Major issues highlighted legislative session

Looking back over the 2007 legislative session, there were several major bills to which legislators gave their attention. This week I would like to review some of those bills.

Legislative Bill 395 received a lot of press time and floor debate early on in the session. It proposed to change the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act by creating a statewide ban on smoking in all indoor work sites.

After much debate, a compromise amendment was adopted that allowed local cities and villages to lift the smoking ban by the vote of the people. The bill advanced to final reading, but was passed over on the agenda due to objections by the supporters of the original provisions of the bill. LB395 will be carried over to next session where it will start on Final Reading.

My bill, LB701 that provided tools to help Nebraska to comply with its commitment under the Republican River Compact and Final Stipulation, passed, but diligence is still needed to insure effective implementation. The good rainfall we have seen since the passage of the bill has been great news, and the rainfall gives Nebraska a great chance to be in compliance for 2007. I would encourage your continued involvement as much of the details in how the Natural Resources Districts will work together and fund programs to bring Nebraska into future compliance are still in progress. Your input is vital in the process as we all work together to move the basin forward without damaging our resources and economic vitality.

The Omaha Metro school district bill, LB641, passed. This was a complex bill with many provisions in it, but I will try to touch on a few of the main provisions. There will be an 18 member coordinating council to govern the learning community. The learning community's local school board members will select six of the 18 members. Limited voting from six election districts, two from each district, will elect the other 12 members.

The learning community may receive up to $1 million plus allowable growth to perform its duties, and be subject to financial and performance audits. Each district within the learning community would be allowed levying up to $1.05 per $100 valuation. Within that levy, up to 95 cents would be the common levy among all districts, two cents would be allowed throughout the community for a common special building fund, and the remainder would be up to each individual district.

The bill passed by a 33-14 vote. I voted against the bill, because I was not convinced another layer of governance and spending for that layer would translate into effective policy that would resolve the issues.

The death penalty was another controversial issue this year. It came up twice, first as a repeal of the death penalty and secondly to narrow the instances in which it could be used. Both times the bill failed to advance by a slim margin.

The vote to advance LB476 -- a bill that would have repealed the death penalty -- was 24-25. The effort to narrow who would be eligible for the death penalty, came through a Judiciary Committee amendment to LB 377. It failed by a vote of 23-25. I held a position against both the repeal and the changing of the requirements, which would have been a repeal in its effect.

LB475, the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected class in Nebraska's employment law failed to advance and was killed by the Legislature. This bill would have been bad state policy. It would have legitimized the homosexual life style and many other orientations by its enactment into law. I believe homosexuality and other orientations are a matter of personal character, not an irreversible trait that one is born with.

We should not be encouraging destructive life styles through our state laws, or encouraging lawsuits to silence employers who have deeply held, constitutionally protected convictions about such character issues.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about these bills or the status of others, please contact me.