Opinion

101st Legislature approaching third week

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The 101st Legislature has convened and is approaching the third week of the first session. I would like to share with you what bills have been introduced thus far and my committee appointments. I am looking forward to this long session and eager to make it a successful one.

Legislative Bill 4 has been introduced to increase jury compensation. The current wage of $35 dollars a day will increase to the current minimum wage rate of around $52. I believe this bill will increase citizen's willingness to participate on jury duty and will help individuals that are self employed.

LB 5 will repeal the trapping ban in county roadsides and is a bill that I introduced last session. It will eliminate a restriction and a penalty on trapping wildlife in county road right-of-ways. I have received many complaints from county boards that the roads cannot be properly maintained under the current statute since it prevents them from taking care of the wildlife that is causing the problems in the right-of-ways. My goal is to get the statute reversed and help counties save money.

LB 6 is a motor vehicle bill that will allow school permit holders to drive to and from where the permit holder works. I believe this can be a beneficial bill for rural areas and for teenagers who hold jobs.

In addition to the previous three I have introduced LB 18, which is a water resource bill that prohibits irrigation of educational lands after the expiration date of the lease. This bill was introduced in 2006 and I believe is a discussion that needs to take place.

Lastly, LB 19 is a bill designed to create an incentive for couples to take a marriage education course before marriage and will change provisions relating to fees for marriage licenses prescribe and provide requirements for marriage education. This is an important issue to me and I would like to reiterate that it is a voluntary program for marriage education that will produce many positive outcomes. It will raise marriage to a higher standard for the small price of spending time with your significant other.

On a final note there were new committee appointments for the 101st Legislature, I was chosen to be on Judiciary Committee, Banking, Commerce and Insurance and the Executive Board. I foresee an exciting session in the Nebraska Unicameral and with a lot of hard work will be very successful. If you have any questions or concerns please contact my Lincoln office at, Sen. Mark R. Christensen, State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, 402-471-2805.

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