Gas tax hike, state guidelines for livestock operations advance

April 1, 2015, 5:13 a.m. ·

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Nebraska lawmakers gave first-round approval today (Wednesday) to a six-cent-a-gallon rise in the state’s gas tax. But the long-term prospects for the idea remain uncertain. And senators also directed the state Department of Agriculture to develop a tool to assess proposed livestock operations.

Supporters of the gas tax increase say it’s needed to help repair crumbling county bridges, maintain state roads, and build new expressways. Opponents say it’s a tax increase at a time when Nebraskans are demanding tax relief. The discussion of timing was one of the major themes of debate Wednesday. Omaha Sen. John McCollister said it argues in favor of the bill. "I contend that the timing is good for this increase in the gasoline tax. The six cents we’ll raise over the four years is just a drop in the bucket compared to the 90 cents decrease that we’ve seen in our gas prices over the last year," McCollister said.

Under the bill, gas taxes would increase 1.5 cents each of the next four years, totaling to a 6 cent increase. To Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins, the question of timing argued against the bill. Bloomfield told of seeing an old wooden bridge on a county road replaced with a big concrete structure, when he said a culvert could have been installed at a much lower cost. "I went to the county and asked ‘Why are we putting in this monster when a tube would work?’" And they said ‘It’s because the government requires us to.’ Let’s let the new guy look at this a little bit. Maybe we can save the counties a bunch of money just by reducing the regulations," Bloomfield said.

The "new guy" Bloomfield referred to is whoever will be the new director of the Department of Roads. Gov. Pete Ricketts is currently searching for someone to fill that position. Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft picked up on that line of reasoning. "I believe we should give him or her the opportunity to see what has been in place, what funding we have in place, look at some of the options we have discussed, and give that new director a chance to apply their expertise in this area," Brasch said.

Some opponents predicted senators who supported the tax increase would have it used against them in the next election. Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward said he didn’t care. And Kolterman said public sentiment among his constituents seemed to be running in the opposite direction. "My initial reaction was to vote ‘no’ because it is a tax increase. But ever since this bill came out of committee, I’ve actually polled my constituents, listened to my constituents, and it’s probably been 2 to 1 in support of adding this tax," Kolterman said.

Kolterman then joined the majority that voted 26-10 for the bill. That was enough to give it first-round approval. But it would take 30 votes to override if Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed the measure.

Following the vote, Ricketts issued a statement saying he was "exceptionally disappointed" at the vote, adding that he hoped senators would vote against it at the next round of debate. A spokesman added Ricketts wants to find an innovative roads director to do more with what the state already has, not run to a tax increase as the first line of defense.

Thursday afternoon, senators also gave first round approval to a bill that would require the state Department of Agriculture to develop an evaluation tool counties can use to decide whether or not to permit livestock operations. Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, sponsor of the bill, said potential operators are being discouraged by the prospect of having their applications rejected by local officials. "We’re losing out on the dairy industry. I have one producer in my county. We’re certainly losing out on the pork industry. We’re certainly losing out on the chicken and the poultry- turkey industry," Watermeier said. "I just think Nebraska is poised, with its water and its resources and its work ethic, to convert this grain, the DDGS, all the soybean protein that we have into protein boxed beef, boxed pork and chicken and poultry," he added.

DDGS are distillers dried grains with solubles, a byproduct of ethanol production that can be fed to livestock. Watermeier’s bill would originally have required counties to use the tool the state developed. But it was scaled back to make such use voluntary following objections that would erode local control. It got first round approval on a vote of 34-3.