Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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I imagine that most readers are expecting me to write this week about the upcoming special session of the State Legislature. The Governor has not yet formally called for a special session of the Legislature and his plan for property tax relief remains under construction. When news becomes available, about a special session or about his plan for property tax relief, I will be sure to let the readership know. I am committed to keeping the folks of Western Nebraska informed about state news. When i...
Today it is with great disappointment that I must report that the EPIC Option Consumption Tax team did not meet the required signature count to place our two initiatives for constitutional amendments on the November general election ballot. While the team met the first goal of securing signatures from at least five percent of registered voters in 38 counties, the team fell short of the second requirement of securing signatures from ten percent of the registered voters statewide. I would like to...
Are you satisfied with your property valuation? The time has come to revolt. Nebraskans will never be heard until we collectively decide to protest our valuations. Protesting valuations is the most cost-efficient way to lead a tax rebellion. Therefore, I want to encourage every property owner in Nebraska to file a protest. Form 422 be delivered in person to the county clerk or mailed with a postmark no later than June 30, 2024. Instructions for filing and Form 422 can be found on the Nebraska...
Did your property assessment go down this year? Perhaps you are one of the very rare Nebraskans who by chance received an equivalent valuation as last year or even a slight reduction. Once again, this year's valuation notices aptly demonstrate how broken our tax system is. The process of valuating properties in Nebraska is completely subjective. There simply is no uniform, objective methodology for valuating properties. County assessors determine the value of properties as they see fit, and...
Nebraskans are now receiving their new property valuation notices in the mail. As a result, many Nebraskans are suffering from sticker shock once they see how much the value of their property has increased since last year. Mine, for example, went up forty percent! Other property owners are seeing their valuations increase by as much as fifty percent. What these property valuation notices demonstrate is how broken Nebraska's tax system is. To be sure, you can bet your last dollar that the tax...
How many American flags have ever flown on the moon? If you answered, six, you are correct. Each lunar American flag was made of nylon material and was fixed to an aluminum telescoping pole. These flags came in a special kit which were carried on the outside of the Apollo Lunar Module on the descent ladder and were stored inside an insulated tubular case to protect them from the heat of the exhaust, which could reach temperatures up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the flags measured 3 X 5 f...
On May 30, 2024, a jury in a New York courtroom read the verdict, convicting the former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump 's lawyers will appeal the case and the decision will likely get overturned by a higher court. This decision should get overturned because it represents one of the biggest travesties of justice ever to come out of an American courtroom. I call this a travesty of justice because nobody, not even the...
Jesus once said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13. I am not trying to get religious, but this is the expected principle to live by when you serve as a chaplain in the military. Of course, that principle is much easier said than done. Nevertheless, four Army chaplains once displayed this kind of love and courage during the days of WWII, so today I would like to recall their story. The SS Dorchester had been requisitioned as a troop...
One of the questions we often receive about the EPIC Option Consumption Tax concerns the two ballot initiatives. Many folks ask us, "How is the petition drive doing?" Today I am prepared to give an update and I have some very good news to report. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax currently has two petition drives running concurrently to put two separate ballot initiatives on the ballot for the voters to decide on November 5. The first ballot initiative would eliminate all taxes other than...
On Friday May 3, 2024 citizens concerned about Nebraska’s overly burdensome tax system packed the Warner Chamber at the Nebraska State Capitol Building in Lincoln to hear an honest debate and exchange of ideas about the EPIC Option Consumption Tax. While we invited numerous representatives from those organizations who openly oppose the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, such as the Open Sky Institute, the State Chamber of Commerce, the League of Municipalities, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, and No New T...
One of the most important bills that I ever introduced in my career as a Nebraska State Senator was my destroyed property bill, originally LB 482. The contents of that bill were later amended into LB 512 and passed as a Christmas Tree bill back in 2019. The bill enables landowners with destroyed or damaged properties to have their valuations readjusted for property tax purposes, provided that the damage exceeds 20 percent of the property’s value during the current assessment year and the p...
April 18th was the last day of the 108th Legislature and marked the end of my days as a legislator, even though my term won't officially expire until January 5 of next year. For those who may be wondering about my future in politics, I have no plans to return to the Unicameral Legislature, except for a possible special session later this year; however, it has been a pleasure to represent the good people of Legislative District 47 for the past eight years. I never anticipated the depth of the...
April 18th was the final day of the 108th Legislature. This was the shorter 60-day session and, save for a special session of the Legislature later this summer, this completes my tenure as a Nebraska State Senator. It has been a pleasure for me to serve the good people of Legislative District 47 for the past eight years. When I came into the Unicameral Legislature eight years ago my number one goal was to provide the people of Nebraska with meaningful and significant property tax relief. First,...
On the 58th day of this year's shorter 60-day legislative session Nebraska State Senators debated the Governor's actual tax plan. That plan was amended into the Revenue Committee's shell bill (LB 388) with an amendment (AM 3468). I have been saying throughout the legislative session that the Governor's plan would not deliver 40 percent property tax relief, as per his promise, and that amendment only proved my point when the bill advanced to Final Reading late last Wednesday night. The Governor...
Last Wednesday was a very busy day at the Capitol in Lincoln. Every State Senator's phone and email lit up with messages concerning LB 764, a bill commonly referred to as the "Winner Take All" bill. Nebraska is one of only two states which splits its electoral college votes during a presidential election. Current Nebraska State law allows voters to choose one presidential elector for each of Nebraska's three congressional districts and for two additional presidential electors to be chosen at lar...
When it comes to the generation of power, Nebraska does a lot of things right. Nebraska ranks as the number one state in the nation for residential electricity reliability, and Nebraska ranks as the fifth best state in the Union for the overall cost of electricity. Electrical utilities in Nebraska are completely owned by the public; there are no privately owned power companies in Nebraska. Nebraska has been a leader in power generation ever since the State Legislature passed its first public pow...
During the days of the pandemic religious leaders were told to do many things to inhibit the spreading of the coronavirus, including closing the doors of their churches. Most obliged the orders of their state and local governments, while a few did not. One of those ministers who refused was John MacArthur, the senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA. MacArthur believed that his constitutional rights had been violated, so he sued and his case went all the way up to the U.S....
One of Rush Limbaugh's undeniable truths of life was that "words mean things." Such is the case with words such as "destroyed property' and 'calamity'. According to Nebraska State Statute 77-1307, "Calamity means a disastrous event, including, but not limited to a fire, an earthquake, a flood, a tornado or other natural event which significantly affects the assessed value of real property." This definition should not require a disastrous event to have a natural cause, but not everyone sees it...
In 2021 the Fufeng Group, a Chinese food manufacturer, bought 300 acres of farmland near Grand Forks, North Dakota in order to build a milling plant. They paid 2.6 million dollars for the land. That land is only twelve miles from the Grand Forks Air Base, which is home to some of America's most sensitive military secrets. Last year both the BBC and NPR reported that the Chinese had already purchased 380,000 acres of farmland in the United States. After the purchase of land was made near the...
Last week the State of Wyoming advanced a bill by Rep. Steve Harshman to eliminate most property taxes in Wyoming along with a two percent hike in the State's sales tax. Shifting the tax burden away from property taxes and onto sales taxes or consumption taxes is an idea which is now gaining a lot of steam all across the country. Besides Nebraska, states which have seen these kinds of bills in recent years include Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Texas. In 2020...
Last Thursday Gov. Jim Pillen delivered his State of the State address to the Unicameral Legislature. The primary focus of the speech was devoted to tax relief, especially property tax relief. So, I listened closely to hear his plans for tax relief. Although he vows to reduce property taxes by 40 percent, he never offered any kind of substantive plan for doing so. Gov. Pillen's plan continues several of the same stale practices which have never worked in the past, such as creating more property...
When I first arrived in the Nebraska Legislature in 2017, Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha stood in front of me on the legislative floor. He turned around and gave me some good advice. He told me to learn the rules. I began to read the rules. Upon doing so, I quickly learned how confusing the Rule Book of the Nebraska Legislature was. So, immediately upon adjournment last year, I turned my attention to re-writing the Rule Book. The project of re-writing the Rule Book of the Legislature focused...
The 2024 Legislative session has begun. Because the Unicameral Legislature operates in a two-year cycle, this will be the second session of the 108th Legislature. The session began on January 3 and will end on April 18. Since this is only a 60-day session, there will be less time for State Senators to get the business of the State done this year. Today I will share my priorities and goals for making this year’s legislative session a productive one. I am the chair of the Legislature’s Rules Com...
The Biden administration continues to enforce failing policies concerning oil and gas which are now beginning to affect the State of Nebraska. The Biden administration's war against global warming and its war against the use of oil and gas are both misguided and wrong. So, today I would like to explain why this is the case and how it is affecting our state. President Biden likes to brag how oil production in the U.S. is the same today as it was under Trump. Well, that is not exactly true. At...
One of the major pieces of legislation that Nebraska State Senators passed this year was LB77, a bill which prevents cities, towns and villages from putting gun restrictions on citizens who care to arm themselves without a conceal-carry permit. As soon as the law went into effect on September 1, both mayors of the cities of Lincoln and Omaha enacted their own executive orders reinstating their city's gun free zones in public buildings, city parks, sidewalks, hiking trails, and parking lots....
