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

 

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Center for Rural Affairs Calls Failed Cloture Vote Unconscionable

March 25, 2014 Leave a comment


Lyons, Nebraska – Yesterday, a cloture vote on LB 887, the Wellness In Nebraska Act, failed by a vote of 27 in favor and 21 opposed to ending debate and allowing an up or down General File vote on the bill. The majority of Senators voting “yes” were not sufficient to reach the two-thirds majority required in the Unicameral to invoke cloture and end debate.

“Failing to pass LB 887 will cost Nebraska in lost federal money and budget savings, as many as 10,000 new jobs in healthcare, insurance premium savings for the already insured… but first and foremost, it will cost lives,”

Jon Bailey, Director of the Rural Public Policy Program, Center for Rural Affairs

“We have waited for this vote for over a year. And we applaud the 27 Senators, led by bill sponsor Senator Kathy Campbell, that have shown the courage and leadership to stand up for tens of thousands of working, uninsured Nebraskans,” added Bailey.

To view or download the official Unicameral vote count go to – http://www.cfra.org/www.cfra.org/LB887Vote

“However, the time has come for naysayers and critics of Medicaid expansion to offer up solutions to the stern challenges so many Nebraskans face in our current healthcare system. These working Nebraskans have sought and secured a job, they work hard, and they deserve a chance at a happier, healthier life,” Bailey continued. “And the 21 Senators who stood in the way of passage of LB 887 owe them real solutions, not just rhetoric about openness to new ideas about providing health care. They owe Nebraska more than just political posturing and empty words.”

“We are deeply disappointed that 21 Nebraska state Senators would put petty partisan politics ahead of the health and economic well-being of tens of thousands of working Nebraskans,” said Bailey. “Voting to preserve a public policy of negligence that leaves at least 33,000 people, including over 15,000 from rural and small town Nebraska by the side of the road with no health care options is unconscionable.”

There simply are no compelling arguments against adopting this legislation, added Bailey. Which is why the Center for Rural Affairs was joined by AARP, Nebraska Hospital Association, Nebraska Nurses Association, Nebraska Medical Association, Voices for Children, Nebraska Appleseed, Health Center Association of Nebraska, Nebraska Association of County Officials, The Nebraska Restaurant Association, Community Action of Nebraska, the Nebraska State Education Association and many others.

According to Bailey, many of the impacts of failing to adopt LB 887 and expand Medicaid will fall heaviest on rural and small town Nebraska. Due to inaction in the Unicameral, 15,000 of our rural friends and neighbors will “fall in the gap”, without access to affordable health care. Currently insured Nebraskans will pay higher insurance premiums to cover the cost of uncompensated care. Bankruptcy filings necessitated by medical debt brought on by lack of health care coverage will continue. Rural hospitals will be stretched, possibly to the breaking point. And an estimated 500 Nebraskans will die as a result of having no health care coverage.

“Failing to pass LB 887 will cost Nebraska in lost federal money and budget savings, as many as 10,000 new jobs in healthcare, and insurance premium savings for the already insured, but first and foremost, it will make many of our fellow Nebraskans less healthy and cost lives,” concluded Bailey.

 

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