Today in the Legislature

This morning we concluded the debate on LB 474. Sen. Friend offered a motion to indefinitely postpone or IPP (kill) the bill and the motion was successful. We had a spirited debate on the bill and the issues seemed to be what should be reported for certain public employees in the way of disciplinary actions and whether or not there is a need to make that information available to the public. As I understand it, people who need to know can access the information and some people who would like to know - for whatever reason - cannot. This bill would have only applied to teachers and police officers. The explanation was that those are the two areas that there is the most concern over. I am not sure why, but that was the logic given.

Ultimately, I didn't hear a compelling reason for allowing the disclosure of this information to the public. Again there are avenues for the appropriate authorities and entities to access those records if needed. When legislation is introduced, it has generally been the philosophy that the burden is on the introducer of the bill to prove why there is a need not those who don't see the need to prove there is not.

I voted to IPP the bill. Not because I want people who are committing criminal acts to keep their jobs or to be free from public scrutiny, I don't. My understanding is that most employers address those issues in their employment practices and policies. Disclosure is important in a free society, but it is not absolute. The proponents of this measure didn't meet the bar in my mind to warrant support for their bill. Tomorrow is another day and who knows I may learn some additional information.

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One Line Descriptions of Bills

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Today in the Agriculture Committee

Appointments (Beginning Farmer Board) -- Melvin Valasek, Todd Reed, Darrell Mark, Mark Graff, Don Anthony
LB 875 (Fulton) Change eligibility requirements under the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Act
LB 1027 (Erdman) Provide a personal property tax exemption under the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Act
LB 789 (Erdman) Change grant requirements under the Agricultural Opportunities and Value-Added Partnerships Act
LB 1053 (Erdman) Create a production incentive for biodiesel production

The committee heard the appointments of the 5 members listed above and recommended that all 5 be confirmed by the Legislature to the Beginning Farmer Board.

LB 875 and LB 1027 were introduced to provide additional incentives to beginning farmers and those who would partner with them.

LB 789 was requested by the Department of Economic Development to change the way that value added grants are awarded in the state.

LB 1053 would provide an incentive for technology to be developed in a lab type setting that would either enhance existing production of biodiesel or to create biodiesel from new sources of biomass.

All 4 bills were supported by many organizations and you can read more about them, but clicking on the bill number which is a link to the Nebraska Legislature's website. No action was taken on the bills today.

The Committee did advance LB 788 with an amendment. LB 788 updates the Anthrax control act to allow the Department of Agriculture to respond in the event of an anthrax outbreak in Nebraska for livestock.

Members of the Agriculture Committee: