Today in the Legislature

The State of the State began this morning at 10 am (CST). You received a copy of the highlights earlier. The Governor or Lieutenant Governor will be touring the state presenting the speech as well.

After the State of the State, the Legislature reconvened and continued the debate on LB 253 - which creates a motorcycle training and safety act as well as allows motorcyclists who meet the requirements in the bill the option to choose whether to wear a helmet or not. The debate continued with anecdotes and comments on both sides. A vote was then taken on the bill to advance it to Select File. It failed 23-25. The bill did not advance to Select File and will remain on General File, unless the Speaker puts it on the agenda again.

We then recessed for lunch and I had the opportunity to visit with 5 young men from Pleasanton High School on many topics before the Legislature. This is part of an annual trip they make to the Legislature to meet with Senators. I have met with some of these students for the last four years and really appreciate their insight and input.

After lunch we debated LB 39, LB 402 and LB 205.

LB 39 would limit those who could circulate petitions in the state of Nebraska for referendum and initiatives. The bill as it sits on Final Reading would prohibit anyone who is not an elector (someone who is eligible to vote, but may or may not be registered to vote) from collecting signatures. This means that the same young people who can legally assist in the collection of ballots at polling places cannot collect signatures on a petition. I think this provision is too restrictive and would like to see some consistency with other provisions that allow young Nebraskans to be apart of the process if they can comply with the requirements for petition circulators. The irony is that most of the issues raised in the debate are issues that need to be enforced under existing laws. I voted against the advancement of LB 39.

LB 402 was introduced by Sen. Schimek and would create a separate redistricting task force that would create redistricting plans and maps for the next redistricting in 2011. The bill would also have the staff of the Legislative Research Office draft the bills and would prohibit State Senators from amending the bill on the floor during debate. I offered Senator Schimek an alternative that was similar to the process in 2001. She then took my amendment and tried to recreate her bill to look like my amendment. Eventually the discussion centered on whether or not the process should in statute or in the rules - where it has always been. Ultimately the Legislature adopted my amendment that gives the Research Office the authority to work with the census bureau to gather the data and I will then offer a Rule to the Rules Committee to create the Committee and their responsibilities in the rules. The bill advanced to Select File with my amendment as the bill.

LB 205 was introduced by Sen. Howard to require all schools to have a bullying policy and to update the definitions in the bill. My research reveals that approximately 90% of the school districts in the state already have policies in their student handbook regulating student conduct that interferes with school purposes which includes bullying. In visiting with the Nebraska Association of School Boards, their staff have personally reviewed over one-third of policies in the state of Nebraska. The real issue is enforcement. This bill doesn't solve that issue at all. I hope that Nebraskans understand the limitations of any law that is not being enforced. It is not a cure all just to name the problem in law without an effective remedy.

While LB 205 raises the issue of bullying to the state as a whole, if the current law isnŐt being enforced or if the schools don't have the tools to enforce the law we should look into possible solutions and not just naming the problem in statute. In fact, this bill does not give any new tools to schools to enforce bullying policies. It obviously would be a value to the districts who don't have a policy in place either specifically on bullying or in their student conduct.

In spite of my offers to visit with Sen. Howard about her bill and the concerns I have heard with the bill as to not solving the problems being identified, she has yet to sit down with me to talk. We have talked in passing, but nothing serious. I have had very good discussions with those supporting the bill who have contacted me. I have encouraged them to work with school districts across the state to identify meaningful tools they can use to enforce their existing policies dealing with bullying or student conduct.

No action was taken on the bill.

View the Legislature Live

When the Legislature is in session, you can watch it online at: http://www.netnebraska.org/television/stream/legislature.html or on your local cable network on NET2..

One Line Descriptions of Bills

To search the list of bills introduced for any day this session, you can visit the Nebraska Legislature's website by clicking here.

You will have to scroll down to 2008 to see the one line description of bills introduced this session.