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 gaming at racetracks. As 70% of the tax revenue derived from these casinos is dedicated to property tax relief, it is important to get this done right. Gambling is a divisive issue in our legislature and the debate reflected that. After the question was divided on the issue of electronic keno, we spent a couple hours debating keno, the extent of sports betting and a handful of other issues, before voting to move it on to final reading.

Later on Tuesday, we began debate on my priority bill, LB 2, which would reduce the value of ag land from 75% to 50% for repayment of school bonds approved after the effective date of the act. I further amended it to include an increase in the statutory minimum in the property tax credit fund from the current $275 million to $313 million, and to grow this amount by 3% annually. The increase to the property tax credit fund encountered resistance from folks not as concerned about rural property tax increases as I am. After debating into Tuesday evening, and most of the day Wednesday, I had to amend out the property tax credit portions in order to keep the bill alive. We then advanced the original portions of LB 2. My original intent was to package LB 2 with Senator Wayne's bill to exempt municipal water bills from sales tax, a bill that would provide a small amount of tax relief for all municipal water customers. Although we didn't get his bill tied to LB 2, I still intend to support his exemption for municipal water.

Thursday, just about the whole day was dedicated to my LB 408, a bill to limit property tax asking increases generally to 3%. Growth was excepted, which would make the cap on average about 4%. I further included various exceptions designed to ensure our local governments, including our schools, could continue to provide the services Nebraskans expect. Debate was robust all day on the issues of property tax reform and education funding reform, and the bill encountered stiff opposition from some of my colleagues, mostly from urban Nebraska, who were unwilling to take this common-sense step towards property tax relief. The vote to keep the bill alive garnered 29 votes of the 49 member body, not enough to invoke cloture, and the bill did not advance. Within hours, Governor Ricketts and U.S. Senator Deb Fisher called out the opponents of LB 408.

On Friday, we debated an education bill, LB 528, which contained my LB 3. As amended, LB 3 would require the Department of Education to maintain a website containing a plethora of information on each school district, including the amount of revenue derived from each source, cost per pupil and achievement scores. It further requires each school district, in its notice of budget hearing, to provide either the name of the NDE website, or a link to it, so our patrons can be informed as to the availability of this information. The goal of LB 3 is to help increase transparency and accountability in public education in Nebraska. It's good for our schools and our patrons and taxpayers. LB 528, including LB 3, advanced to select file.

As always, I encourage you to contact my office with any comments or questions on legislation and issues facing Nebraskans. My office phone is 402-471-2631, and my email is [email protected].