Baker favors stiffer speeding fines

As he drives back and forth from the legislative halls in Lincoln to his home in Trenton, State Sen. Tom Baker feels like he's standing still when drivers whiz by him at high speeds.

And, even when drivers do get ticketed for exceeding the speed limit, Baker says their fines are not high enough to shock the drivers into slowing down.

If Baker gets his way, that will change. Under terms of Legislative Bill 862, which Sen. Baker introduced Wednesday, speeding fines in Nebraska would be doubled.

Fines for 1 to 5 miles over the speed limit would rise from $10 to $20; fines for 6 to 10 miles over the limit would increase from $25 to $50; fines for 11 to 15 miles over the limit would jump from $75 to $150; and fines for 16 to 20 miles over the limit would leap from $125 to $250.

Baker is right to urge an increase in speeding fines. At the current fine level, drivers flaunt the law at an alarming degree. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Interstate 80, where -- at times -- a whole string of cars and trucks are zooming along at speeds of 80 miles an hour or above.

Even if the fines are increased, some drivers will still choose to speed. But under Baker's bill, at least they will pay a stiffer penalty for going too fast.

Ethanol Incentives

Sen. Baker will be back in action today. In a telephone visit with the Gazette this morning, the senator from Trenton said he will introduce legislation today to encourage additional ethanol production in Nebraska.

He plans to introduce three ethanol bills, the centerpiece of which will be an incentive plan. That could be important for this area, as the funds could be used to encourage development of the Southwest Biofuels LLC plant at Perry.

The new incentive plan would be patterned after LB536, the plan that helped encourage the development of the Trenton Agri Products LLC plant east of Trenton. The one difference, Baker said, is that the new incentive plan will not include as much money as did LB536.

The funding level is an issue still to be addressed by the legislators. Since the incentives in LB536 are spread over an eight-year period, Baker said the Legislature will have to come up with more money to fully fund the program. A plan to accomplish that may also be introduced today.

Legislative Updates

Later this month, Sen. Baker will begin weekly visits by telephone with the Legislative Committee of the McCook Chamber of Commerce.

The sessions are tentatively scheduled to begin two weeks from today, on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 8 a.m. Anyone with an interest in legislative matters is welcome to attend the weekly conference call, which will take place at the Chamber office at 107 Norris Ave.