative Update #7
About 10 years ago, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt teamed up in a movie call Edge of Tomorrow. The premise was that Cruise’s character, Major Bill Cage, would wake up every day in the middle of the same battle of a war of an alien invasion. He’d then get killed in the battle and wake back up fresh and new in the same place. He knew it was happening but no one else did as he just popped back in time to the same spot every day. Blunt’s character Rita was the only person he could reach out to and they had to win the war together…after dying several hundred times.
Not really…but that’s a little how it feels during full-day debate. Most days I wake up, put on a suit and head into battle, only to spend the same day in the same place, the rotunda, make my way home hopefully before 10, pass out, repeat. Wake up, battle, pass out, repeat.
Don’t get me wrong…this is a great place to work, and I love my clients and what we’re fighting for! Some days, I just forget what day it is and things that happened 3 days ago, could’ve just as well happed 3 weeks ago. I actually have to go back and look at previous days’ agendas to write many of these reports as it’s a major blur. So…what did we do this week?
It was the first week of full-day debate, meaning we worked basically 9-5ish each day with a lunch break. It was the start of a series of filibusters, some of which ended earlier than they could have. Local beer and alcohol producers are close to expanding the amounts they can self-distribute; lab-grown meat is closer to being banned in Nebraska; some businesses might be able to pay young workers a lowered minimum wage; and maybe, just maybe, some feedlots in the western half of the state might get exempted from the Livestock Brand Act.
It appears that we will merger the Department of Environment and Energy with the Department of Natural Resources; We’re closer to regulating the cryptocurrency mining industry, and they found a little extra money for Meals on Wheels Programs.
They sent 22 bills to the Governor’s Desk today, including: A change to the Rural Health Incentive Act to allow for Nurse Anesthetists to be eligible for loan repayment in shortage areas; allowing for landlords and tenants to communicate intentions though email and text instead of registered mail; using provider assessments to potentially draw down millions of additional federal dollars to help fund our Medicaid program.
Next week the battle continues with LB3, the bill that would change Nebraska’s Electoral College practices to a winner-take-all system like 48 other states. There’s a deep line in the sand drawn here between those who want this changed or not, and after 4 hours of debate on Tuesday afternoon, we’ll see if 33 of the 49 are on the same change train or not. I have my prediction, but I will not set myself up for a spoiler!
Friday and Monday are recess days, but there are lots of meetings being scheduled and held those days, so there is no rest for the weak!
~Kent