Tax, prison cost, school social worker bills among priorities

Feb. 20, 2018, 4:21 a.m. ·

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Nebraska Capitol (Photo by Fred Knapp, NET News)

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Reshaping proposals for tax changes, helping counties with prisons pay for the costs of disturbances, and trying to prevent school violence were all issues discussed in the Legislature today Tuesday.


It is just about midway through this year’s legislative session – Tuesday was day 29 of the scheduled 60 days. And the process of winnowing down the proposals that will be considered in the remaining days is well underway. Tuesday was the deadline for senators to select their priority bills – those that will be given priority when the speaker sets the agenda for what will be debated.

Among those selected was Sen. Jim Smith’s proposal, which he introduced on behalf of Gov. Pete Ricketts, for property and income tax cuts. But in a meeting of the Revenue Committee, which he chairs, Smith made no attempt to get the committee to send the bill to the full Legislature for debate yet.

Smith said business groups object that the current proposal tilts too heavily in the direction of property tax relief, favored by farm groups, and doesn’t do enough to cut income taxes. “The chambers of commerce are saying we need to put more in there for economic growth. We need to put more in there for corporate and individual. We need to be concerned about -- this is chambers talking – we need to be concerned about the business incentives as well that help to spark that growth,” Smith said. “So now we need to go back around and we need to have further conversations with ag interest groups and say ‘Look, how do we balance all this out and be able to afford it? We can make a lot of promises, but now we need to afford it as a state.”

Meanwhile, there appears to be little appetite in the Revenue Committee for another bill, introduced by Sen. Steve Erdman, to have the state refund half of what residents pay in property taxes for schools. That proposal is projected to cost more than $1 billion dollars a year – almost a quarter of the state’s budget – with no compensating source of revenue to pay for it. A petition drive has been launched to go around the Legislature and put it on the ballot for voters to decide.

A third major tax proposal, by Sen. Tom Briese, would increase sales, cigarette and income taxes, and eliminate some sales tax exemptions, to increase school aid and decrease property taxes. It, too, remains in committee, awaiting a proposed amendment from Briese. The committee did advance another bill, aimed at preventing what would otherwise be a tax increase of more than $200 million due to federal tax reform.

Meanwhile, the Appropriations Committee advanced and gave priority status to a bill by Sen. Dan Watermeier that would have the state bear costs above a certain amount for prison disturbances. Watermeier said the proposal grew out of the riot at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in his southeast Nebraska district on Mother’s Day in 2015. He said more than 50 criminal cases could result from that event, which caused extensive fire damage and resulted in the death of two inmates. Johnson County, where the prison is located, would have to pay for both the prosecution and defense. The bill would require the state to bear all costs that exceed five percent of the property tax asking for the county. In Johnson County, that’s about $250,000.

Watermeier couldn’t say how much he thinks the ultimate costs will be. “We really don’t think it’s going to be that high, but we’re just concerned that if it continues to happen, and we do have a major incident – any one incident with one death is major as far as I’m concerned – but if we would have one that had …ten deaths, it could be catastrophic. It could be catastrophic even for Lancaster County, which would be covered on this bill as well,” he said.

Sen. Kate Bolz named as her priority a bill aimed at helping troubled students and avoiding school violence. The proposal was introduced by Sen. Lynn Walz, who spoke to the Legislature the day after last week’s school shooting in Florida. “I hardly slept last night. I was up about 3:30, thinking about this horrific event and what can be done. And legislators, I don’t think that any of us should have slept last night. Because we have the ability to change what is happening in our state and in our country. We have the ability to save lives,” Walz said.

Her bill aims to put a social worker in each of the state’s 17 educational service units to train teachers and other school personnel and work with families to deal with behavioral and mental health problems. Bolz says she made it her priority for three reasons: First, because of what she’s heard from school personnel about the needs;second, because of her experience with other systems, such as child welfare, on the need for early intervention; third, because of concern about violence. “I think Sen. Walz was very eloquent on the floor when she talked about her concerns. And students have been very eloquent in terms of their concerns. And it’s time for adults to do our part,” Bolz said.

The bill provides no money for the program, but sets up a fund for private contributions, which Walz says are already being discussed. After that fund reaches $3.6 million – three years’ worth of funding -- the program would be implemented. After that, money for the program would come from schools and ESUs, which are funded by property taxes, and the state, funded largely by sales and income taxes, as well as from private, philanthropic sources. Tuesday afternoon, the Education Committee voted 5-2 to advance Walz’ bill to the full Legislature for consideration.