Questions ranged from property tax proposals to dental care at Sen. Mark Christensen's conference call to the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Committee on Thursday.

Former McCook Mayor Jerda Garey and Sen. George Norris House coordinator Duane Tappe both asked about LB 452, which would provide a $500 credit toward property taxes. Introduced by Sen. Tom White of Omaha, the bill has been forwarded to the Revenue Committee.

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The bill has been signed by more than 20 senators but he had not been asked to sign, said Sen. Christensen, who is in his first term representing the 44th District. It was his understanding that although the bill seemed fair, it would cost the state about $250 million.

Garey also mentioned LB 210, proposed by the Business and Labor Committee, which would eliminate two positions on the Nebraska Workforce Investment Board. Garey said the reduction of membership, which would eliminate mayors from metropolitan and primary class cities, would be a loss for local control.

Cheryl Springer, a dental hygienist with the office of Michael E. Owens, DDS, asked Christensen to support LB 538, a bill sponsored by Sen. DiAna Schimek of Lincoln. The bill would allow dental hygienists to provide care to clients in nursing homes who otherwise could not afford it.

Christensen stopped short of saying he would support the bill but promised to consider it.

Jim Coady recommended that voting members of Christensen's proposed water committee include those with recreational interests. He mentioned that the U.S. Geological Survey had filed a "friend of the court brief" that would contain helpful information for the committee.

School Board member Mike Gonzales asked about the status of LB 126. The bill, passed by the Legislature in 2006, merged Class I, elementary-only school districts with their neighboring k-12 district in June and was repealed by voters in November.

Two bills have been proposed about LB 126 as of Wednesday, Christensen said. A bill by Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing does not address funding but instead is "shell bill" that would initiate discussion on the issue. The second, by Sen. Carol Hudkins of Malcolm, would reinstate the Class I schools as they were before the merger. He said he has talked to both concerning their bills.

Another spectator, Leon Kuhlen, asked about LB 493 that concerns changing formulas to the water policy task force and also about LB 507, that involves ethanol incentive tax credits.

Christensen said later on Thursday that his bill, LB 701, is merely a preliminary step to address Nebraska's non compliance with the Republican River compact with Kansas.

"It's not perfect, but it's a start," he said of the bill, that would create a committee of NRD's, surface irrigators and others to allocate water usage, among other functions.

Also included in the plan would be water transfers, by paying irrigators from the Tri Basin irrigation district near Bertrand to pump water to the Republican basin.

LB 701 would also levy 10 cents on property taxes per $100 valuation to help fund the program, with start-up costs estimated at $16 million and $6 million annually.

He said committee hearings may begin sometime in February and expects the bill to be heavily amended.

Christensen said surface water buyouts in 2006 had immediate results but would not deal with the entire problem.

Spraying and killing trees along rivers is not a long term viable solution, he said, nor is reversing conservation methods such as dams and terraces that have contributed to the problem.

Yet, "everybody still wants their water," he said.

"A judge will shut off wells unless we have a plan," Christensen stressed.

"That would shut off wells from Superior to the Colorado line and have devastating consequences for towns in western Nebraska. This is a plan to prevent this from happening."