Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sorted by date Results 176 - 187 of 187
As you know, the nation has been rocked by violent protests for the past three weeks due to the wrongful death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Last week some of these protestors even took over control of a six block section of Seattle, including a police precinct. Nebraska has not been immune to these kinds of violent protests. Rioters in Lincoln, for example, destroyed several buildings along the Lincoln Mall near the Capitol Building, including the Blue Cross/Blue Shield...
Today we know a lot more about COVID-19 than we did before the outbreak first occurred in China’s Wuhan Province. Unfortunately, those who make the policies for our states, do not always get their information from the right sources. We’ve known since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in America that the elderly were most at risk, especially those living in nursing homes and long term care facilities. We’ve known this about the coronavirus because on March 17 Stanford epide...
Enough is enough! We are now 60 days into the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic first reached American soil, predictions were made by medical experts about its severity and mortality rate. At that time they said the virus was going to be horrific because they were basing their opinions upon insufficient information about the virus. But, at that time it was all they had to go on. Now we know the facts about COVID-19, and the facts do not back up what was originally projected to happen. The...
Last week was a very busy week for me at the Capitol. On Monday the petition drive for the property tax relief ballot measure was launched. The petition drive will put onto the November ballot the same measure as my legislative bill, LB 829. The ballot measure would direct the Department of Revenue to give Nebraska property taxpayers up to 30 percent off their property taxes in the form of a credit or refund. Last fall I received a passionate phone call from a Palmyra farmer. He pressed me to...
On January 25 public hearings will be held on my two property tax relief bills, LB829 and LB899. If you would like to testify at the public hearing for either bill, please arrive at Hearing Room #1524 at the State Capitol Building in Lincoln by 1:30 p.m. In order to testify, you will need to fill out a short form which will be available in the hearing room. I encourage everyone who desires property tax relief and who is able to travel the long distance to come to Lincoln and testify. The...
LB829 is the number assigned to my property tax relief bill. LB829 will allow tax payers to get a 50 percent credit or refund on that portion of their property tax bill which goes to fund public education when they file their Nebraska state income taxes. For most taxpayers, LB829 will result in a 30 percent reduction in property taxes. LB829 is necessary because property taxes in Nebraska have been running out of control. According to the Department of Numbers, Nebraska’s real median h...
One bill I believe Nebraska needs is LB611. LB611 is a carry-over bill from last year. Last year the bill advanced out of the Appropriations Committee, where it also became the committee’s priority bill. The bill currently sits on General File. LB611 would require annual reporting of federal funds received by state agencies participating in the State’s budgeting process. The report would require every State agency to create two operating plans; the first would go into effect once federal rec...
Happy New Year and welcome to 2018! The second session of the 105th Nebraska Legislature will commence on January 3. So, this week I want to offer an update on some of the bills I have been working on and will introduce this year. The first bill I will introduce will be the property tax relief bill I promised to introduce in a press conference I held last May after the closing of the first session of the 105th Nebraska Legislature. My Property Tax Relief Act will give Nebraska taxpayers a 30%...
As 2017 draws to a close, I sit by the fire with pen and paper in hand, reflecting on all that has transpired since I first took office back in January 2017. It has truly been an honor and a privilege to represent the good people of District 47 in the Nebraska Legislature. So, I thank you for providing me with this very exciting and wonderful adventure in Nebraska politics. Nebraska really is the good life. So, I went to Lincoln with the understanding that my job is to somehow make the good...
Nebraskans pay too much in property taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, Nebraskans pay the seventh highest property taxes in the nation. Nebraskans pay 1.65 percent of their home’s value in property taxes every year. The best state in the country for property taxes is Hawaii, where homeowners pay only 0.28 percent of their home’s value. Most importantly, though, we pay more in property taxes than any of our neighboring states. In Wyoming, for example, homeowners pay only 0.51 percent and in...
On Thursday Nov. 16 Sen. Brewer (LD43), Sen. Halloran (LD33), and I, Sen. Steve Erdman (LD47), had a two hour meeting with University of Nebraska President, Hank Bounds, and Chancellor Ronnie Green. During that meeting we reminded these two University administrators that the University of Nebraska is a land grant university. Because the University of Nebraska is a land grant university, its values ought to reflect the same values as the people living in the State. This cannot be the case when co...
The Nebraska Forecasting Advisory Board meets periodically to forecast (or guess) how much money they think will be coming into the State’s general fund. Lawmakers use these projections to craft the State’s biennial budget. On October 27 the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board met at the State Capitol and voted to lower its revenue projections. This is not good news for our State. The revenue projections were lowered because the board members believe that individual incomes are dec...
