Bills Advanced from General File
On Friday senators advanced from General File a bill to repeal the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Management Act.
LB449 would repeal authority for county boards to develop and enforce a management plan upon the complaint of a landowner adjoining a property inhabited by prairie dogs. Senator Ernie Chambers presented a list of issues in the existing law that may be unconstitutional.
LB670, a bill with an omnibus amendment from the Judiciary Committee, was amended and advanced from General File on Tuesday. As introduced, LB670 would change the makeup and duties of the Nebraska Coalition for Juvenile Justice. The coalition makes recommendations to the Crime Commission for awarding grants and studies juvenile justice issues, among other things. Other bills that were amended into LB670 relate to reporting room confinements at juvenile facilities and changing duties for peace officers during encounters with certain juveniles.
Consent Calendar Bills Advanced from Select File
Thirty-two bills advanced from Select File through a consent calendar process on Wednesday. To be eligible for consent calendar, bills must be noncontroversial and must have been advanced out of committee with no dissenting votes. Following are some of the bills of interest to county officials.
LB733 would extend the duration of Class B county highway or street superintendent licenses from one year to three years to match the length of Class A licenses.
LB885, as amended by a Revenue Committee amendment, would require the county clerk to mail a copy of the property tax protest form to the property owner when the valuation has been protested by someone other than the owner. The amendment added language clarifying that a third party, such as a management company, can protest on behalf of the owner.
LB708 would provide that new filing fees and court courts are not assessed in the transfer of jurisdiction from juvenile court to district court through bridge orders.
LB714 would create procedures for the emancipation of minors.
LB983 would update a statute that was missed last year when legislation was adopted to address new court rules on media access during audiovisual court appearances.
LB1036 would double the dollar amount that could be spent on employee recognition dinners under the Local Government Miscellaneous Expenditures Act from $25 to $50. The rate had not been increased since 1993.
LB1038 would extend the deadline for online voter registration from 5:00 p.m. to midnight on the deadline day. The bill was introduced on behalf of the Secretary of State.
LB786 would update terminology used in county statutes to be gender neutral.
LB1030 would allocate motor vehicle sales tax based on the situs of vehicles owned by public power districts and licensed at their headquarters. The bill would not take effect until 2021 when the new vehicle titling and registration system will be implemented by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Bills Passed by the Legislature
On Friday a number of bills were passed and sent to the governor. Among those was
LB909, an omnibus bill addressing vehicle titling and registration and encompassing a number of other bills. Some of the elements in the bill include allowing special permits for hauling oversize loads of bales of livestock forage, and requiring drivers to move over when approaching maintenance, utility, and recycling collection vehicles. Other provisions create a "flood damaged" salvage title and define autocycles and low-speed vehicles.
Bills Signed by Governor Ricketts
The budget bills were passed on Tuesday and signed by Governor Ricketts on Wednesday. The mainline budget bill,
LB944, contains the language pertaining to Title X funding for family planning clinics that senators debated last week. The budget provides for direct property tax relief of $448 million through the Property Tax Credit over the biennium.
Ricketts also signed
LB931, which is intended to prevent over-prescription of opioids by requiring photo identification to receive the drugs. The bill limits the duration of opioid prescriptions for persons under age 19 to seven days and directs physicians to discussion the risk of addition with patients who receive opioids.
Other bills were signed to change district court judicial boundaries (
LB697) and create an advisory committee to assist the Public Service Commission in planning next generation 911 (
LB993),