UNICAMERAL UPDATE News published daily at Update.Legislature.ne.gov Vol. 43, Issue 6 / Feb. 10 - 13, 2020 Anti-bias and implicit Consumption tax proposed bias training he Revenue Committee requirement advanced T heard testimo- awmakers gave first-round ap- ny Feb. 12 on a pro- proval Feb. 12 to a bill that posed constitutional L seeks to strengthen enforce- amendment that ment of the state’s ban on racial profil- would repeal state and ing by law enforcement. local taxes and require LB924, sponsored by Omaha Sen. the Legislature to en- Ernie Chambers, would require each act a consumption tax law enforcement agency in Nebraska on goods and services. to implement an anti-bias and implicit LR300CA, intro- bias training policy to combat appar- duced by Sen. Steve ent or actual racial profiling practices. Erdman of Bayard, The bill will help focus attention would prohibit the on a problem, Chambers said, but it state and all its politi- is only a beginning. cal subdivisions from “There still is an overabundance of imposing any form of stops, searches and arrests of nonwhite taxation other than a people based on the fact that they are single-rate consump- not white,” he said. tion tax and require Under the bill, each agency would the Legislature to en- be required to submit its adopted act such a tax by Jan. policy to the Nebraska Commission 1, 2022. Sen. Steve Erdman said a consumption tax would generate as on Law Enforcement and Criminal much revenue as the state’s current tax system while being If passed, the reso- simpler, fairer and free of loopholes. Justice. Every law enforcement officer lution would place would be required to complete at least the question on the November 2020 first purchaser of any new good at the two hours of bias training during each general election ballot. time of sale and on any service, he calendar year. Erdman said consumption taxes said, and businesses would collect and Additionally, LB924 would autho- are fair, simple and transparent. remit the tax to the state. rize the commission to withhold loans, Replacing Nebraska’s current tax The proposed amendment also grants, funds or donations from a system with a consumption tax would would prohibit the Legislature from law enforcement agency if the agency reduce administrative costs, promote granting any exemptions to the tax. is found to have neglected to collect individual saving and investment and Erdman brought an amendment to required vehicle stop demographic help encourage businesses to locate the hearing that he said would leave data. The funding could be reinstated and expand in Nebraska, he said. the state’s excise tax on gasoline in once the reporting failure is corrected. “If we pass this … we will become place and allow local governments, Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha the most [envied] state in the nation,” such as counties and cities, to impose supported the bill. He said statistics Erdman said. “This is an opportunity their own consumption tax with voter suggest that the implicit inclination for us to be different.” approval. to view someone behind the wheel of Erdman said the tax would gener- Erdman said the amendment also a car differently because of their race ate the same amount of revenue as would provide for “prebate” payments is a problem in Nebraska. current taxes. It would be paid by the (continued page 2) (continued page 3) INSIDE: County levy authority for bridges stalls • Indoor e-cigarette ban proposed • Hearing schedule February 10 - 13, 2020 Consumption tax proposed (continued from front page) intended to offset the tax for low- Malia Shirley of Omaha also testi- with the lowest incomes, the tax then income Nebraskans. fied in support of the resolution. As would fall heaviest on middle-income Duane Lienemann of Blue Hill a recent college graduate, Shirley said, households. testified in support of the proposal, she is trying to decide where to start “Because the wealthy are unlikely saying the state’s current tax system is a career and a family. Young people to spend so much that they’d pay as “unequal and unfair.” He said Nebras- like her want to buy homes, she said, much in sales tax as they had been pay- ka relies too heavily on property taxes but many decide to move to other ing in income taxes,” she said, “only to fund local governments, placing a Midwestern states with lower property those in the middle would be left to heavy burden on farmers, ranchers taxes. make up the difference.” and businesses. “We want to contribute to our Under the proposal, Friesen “I feel that the property tax issue communities and the society around Milone said, the state would tax goods has reached such a level that any more us, and we want to continue making and services that it previously has ex- failed promises of significant property our lives here in Nebraska,” Shirley empted for good policy reasons, such tax relief by the state Legislature will said. “The current property taxes as groceries, health care, child care and further discredit this unicameral body discourage me and my young profes- private school tuition. in the eyes of the public,” Lienemann sional peers from making Nebraska a John Hansen, president of the Ne- said. “Big steps are needed.” permanent home.” braska Farmers Union, also testified George Davis, owner of Ollie the Testifying in opposition to the in opposition. He said the proposal as Trolley in Omaha, also testified in proposal was Tiffany Friesen Milone, introduced would require local govern- support. He said the proposal is a “vi- policy director at OpenSky Policy ments “to get down on bended knee” able alternative” to current state taxes Institute. She said a 2005 report by a and hope that the Legislature meets and that it could reduce the amount presidential advisory panel rejected a their budget requests. of taxes his business pays for inputs federal consumption tax similar to the “This approach ... takes away any- such as mechanical parts, fuel and one proposed by LR300CA because thing that remotely looks like a backup computers. of its regressivity and the high rate plan or a backdoor to be able to make “[The] charges could be more trans- needed to achieve revenue neutrality. up for shortfalls,” Hansen said. parent and more understandable to Additionally, Friesen Milone said, The committee took no immediate me in tracking its costs and its impact even if the proposed prebate were to action on the bill. n upon my business daily,” Davis said. fully offset the tax for households UNICAMERAL UPDATE The Unicameral Update is a free, weekly newsletter published during the legislative session. 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Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509-4604 Assistance provided by the Clerk of the Legislature’s Office, the Legislative Technology Center, committee clerks, legal counsels, journal clerks, pages, transcribers, mail room and bill room staff and the State Print Shop. THE NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE’S OFFICIAL NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1977 PAGE 2 • UNICAMERAL UPDATE • 106TH LEGISLATURE February 10 - 13, 2020 Anti-bias and implicit bias training requirement advanced (continued from front page) “This bill will help law enforce- ment recognize ... racial bias and the way the law is administered [as well as] who they pull over and how they treat individuals they encounter every day,” Lathrop said. Omaha Sen. Tony Vargas also spoke in support of LB924. Many igh school students with an law enforcement agencies nationwide interest in law, government, already provide such training, he said. H leadership or public speaking are “Across the country, cities and encouraged to register for the 2020 municipalities are taking this step to Unicameral Youth Legislature, which require a minimum of two hours of an- will convene June 7-10. nual training in some shape or form,” The Unicameral Youth Legislature Vargas said. “It’s a way to get ahead of is a four-day legislative simulation con- some of the things we’re seeing that’s ducted at the State Capitol Building concerning.” Sen. Ernie Chambers said the bill would and coordinated by the Clerk’s Office Senators advanced the bill to select provide a mechanism to enforce the state’s ban on racial profiling, which was outlawed of the Nebraska Legislature. Student file on a 43-0 vote. n in 2001. senators will sponsor bills, conduct committee hearings, debate legislation Find Your Senator and discover the unique process of the nation’s only unicameral. 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