Child care subsidy freeze advanced; taxes, housing, lobbying, death penalty discussed

March 22, 2017, 5:51 a.m. ·

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The Nebraska Legislature votes on child care subsidies Wednesday (Photo by Fred Knapp, NET News)

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A proposal to freeze child care subsidies moved ahead in the Nebraska Legislature Wednesday, but proposed tax changes remain stalled. And senators discussed housing, lobbying, and the death penalty.


The proposed freeze on child care subsidies would affect about 18,000 low income families. Currently, subsidies are set at 60 to 75 percent of the market rate, and move up as care becomes more expensive.

Under the proposal by Gov. Pete Ricketts, they would not go up this year. The administration estimates that will save about $7.5 million. An amendment adopted Tuesday would guarantee the subsidy would not go below 50 percent of the market rate. And a market rate survey by the University of Nebraska will not be complete until the later this spring.

Sen. Burke Harr suggested lawmakers delay the bill. Are we saving $7 million? We don’t know. We don’t have the survey results. How do we know how much money we’re saving? Let’s wait and get the survey results,” Harr said.

But Sen. Jim Scheer, speaker of the Legislature, said he would not schedule further debate before the survey results were in, and were applied to the amendment adopted Tuesday. “I’m not interested in moving a bill forward that we don’t know. That happens more in Washington than here,” Scheer said. “Please rest assured that we have an agreement, this bill is not going to go anywhere until we find out exactly the consequences or unintended consequences of the amendment that we passed yesterday.”

Senators voted 31-10 to give the bill first round approval.

They then took up a proposal by Sen. Matt Williams to use $7 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, paid for by fees charged on real estate documents, to support housing in communities where workers can’t find it. Williams said it is a widespread problem. “The lack of quality and affordable housing is one of the greatest barriers facing rural Nebraska. In many communities across the state of Nebraska, we have jobs that go unfilled because of this lack of housing,” Williams said.

Senators voted 41-0 first round approval for the bill.

Meanwhile, opinions are split on proposed tax changes. Sen. Jim Smith, chairman of the Revenue Committee, wants to use an existing $220 million property tax credit fund to fund both property and income tax changes. Smith has discussed using $160 million to increase aid to schools, replacing property taxes they use, and $60 million to start reducing income tax rates.

But Sen. Mike Groene said property tax payers, including farmers, would be better off using all $220 million for property tax relief, $160 million of it through school aid, and $60 million through the property tax credit fund. “I’ve got that bird in the hand. Why would I give away $60 million of property tax relief which we already have?” Groene asked.

“Some want to take the other $60 million and use it for income tax cuts. My people aren’t making any income right now. They don’t give a damn about income tax cuts. You got to make money first, and they’re not making it,” he added.

Smith said Groene was ignoring the fact that the property tax credit is funded by sales and income tax dollars, which come slightly more from urban than rural areas. He argued using part of the fund to lower income tax rates could spur growth that would help the entire state. “That’s what we’re trying to do is make certain that we redistribute those dollars that come into that fund back to the taxpayers that pay into that fund, but do it in such a way that we promote growth in Nebraska and fulfil a long-term strategy to relieving the tax burden on rural Nebraska,” Smith said.

Smith said he hopes the Revenue Committee can agree on the outlines of tax changes Thursday.

Wednesday afternoon, the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee held a public hearing on bills to tighten regulations on lobbying. Among them was a proposal by Sen. John Kuehn to require lobbyists to report within 24 hours of beginning to work on a specific piece of legislation.

Kuehn said currently, such reports don’t have to be filed until 45 days after the end of a legislative session. “Certainly in a free society, everyone has the right to petition their government. However, it should not be done in secret. And so, improving real time reporting so that the public, senators, and the media know who is active on a particular piece of legislation in real time, is an important element of government transparency,” Kuehn said.

The committee took no immediate action.

And the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the latest in a decades-long series of proposals by Sen. Ernie Chambers to abolish the death penalty. The Legislature voted to abolish the death penalty two years ago, but voters reinstated it last November.

Joe Nigro, speaking for the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association, said legislators should abolish it again. “We oppose the death penalty because it is wrong. Some will say why push this issue again when the voters just reinstated the death penalty last fall. The answer is because it is the right thing to do. In the 1700’s and the 1800’s people didn’t give up pushing for abolition because it was the right thing to do. In the ‘Fifties and ‘Sixties people didn’t give up pushing for civil rights because it was the right thing to do,” Nigro said.

Christine Tuttle, whose mother Yvonne was killed in a Norfolk bank robbery 15 years ago, opposed the bill. Tuttle recounted a letter she had received from Jose Sandoval, one of the convicted killers. “He told me that if I don’t forgive him for what he did, I will go to hell. He also told me that if I want answers to what he did, I can come visit him,” Tuttle said. “How would that make you feel? He is still victimizing me and my family from Death Row. And I want to know that I will never receive another letter from him. And I also want to know that these men will never hurt another person. On Nov. 8, the people of Nebraska spoke. Did you hear them?” she asked.

This year’s proposal is not a priority bill, making it unlikely to be debated this year.