Council forfeiture bill likely to pass

Thursday, February 2, 2012

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Sen. Mark Christensen's bill to change forfeiture of office provisions for city council members passed out of committee last week and according to the Senator should advance with little resistance. "I'm sure it will get done, it's just a matter of when it will be put on the agenda," Sen. Christensen told members of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce during their weekly conference call at the Keystone Business Center.

The bill, LB 786, seeks to change the Nebraska law that forced two McCook City Councilmen to forfeit their seats in January. The bill will modify section 19-613 of the Revised Statutes of Nebraska by replacing the reference "convicted of a crime" with "convicted of a felony or of any public offense involving the violation of the oath of office of such member."

Representatives from the League of Nebraska Municipalities explained previously to Mayor Dennis Berry that Sen. Christensen introduced the simple version of the bill to take care of the immediate problem and then would look at the broader issue of defining violations of the oath office through an interim study after the session is over.

Red Willow County Commissioner Earl McNutt said that he had testified in Lincoln last week on behalf of several Nebraska counties opposed to LB 970, a bill introduced by Sen. Abbie Cornett that seeks to terminate the inheritance tax and change income tax rates and calculation. "In all my years I have never heard anybody complain about the inheritance, it's always property tax," said McNutt, who added that if the bill passed it definitely would have an impact on property taxes.

Sen. Christensen said he would get an update to the group after he checked with the committee members reviewing the bill. "It's easy to say lets get rid of a tax, but we need to make sure we look at the effects of it," said Christensen.

McNutt estimated that Red Willow County received $300,000 per year from the inheritance tax, with a portion of it utilized and the majority of it placed in a cash reserve.

Christensen responded to comments about the intent behind removal of the inheritance tax by saying that it was used in state rating services and only eight states had a death or inheritance tax. Christensen said he believed the intent was to get in line with the majority of other states and thus improve Nebraska's rankings.

Community Hospital Health Foundation executive director Terri Shipshock told Sen. Christensen she was very much in support of a bill introduced by Sen. Steve Lathrop that would increase the penalties for assault on a health care provider. LB 677 targets assaults which occur while the provider is engaged in the performance of their duties and includes language pertaining to signage requirements in health care facilities.

"I was shocked to hear that this is going on and that we were in a position that we needed a bill like this," said Christensen.

Christensen then mentioned a bill he introduced that also focuses on medical services. LB 646 seeks to redefine an Emergency Medical Service by removing the word "immediate," which would allow for the same services to be provided in non-emergency settings.

The bill also includes language that would allow an EMS to provide education and follow up patient care in a non-emergency or non-hospital setting, in an attempt to increase access to care and to lower costs, which it states is critical to rural areas of the state. Christensen that if you followed the letter of the law as it was written today, it was not legal for EMS providers to perform non-emergency hospital to hospital patient transfers.

City Manager Jeff Hancock asked Sen. Christensen to keep an eye on LB 1114, a bill introduced by Sen. Mike Flood that changes provision relating to the Municipal Equalization Fund. Hancock said the bill "needs a lot of study and hopefully wont see the light of day." Hancock said he was concerned the bill could result in the loss of approximately $300,000 in city funding per year, "please watch that, it could cripple us," said Hancock.

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