Can't drive 75? Some help may be on the way

McCOOK, Neb. — People driving from McCook to Kearney could get there a little faster.

That’s if Sen. Dan Hughes priority bill, LB 1009, introduced by Sen. Murante, gets out of the Transportation and Telecommunications committee and is passed by the full legislature.

The bill also designates the classification a super-two rural highway and raises maximum highway speed limits, from highways at 60 mph to 65 mph, highways at 65 mph to 70 mph and super two highways, such as the one proposed between McCook and North Platte, at 70 mph.

A “super two” highway is described in the bill as a two-lane highway designed primarily for through traffic, with passing lanes spaced intermittently and on alternating sides of the highway, to provide opportunities to pass slower moving vehicles

The bill also allows the Department of Transportation to increase the speed on Interstate 80 from 75 to 80 mph, after engineering and traffic investigations.

Sen. Hughes said this morning at the McCook Chamber of Commerce conference call that he’s fairly confident his priority bill could get out of committee, with concerns to the bill coming only from the trucking industry and a highway safety group.

Hughes also weighed in on a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise Nebraska state senator salaries to one half of Nebraska’s median household income.

If in effect now, senators would make $28,000, as the Nebraska median household income in 2016 was $56,927. Currently, state senators make $12,000 a year in Nebraska. The proposed amendment would adjust legislative salary every two years to reflect increases or decreases in median family income.

If it gets 30 votes from the Unicameral, it would go before the voters in at the November general elections.

Introduced by Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, Hughes said he wasn’t sure if the proposed amendment would pass in the legislature.

Public service is one thing, “but it shouldn’t cost you a lot of money to do this,” he said, having out of pocket expenses himself. For senators like himself who live in western Nebraska and have large districts, he spends a lot of time on the road, Hughes said, but added, “I knew this when I took the job.”

Vargas argues that the current low salary keeps younger and working people from considering a seat in the Legislature. Hughes is a co-sponsor of the proposed amendment and echoed that, saying this morning that if passed by the voters, it would increase the pool of potential candidates.

In 2012, Nebraska voters rejected a similar plan to increase senator salaries.

Hughes also revealed this morning that he would have no problem carrying a petition to get signatures concerning property tax relief.

LB 829, introduced by Steve Erdman is a property tax relief bill that would enable Nebraska property owners to get a credit or refund for half of their property taxes paid. The bill says the state, under the Nebraska Constitution, is responsible to fund K-12 education, not property owners.

If the bill is not passed by the Unicameral, there will be a petition circulated that reflects the same sentiment, a participate said this morning at the conference call. If the petition gets enough signatures, it will be put to Nebraska voters to decide.

Hughes said was aware of the petition drive and that it’s an incentive to focus on property tax reform. “I’d be willing to carry it.”

“We’ve got to have some kind of relief,” Hughes said, with property taxes “killing the golden goose,” or state revenue.

The only problem is, the bill has been estimated to cost the state $1.1 billion to implement and Hughes was asked how the state would come up with that.

“We would have to,” Hughes replied.

There are four bills pending in the legislature concerning property tax relief, he said, but time will tell what gets brought forward and tweaked and finally approved.

“It’s an ever-changing landscape,” Hughes said of the legislative floor.