Oakland Swedish Festival King and Queen
June 20, 2015 Leave a comment
Ed and Betty Hanna are Oakland Swedish Festival’s King and Queen. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.
Opening Ceremony of Swedish Festival Held at Methodist Church
June 20, 2015 Leave a comment
Karl Lundquist, Oakland Swedish Festival Chairman, opened the Swedish Festival at the Methodist Church Friday Evening. Seated behind him is Patty Miller. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.
Working With Constituent Issues and Preparing for 2016 Legislation
June 17, 2015 Leave a comment
As we move further into the interim, we continue working with constituent issues and research to prepare legislation for the 2016 session. We also want to continue reflecting on this past session and further discuss key issues our legislature addressed. As promised, this week’s column will cover legislation from criminal justice, health and human services, business, general affairs, education and revenue.
Regarding criminal justice issues, the Legislature made significant progress through amending and passing LB605 and LB598. Both bills address the issue of prison overcrowding and cost inefficiencies by establishing stronger alternatives to incarceration with tools such as drug courts, more robust probation system, and reduced use of solitary confinement. However, the Legislature did a disservice to the justice system by repealing the death penalty. As well, it came very close to further undermining our strong stance on serious crime by attempting to reduce the penalties for habitual criminals.
In the area of health care, the Legislature passed a law allowing nurse practitioners to treat patients independently from doctors which will help alleviate the problem of access to healthcare in rural communities. Additionally, while the Legislature did not outright establish a medical marijuana industry, the Legislature did create a pilot study for hemp oil to address the issue of uncontrollable seizures in children and adults.
With regard to businesses, the Legislature passed a number of pro-business bills. One of those bills enhances rural economic development by providing limited liability for landowners in agri-tourism. We also passed a bill allowing private employees to voluntarily adopt a hiring preference program for military veterans. Further, the Legislature updated the Nebraska Fair Employment Practices Act to clarify workplace protections for pregnant workers. However, the Legislature failed to gain the needed support to reduce the minimum wage for high school workers as a response to the negative effects the new minimum wage law has had on small, rural businesses.
In the area of general affairs, the Legislature reinstated the cigar bar exemption to the state smoking ban after being struck down by the Supreme Court last year. While the Legislature did good work to oppose measures that might expand gambling in our state, there is another bill that will be debated when we return to legalize certain forms of poker as games of skill, rather than games of chance which are banned under our state Constitution.
As for revenue and education, the Legislature did not address one of the key concerns of many Nebraskans: rethinking our sources of funding for education. Throughout the State, there has been a demand to lower our skyrocketing agricultural property taxes, among a desire for lower taxes in general. While the Legislature did not tackle this issue, both the Revenue and Education Committees adopted legislative resolutions to study the issue more closely over the interim period. Hopefully this will prove to be a fruitful endeavor so we can provide the much needed relief desired by Nebraskans.
As always, please contact me, administrative aide, Katie Wattermann, or legislative aide, Tom Venzor, with questions or thoughts at (402) 471-2728 or e-mail at lbrasch@leg.ne.gov.
Keeping the Good Life Growing in Nebraska,
Senator Lydia Brasch, District 16
Stronger Health Care Infrastructure and Healthier Nebraskans: Medicaid Expansion in Nebraska
June 17, 2015 Leave a comment
Center for Rural Affairs report examines economic and income issues of expanding Medicaid
LYONS, NE – Today, the Center for Rural Affairs released a Rural Policy Brief examining the basic economic and income issues for all Nebraskans connected to expanding Medicaid. The brief is the second in a series examining findings of the University of Nebraska at Kearney report on the implications of LB 472 and their significance to rural and small town Nebraska.
Medicaid expansion in Nebraska will make health care providers, particularly those in rural Nebraska, fiscally stronger, thus ensuring access to health care for all Nebraskans, while also beginning to alleviate health care cost shifting that affects all Nebraskans and Nebraska families.
Jon Bailey, Center for Rural Affairs
To view or download a copy of the Center’s Policy Brief go to:
http://www.cfra.org/stronger-health-care-infrastructure-nebraska
On April 1, 2015, Dr. Allan Jenkins, Professor of Economics at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and Dr. Ron Konecny, Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, released Nebraska Medicaid Expansion: Protecting a Critical Infrastructure, Supporting Main Street, Improving Worker Health and Productivity (the UNK Report). The UNK Report is an extensive benefit-cost analysis of several factors that should be considered in the debate on LB 472, the Medicaid Redesign Act, and Medicaid expansion in Nebraska.
“The UNK report also demonstrates that Medicaid expansion will create a healthier work force in Nebraska,” said Jon Bailey, Rural Policy Director at the Center for Rural Affairs and author of the policy brief. “Evidence from states that have expanded their Medicaid programs show that access to health care by expanding Medicaid leads to better health in numerous ways.”
“For low-income workers, lack of access to health care – one issue Medicaid expansion would resolve – leads to issues that affect their ability to work, decreases their productivity, negatively affects employers and their businesses, and contributes to the cycle of poverty for individuals and families,” explained Bailey. “Expanding Medicaid will make people healthier, make them more productive workers, and enhance their workforce longevity. Employers and businesses will also benefit from a healthier and more stable labor force.”
According to Bailey’s analysis of the UNK report, Medicaid expansion in Nebraska will also address health care cost-shifting and reduce the “hidden health tax” to individuals. This cost shift results from increased health insurance premiums and higher taxes needed to address the bad debts and charity care of health care providers associated with treated uninsured individuals. Medicaid expansion in Nebraska would directly reduce this cost shifting by $30.6 million in 2015-16 and by a total of $156.1 million by 2019-20.
“Medicaid expansion in Nebraska is a policy and economic winner for the state and those who benefit from the additional health insurance coverage it provides,” concluded Bailey. “Nebraska policymakers need to act on expanding the state’s Medicaid program or face losing all the positive health care, economic and workforce benefits while continuing to foist millions of dollars of uncompensated care onto the premiums of the currently insured.”
Market Report
June 16, 2015 Leave a comment
Grain Markets 6/15/15 10:36am
July Corn -4 @ $3.49
Dec Corn -4 ½ @ $3.65
July Beans Even @ $9.40
Nov Beans -2 ¼ @ $9.02
Corn & Soybeans
As we start the week, weather remains favorable, USD is up, crude is down and grain is searching for new contract lows this morning, Dec Corn previous low at $3.65, this morning touching 3.64 ¼ and the contract low for Nov beans was $8.96 ¾ this morning going down to $8.95 ¾. A close below previous contract lows could send the market further and provide incentives for additional shorts to enter the market. A favorable bounce last week in grain, likely cause by weakness in the USD made for a great selling opportunity for those utilizing offers. Moving forward the bears again take the reins. USDA Report June 30th may be a market mover.
Political
The Pentagon is seeking approval for a plan to put tanks and other heavy weaponry into European countries on the border with Russia. It’s an effort to counter what has become Russia’s increasingly aggressive posture in the region. Enough for a brigade of about 3000-4000 soldiers, some are saying this violates a 1997 cooperation agreement that NATO, however this agreement was to prevent aggressive nationalism. That said Russia seems to have already broken the agreement. None the less Russia may see this as a threat. Political issues often times affect grain pricing, and conflict with Russia seems significant. To hear more, listen at Nebraska Public Radio http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=414374840&m=414374841
For Fun
With Father’s Day around the corner many of us look forward to a day of tinkering around the shop, grilling up some meat, camping, or taking out the toy car or motorcycle for a spin! With many different folks out there, this could be your first Father’s Day, the one where you spend a good portion of the day with your new baby on your lap, or the toddler stage, when the zoo seems like a great way to spend the day. I am currently in the teen years, it gets to be a lot of fun when the kids want to do some of the things you want to do. Of course then Father’s Day is when the kids come back home, and someday bring the grandkids along.
Depending on your stage in life your family determines a good Father’s Day gift. But no matter the stage you are in, I found the perfect gift…..one you would never buy yourself….but will no doubt make you smile when you open it. It’s the gift of Bacon…..who knew! These gift sets are unique and cracked me up. I said to myself is this real? Well it should be!
http://www.sayitwithbacon.com/
Greg Mockenhaupt
ProEdge Risk Management Consultant
P: (402) 685-5613 | C: (402) 380-9855 | Greg.Mockenhaupt@cvacoop.com
1007 County Road O
Oakland, NE 68045
Conservation, Crop Insurance and Tax Dollars
June 16, 2015 Leave a comment
By Rachael Meyer, rachaelm@cfra.org, Center for Rural Affairs
America loves farmers. Our government loves them so much that they subsidize, on average, 62 percent of their crop insurance premiums. Crop insurance provides a safety net for farmers when things go wrong, and premium subsidies were intended to get more farmers interested in using crop insurance.
Crop insurance guarantees income year after year, but does not require much at all in terms of good soil and water conservation from farmers. Since farmers know they are guaranteed income, there is nothing stopping them from increasing insured acreage by planting marginal land, or land that is unsuitable for farming. Insurance companies ultimately hand farmers a nice cash reward for damaging the heartland.
To cut the budget, congress took money out of programs that support conservation such as the Conservation Stewardship Program. At the same time that they made this decision, they had spent $58.7 billion (from 2003-2012) on premium subsidies and administrative and loss reimbursements for insurance companies like Wells Fargo, which had $1.4 trillion in assets in 2013, and Ace, which had a $2.7 billion net income in 2012. But why put money toward conserving the soil and water we rely on for food when so much money goes to the very companies that are paying farmers through insurance regardless of their conservation efforts?
America needs to reexamine the effect crop insurance is having on our food industry or else taxpayers will continue to pour money into supporting farming practices that only destroy our environment.
Kat Country Hub 
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