Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Floor Debate April 05, 2018 [LB67 LB290 LB389 LB496 LB670 LB731 LB791 LB807 LB807A LB855 LB873 LB989 LB994 LB1058 LB1065A LB1065 LB1069 LB1081 LB1120 LR1CA LR6 LR181 LR395 LR424 LR477 LR478 LR479 LR480 LR481] PRESIDENT FOLEY PRESIDING PRESIDENT FOLEY: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber for the fifty-fifth day of the One Hundred Fifth Legislature, Second Session. Our chaplain for today is Pastor Nathan Metzger from the American Lutheran Church, Adams, Nebraska, Senator Baker's district. Please rise. PASTOR METZGER: (Prayer offered.) PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Pastor Metzger. I call to order the fifty-fifth day of One Hundred Fifth Legislature, Second Session. Senators, please record your presence. Roll call. Mr. Clerk, please record. ASSISTANT CLERK: There is a quorum present, Mr. President. PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Are there any corrections for the Journal? ASSISTANT CLERK: No corrections this morning. PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, sir. Any messages, reports, or announcements? ASSISTANT CLERK: No messages, reports, or announcements this morning. PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you very much. (Doctor of the day introduced.) We'll now proceed to the first item on the agenda, General File, appropriations bills. Mr. Clerk. ASSISTANT CLERK: Mr. President, first bill this morning, LB807A, introduced by Senator Harr. (Read title.) [LB807A] PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Senator Harr, you're recognized to open on LB807A. [LB807A] 1 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Floor Debate April 05, 2018 SENATOR HARR: Thank you, Mr. President. This is the A bill that follows LB807, which, as you may recall, is the Standing Bear/Willa Cather bill. In the debate, we talked about no state dollars would be used and, in fact, that is true. No state dollars will be harmed in the production of these statues, but we do need a cash fund and that's what this creates. Thank you. [LB807A LB807] PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Senator Harr. Is there any discussion of the A bill? Seeing none, Senator Harr waives closing. The question before the body is the adoption...excuse me, the advance of LB807A to E&R Initial. Those in favor vote aye; those opposed vote nay. Have you all voted who care to? Record, please, Mr. Clerk. [LB807A] ASSISTANT CLERK: 29 ayes, 0 nays on the motion to advance the bill. [LB807A] PRESIDENT FOLEY: LB807A advances. Proceeding to General File 2018 senator priority bill, Mr. Clerk. [LB807A] ASSISTANT CLERK: Mr. President, LB989, introduced by Senator Wishart. (Read title.) The bill was referred to the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. They had reported the bill to General File with committee amendments. (AM2612, Legislative Journal page 1194.) The bill was considered by the Legislature yesterday. At that time the committee amendments were offered, an amendment to the committee amendments from Senator Larson was offered. (AM2787, Legislative Journal page 1400-1403.) And at the time that we adjourned last night, there was a pending motion to bracket the bill until April 18 offered by Senator Friesen. That motion is now before us. [LB989] PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Before I proceed on the debate, I'll ask Senators Wishart, Larson, and Friesen all to take a moment or two just to kind of refresh us where we left off last night and then we'll proceed with the debate on the pending motion. Senator Wishart, you're recognized. [LB989] SENATOR WISHART: Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, colleagues. I want to refresh you all since it was late last night and we didn't have as full a body as we have today. So I introduced LB989 and originally that bill was very specific to allowing for pilot projects within the city of Lincoln, specifically because Lincoln has been awarded a $100,000 grant through the Bloomberg foundation as one of the 35 competitive cities to have a shuttle project in our downtown, and we would be one of the first shuttles in the country that would be an autonomous shuttle that would run downtown, so that's why I introduced that bill. But I want to step back because we got a little off track yesterday during our discussion just in terms of understanding where the technology, the driverless technology, is today and what our statutes do currently to 2 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Floor Debate April 05, 2018 address autonomous vehicles. So what I want to say is the discussion today, whether you like autonomous vehicles or you don't, whether you're skeptical of them or you're excited about them, the question today isn't whether these vehicles are going to happen. They're happening already: Level 3, which is an automated vehicle which will do a lot of lane changing for you on the highway, cruise control. So it's sort of the lower level of automated vehicle is already for sale in this country. Level 4, which is far more of an autonomous vehicle where a driver can be hands off a lot more, we anticipate that within the next two to four years that will be ready to be sold. And then Level 5, which is your fully driverless vehicle, you know, people are saying, well, this is way down the line. We can expect within the next five years that we will see those vehicles ready to be sold. So this is happening now, this technology is happening now. And currently, Nebraska, our statutes are silent when it comes to autonomous vehicle technology. They are silent. In fact, and we'll go into more detail on this, when you look at what the rules of the roads are, our statutes mainly refer to drivers. So currently in Nebraska, if we don't do anything, if we don't put some...a foundation of regulation in place in our state and regulation that protects the safety of the public but at the same time supports innovation, if we don't put that in our state, currently we are silent and people, when they purchase these vehicles within this year in terms of Level 3 or within the next five years, can be able to drive these vehicles on our roads. So that is my concern if we don't move forward. I also want to point out that, you know, Senator Friesen and I, along this entire road of the beginning of this bill till now, have been very up-front with each other. I was not surprised that the bracket motion was coming. He has worked diligently on his amendment, the committee amendment that came out. I just have concerns with portions of that amendment, especially in regards to Level 3 technology, which is already available now for purchase. And then just to fill you in with Senator Larson's bill, he and I have worked hard on this. It would make Nebraska one of the leaders in terms of a framework for autonomous vehicles. I think it's about time that Nebraska starts to lead, and this is an area we should lead in, so thank you. [LB989] PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Senator Wishart. Senator Larson, would you like a moment or two to just refresh us on where we are on your amendment? [LB989] SENATOR LARSON: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, as Senator Wishart just said, we as a state have an opportunity to be a leader in an industry that is continuing to grow and will continue to grow and drive into America’s future. AM2787 is that. We have that chance to display true leadership and innovation that will not only bring companies here but economic development, tourism, and everything else that comes along with it. We set the framework with AM2787. Those are all possibilities. I understand that there are certain individuals in the body that just can't wrap their heads around that concept. And we heard the fearmongering last night, but it's just not true. I appreciate all the work that Senator Wishart has done. I appreciate the support of my colleagues on AM2787, and AM2787 is needed if we're going to continue to 3 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Floor Debate April 05, 2018 move LB989 forward, and I'd appreciate your support and look forward to the debate. Thank you, Mr. President. [LB989] PRESIDENT FOLEY: Thank you, Senator Larson. Senator Friesen, before we begin debate on the bill, if you'd like to give us a refresher, a couple minutes, you're welcome to it. [LB989] SENATOR FRIESEN: Thank you, Mr. Lieutenant Governor. The reason for the bracket motion, and I think Senator Wishart did know it was coming--I warned her--when we looked at the bills that we were putting forth, I was fully in favor of Lincoln operating a pilot program here for testing. There has not been a lot of testing done in what you would call winter states where you can have snow on the ground, ice, those types of things, so I think it's an opportune time for someone to test a vehicle here. I'm not opposed to that. But there have to be some rules set in place because we are not silent on the issue. If you want to meet the standards of the rules of the road, a Level 4 and 5 vehicle today, without any legislation passed here, cannot legally be on our highways. The DMV will not license or register that vehicle.