Legislative Update #4

You could play football in the Nebraska State Capitol today. Today is the first recess day since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January. That seems like it was 5 months ago in terms of all that has been happening in the halls and hearing rooms of the statehouse. Even yesterday, the Thursday before a 4-day weekend, 4 committees were still in past 6:00 in the evening. Almost every day the past month at least 1 committee has run past 6, and several have run past 7 or 8. Not that big of a deal for hard working Nebraskans, but sitting in a hearing room for 6 or 7 hours listening to legislative testimony is hard and drains the soul to a near-empty capacity.

We are down to 2 weeks of hearings left…YAY. I’m always asked what the best days of a session are, and the last day of hearings is way up there on my list. Being stuck in hearings all afternoon makes it a real challenge to being prepared for the next coming day or days. I’m grateful for all of you who come to Lincoln and spend time waiting and presenting your thoughts to Committees. Senators would rather hear from you than me…they see me every day…and you, the client, the Nebraskan, the subject matter expert, have the real story to tell.

So, what’s next? Priority designation deadline for Senators and Committee Chairs is this Thursday, and the Speaker will announce his priorities the following week. So we’ll be all set for the most part on what the rest of the session will entail. Speaking of that…next Friday is the half-way point already. WOW

The Appropriations Committee is still working on their budget…and they have some work to do. They took input on the Department of Health and Human Services on Monday for 7 hours. Lots of people are ticked off that the Governor is proposing to cut over $150M from that Department alone. There are only 2 results from such a cut, really: fewer services, or few people receiving services. Neither is usually good for the welfare of the state and its vulnerable populations.

Good news?? We just got revenue numbers from January this morning and receipts are up a little, meaning we might have a little more economy to work with before the budget discussions. We need all the help we can get to keep all the doors open and running smoothly.

And it’s going to be in the upper 60s the next few days…get outside and enjoy some air!

~Kent