Nebraska Lawmakers Finish Contentious 2018 Session

LINCOLN (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers approved two dozen last-minute bills Wednesday on the final day of a contentious session that was dominated by disputes over state budget cuts, taxes and abortion.

Senators ended the short, 60-day session on a positive note, even as some implored their colleagues to try harder to find agreements next year.

Lawmakers spent much of the session arguing over funding cuts for state agencies, including the University of Nebraska, and a measure to ensure that federal family-planning money doesn’t go to abortion clinics. Those proposals passed despite legislative filibusters that threatened to derail the state’s $8.8 billion, two-year budget.

Senators also rejected attempts to pass a major property tax package, despite increasing pressure from farm groups and homeowners who have seen their tax bills rise.

Speaker Jim Scheer said he doesn’t believe Nebraska’s nonpartisan Legislature has reached the level of rancor seen in other state legislatures, but warned that lawmakers have “gotten better at talking than listening.”

“I believe we can do better, and we will,” said Scheer, of Norfolk.

Sen. Laura Ebke, of Crete, said lawmakers were “unnecessarily feisty at times, unwilling to compromise,” but still managed to pass important legislation. Lawmakers passed 156 bills this year.

“We’ve got to start figuring out how to talk together and work things out,” Ebke said. “I don’t know how that happens or when that happens, but there are a number of people who want to keep working on it.”

Sen. Burke Harr, who is leaving office in January because of term limits, said lawmakers should learn to set aside “petty differences” and communicate with one another.

“We cannot succeed alone,” Harr, of Omaha, said in his departing speech. “This is a team sport. We must learn to work together.”

Another departing lawmaker, Papillion Sen. Jim Smith, said the Legislature could reach more agreements if each legislator “looks beyond the borders of his or her district.”

Sen. Paul Schumacher, of Columbus, said lawmakers have made unrealistic promises to constituents about what can be done to cut taxes.

“Death and taxes are certainties,” he said. “Nothing in this chamber can change that.”

The two dozen bills that lawmakers approved Wednesday include new regulations on the payday lending industry and a bill that would allow driverless cars to operate legally in the state including a pilot-project shuttle in downtown Lincoln.

But since the session is over, Gov. Pete Ricketts can veto any of the bills that passed on Wednesday and senators won’t have a chance to override him.

Additionally, lawmakers voted to repeal a 6-year-old law that gives counties the option to kill black-tailed prairie dogs on private land if neighbors complain about the rodents infringing on their property. This move by legislators was a victory for Sen. Ernie Chambers, of Omaha, who unsuccessfully fought the law for years on grounds that it violated private property rights. Black-tailed prairie dogs are native to Nebraska and considered an important part of the regional ecosystem, but many ranchers view them as pests.