Articles written by Sen. Tom Briese
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Briese shares redistricting information
Late in the week of Sept. 6, and after considerable debate and negotiation, the redistricting committee introduced its bills outlining proposed new districts for the election of Congressional,...
Redistricting efforts underway in legislature
The special session of the Nebraska Legislature began Monday, Sept. 13, for the sole purpose of redistricting, along with various confirmations of gubernatorial appointments. The nine-member redistric...
Legislature will address redistricting process
I would consider the recently completed legislative session successful for Nebraska taxpayers. Among other items, we passed, and the governor signed into law, bills to provide a sales tax exemption...
Microenterprise Tax Credit bill advances in legislatu
The Legislature continues to work through the stack of priority bills, sometimes working into the evening and adjourning between 8 and 10 p.m. Since my last column, we’ve debated a couple of bills r...
Briese bills debated during last week's legislative session
The Legislature debated several of my bills last week. On Tuesday afternoon, we debated my amendment to my LB 561, a bill to further define and implement the voter-approved initiative on casino...
Statehouse budget debate begins
Last week, we began debate on the budget, after receiving a briefing from the Appropriations Committee chairman, Senator Stinner. The budget for the next year calls for an increase in the general fund...
Hilgers gives nod to two Briese bills
The work of the Legislature is now about getting bills to the floor for debate by the entire body. And that generally means a priority designation. Priority bills, one per senator, two per committee a...
Full-day floor debate underway at statehouse
The legislature has wrapped up most committee hearings, and began half-day floor debate this week. Full-day floor debate will begin next week. In the meantime, committees are voting on which bills...
Bill to cap property taxes advances in Nebraska Legislature
On Feb. 26, the Revenue Committee voted to advance LB 408, as amended by AM 371, on a 7-1 vote. The amended version of the bill would limit the annual increase in property tax askings to no more than...
Briese re-elected as General Affairs chair
Last week, the Nebraska Unicameral convened the 107th Legislature. On the first day, we elected officers. Sen. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln was unanimously elected speaker and I am very glad to have him...
Briese prepares for 2021 legislative session
The legislative session will begin Wednesday, Jan 6. On that day, newly-elected members will be sworn in and the speaker, chair and vice chair of the Executive Committee and committee chairs will be...
Briese explains property tax relief bill
The current legislative session officially concluded on day 60, which was Thursday, Aug. 13. We concluded the session by hearing remarks from the six term limited and outgoing senators and passing...
Floor debate contentious at times
The last two weeks in the Legislature have seen a flurry of activity, as senators worked hard to get a great number of bills passed in a short number of days. There were some heated debates on the...
Property tax relief, business incentives on legislative front burner
The Nebraska Legislature reconvened on July 20, after a break of more than four months due to the pandemic. When we recessed, we had 17 working days remaining to debate and pass legislation, and...
Legislature set to be back in session July 20
On Monday of this week, Speaker Scheer announced the Legislature would return from our extended adjournment on July 20. I believe that this is an appropriate time to allow the curve in Nebraska to...
Ballots due May 12
By now, all registered voters in Nebraska should have had the opportunity to fill out an application for an early (absentee) ballot. That application should be mailed to your county’s Election C...
Briese: Listen to recommendations from medical professionals
In the last two weeks, it feels, in some ways, as though nothing has really changed, but in some ways, things seem to be changing by the minute. I reached out to some friends in the agribusiness and...
Briese: Legislature will tackle property tax relief when we reconvene
The Nebraska Legislature remains adjourned until further notice. However, just over a week ago, we reconvened for three days to approve an emergency request from the governor to help fund the state...
Goal is to reduce spread and impact of COVID-19
COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, has begun to dominate the headlines. To say that events are unfolding rapidly on a global, national, state and even local level, would seem an enormous...
Briese tackles lack of rural housing
In the town halls I’ve held across the 41st district, as well as visits at the Capitol in Lincoln, many of you have brought up housing. Rural workforce housing is among the top issues holding N...
Bill would add school funding, reduce property taxes
The Revenue Committee’s property tax/education funding reform bill, LB 974, was brought out of committee on a 6-2 vote last week. LB 974 will inject additional state dollars into education funding. B...
Briese bill would prevent sale of flavored vape products
In the last two weeks, a lot of things have happened at the Legislature in Lincoln, and at the same time, very little has happened. A number of good bills have advanced: supporting victims of human tr...
Briese will chair General Affairs Committee
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, Governor Ricketts presented his State of the State Address to the Nebraska Legislature. The beginning of his speech focused on the events of last year. Although there was much d...
Sen. Briese offers overview of legislative session
I first want to extend my wishes that everyone had a Merry Christmas, and a nice holiday season with family and friends, as well as to wish a healthy and prosperous New Year to everyone. The 2020...
