Keigher & Associates, L.L.C. 1320 Lincoln Mall, Suite 100, Lincoln, 68508 KK Timothy P. Keigher [email protected] Phone: (402)-474-3810 Fax: (402)-474-3812

Weekly Legislative Report for January 11, 2013

HAPPENINGS IN THE THIS WEEK

The 103rd Nebraska Legislature, First Session, convened on Wednesday, January 9, 2013. This year will be a 90 day session with tentative Sine Die scheduled for June 5, 2013.

Last November’s election resulted in some changes to the composition of the Nebraska Legislature resulting in 11 new members of the body.

Some highlights include:

 Republican’s held a 33-15 advantage over fellow Democrats going into November’s election. The Republican advantage now stands at 30-17 but of the 11 open seats three went from Republican to Democrat, those being: o (D), Bellevue, Professor at Creighton University in political science - victory over Republican challenger Richard Carter, o (D), Omaha, District 31,retired educator and principal of Millard West High School, defeat of Republican Acela Turco, and o (D), District 29, trained social worker who works for Nebraska Appleseed Center, defeat of Larry Zimmerman

 Incumbent Senator Ken Harr (D) retained his seat defeating Republican challenger .

 In an open seat (R), Syracuse, District 1, farmer, defeated Jerry Joy.

 In the open seat in District 23, formally held by term limited Senator Chris Langemeier, former Wahoo Mayor, Jerry Johnson (R) defeated Vern Barrett.

 In District 49, which was moved from the western part of the State to Omaha, as a part of redistricting saw John Murante (R), former aid and campaign manager to current Senator John Nelson, win over challenger Frank Wellenstein?

 In outgoing Speaker Mike Flood’s District 19, former mayor Jim Sheer (R), Norfolk, District 19, former mayor of Norfolk and local school board member, defeated William Goodpastrue.

 Outgoing Senator Gwen Howard’s seat was filled by her daughter, , (D) Omaha, District 9, development specialist with OneWorld Community Health Centers, defeated challenger, Erica Fish, stepdaughter to current Senator Mark Christensen.

 Al Davis (R), Hyannis, District 43, operates the OLO Ranch and owns the Verde Valley Ranch, replaces the term limited seat by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer.

 Only two incumbents were unable to retain the seats:

o Incumbent Senator Paul Lambert (R) lost his appointed seat to challenger bill Kintner, Papillion, District 2, self-employed sales and market research professional. o The election also saw the Democrats losing a seat held by Brenda Council to Independent (I).

 Incumbent Senators , Beau McCoy, Jeremy Nordquist, Scott Price, , , Charlie Janssen, Galen Hadley, Katie Sullivan and all retained their seats.

January 9th also marked the election of a new Speaker and committee chairs, as is done the first session of each new legislature. Many of the committee races, as well as that of Speaker, were uncontested. Of the 14 standing committees (listed below), seven saw leadership changes. Many of these changes were due to term limits, including Appropriations, Banking, Commerce and Insurance, Education, Natural Resources, Revenue, Transportation and Telecommunications. Election Results and Committee Assignments are as follows: Speaker Greg Adams 2013 LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES Committee on Committees Final Report

Standing Committees Updated 1/10/13 (C indicates chair of the committee and VC is vice chair)

Agriculture (8) Rm. 2102 - Tuesday Schilz (C), Bloomfield, Chambers, Hansen, Harr, B., Johnson, Lathrop, Wallman

Appropriations (9) Rm. 1524 - Monday & Tuesday Rm. 1003 - Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Mello (C), Bolz, Conrad, Harms, Kintner, Larson, Nelson, Nordquist, Wightman

Banking, Commerce and Insurance (8) Rm. 1507 - Monday & Tuesday Gloor (C), Campbell, Carlson, Christensen, Crawford, Howard, Pirsch, Schumacher

Business and Labor (7) Rm. 2102 - Monday Lathrop (C), Ashford, Chambers, Hansen, Harr, B., McGill, Wallman

Education (8) Rm. 1525 - Monday & Tuesday Sullivan (C), Avery, Cook, Davis, Haar, K., Kolowski, Scheer, Seiler

Genera l Affairs (8) Rm. 1510 - Monday Karpisek (C), Bloomfield, Coash, Johnson, Krist, Lautenbaugh, Murante, Schilz

Government, Military and Veterans Affairs (8) Rm. 1507 - Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Avery (C), Bloomfield, Karpisek, Lautenbaugh, Murante, Price, Scheer, Wallman

Health and Human Services (7) Rm. 1510 - Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Campbell (C), Cook, Crawford, Gloor, Howard, Krist, Watermeier

Judiciary (8) Rm. 1113 - Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Ashford (C), Chambers, Christensen, Coash, Davis, Lathrop, McGill, Seiler

Natural Resources (8) Rm. 1525 - Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Carlson (C), Brasch, Dubas, Haar, K., Johnson, Kolowski, Schilz, Smith

Nebraska Retirement Systems (6) Rm. 1525 - At call of Chair Nordquist (C), Conrad, Davis, Karpisek, Kolowski, Mello

Revenue (8) Rm. 1524 - Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Hadley (C), Hansen, Harr, B., Janssen, McCoy, Pirsch, Schumacher, Sullivan

Transportation and Telecommunications (8) Rm. 1113 - Monday & Tuesday Dubas (C), Brasch, Hadley, Janssen, McCoy, Price, Smith, Watermeier

Urban Affairs (7) Rm. 1510 - Tuesday McGill (C), Ashford, Coash, Karpisek, Krist, Lautenbaugh, Murante

Select Committees Committee on Committees (13) McCoy (C) District 1: District 2: District 3: Adams Ashford Carlson Campbell Krist Davis Coash (VC) Lathrop Hadley Conrad Mello Sullivan

Enrollment and Review (1) Murante (C)

Reference (9) Wightman (C), Krist (VC), Adams, Avery, Campbell, Chambers, Christensen, Karpisek, Lathrop, Mello (nonvoting ex officio) Rules (6) Lautenbaugh (C), Brasch, Dubas, Lathrop, Schumacher, Adams (ex officio)

Special Committees Building Maintenance (6) Education Commission of the States (3)

Executive Board of the Legislative Council (9) Wightman (C), Krist (VC), Adams, Avery, Campbell, Chambers, Christensen, Karpisek, Lathrop, Mello (nonvoting ex officio)

Legislative Performance Audit (7) Legislature’s Planning (9) Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact (2) Midwestern Higher Education Commission (Midwest Compact) (2) State-Tribal Relations (7)

In the first two days of bill introduction there were 155 bills introduced. Lawmakers have the first ten days in which to introduce legislation, with the last day of bill introduction being January 23rd. Bills of interest are listed below.

Important dates/information for the 2013 Legislative Session:

 The Governor’s State of the State Address will be January 15th at 10:00AM.  Chef Justice Heavican’s State of the Judiciary will be at 10:00AM, on January 17th.  January 18th is the last day to submit bills request to bill drafting.  January 22nd will be the first day of public hearings on bills introduced, beginning at 1:30PM.  January 28th will mark the first day of floor debate. Floor debate will be in the mornings followed by committee hearings.  February 25th the Speaker’s office will begin accepting senator and committee priority bills and requests for speaker priority bills.  March 14th will mark the deadline for letters request a bill be designated as a speaker priority bill.  March 15th will mark the deadline for letters request a bill be designated as committee or senator priority bills.  March 18th speaker priority bills will be announced prior to adjournment for the day.  March 21st is the tentative last day for public hearings.

Additionally, beginning January 28th, the Legislature will begin the first day of the work week at 10:00 a.m, unless otherwise announced. The remaining days of the week we will convene session at 9:00 a.m.

First Middle District Phone (all Home Last Name Name Initial Number 402 Prefix) Room Town email

Adams Greg L. 24 471-2756 2103 York [email protected]

Ashford Brad 20 471-2622 1103 Omaha [email protected]

Avery Bill 28 471-2633 1423 Lincoln [email protected]

Bloomfield Dave 17 471-2716 1206 Hoskins [email protected]

Bolz Kate 29 471-2734 1522 Lincoln [email protected]

Brasch Lydia 16 471-2728 1016 Bancroft [email protected]

Campbell Kathy 25 471-2731 1402 Lincoln [email protected]

Carlson Tom 38 471-2732 1210 Holdrege [email protected]

Chambers Ernie 11 471-2612 1114 Omaha [email protected]

Christensen Mark R. 44 471-2805 1000 Imperial [email protected]

Coash Colby 27 471-2632 2028 Lincoln [email protected]

Conrad Danielle 46 471-2720 1008 Lincoln [email protected]

Cook Tanya 13 471-2727 1208 Omaha [email protected]

Crawford Sue 45 471-2615 2104 Bellevue [email protected]

Davis Al 43 471-2628 1117 Hyannis [email protected]

Dubas Annette 34 471-2630 1110 Fullerton [email protected] Grand

Gloor Mike 35 471-2617 1401 Island [email protected]

Haar Ken 21 471-2673 1018 Malcolm [email protected]

Hadley Galen 37 471-2726 1116 Kearney [email protected] North

Hansen Tom 42 471-2729 1012 Platte [email protected]

Harms John N. 48 471-2802 2011 Scottsbluff [email protected]

Harr Burke J. 8 471-2722 1120 Omaha [email protected]

Howard Sara 9 471-2723 1523 Omaha [email protected]

Janssen Charlie 15 471-2625 1403 Fremont [email protected]

Johnson Jerry 23 471-2719 1529 Wahoo [email protected]

Karpisek Russ 32 471-2711 1015 Wilber [email protected]

Kintner Bill 2 471-2613 1115 Papillion [email protected]

Kolowski Rick 31 471-2327 1528 Omaha [email protected]

Krist Bob 10 471-2718 2108 Omaha [email protected]

Larson Tyson 40 471-2801 1019 O’Neill [email protected]

Lathrop Steve 12 471-2623 2000 Omaha [email protected]

Lautenbaugh Scott 18 471-2618 1021 Omaha [email protected]

McCoy Beau 39 471-2885 2015 Omaha [email protected]

McGill Amanda 26 471-2610 1212 Lincoln [email protected]

Mello Heath 5 471-2710 1004 Omaha [email protected]

Murante John 49 471-2725 1115 Gretna [email protected]

Nelson John E. 6 471-2714 2107 Omaha [email protected]

Nordquist Jeremy J. 7 471-2721 2004 Omaha [email protected]

Pirsch Pete 4 471-2621 1101 Omaha [email protected]

Price Scott 3 471-2627 1202 Bellevue [email protected]

Scheer Jim 19 471-2929 1117 Norfolk [email protected]

Schilz Ken 47 471-2616 1022 Ogallala [email protected]

Schumacher Paul 22 471-2715 1124 Columbus [email protected]

Seiler Les 33 471-2712 1017 Hastings [email protected]

Smith Jim 14 471-2730 1118 Papillion [email protected] Cedar

Sullivan Kate 41 471-2631 1107 Rapids [email protected]

Wallman Norm 30 471-2620 1406 Cortland [email protected]

Watermeier Dan 1 471-2733 1404 Syracuse [email protected]

Wightman John 36 471-2642 2010 Lexington [email protected]

Note: if you would like to view the entire bill, the fiscal note, committee statement, etc. go to http://uniweb.legislature.ne.gov

Bill Number Introducer On Liner

LB80 Schumacher Change motor vehicle liability insurance and financial responsibility requirements. Doubles the liability limits for auto insurance coverage

LB117 Harms Change provisions relating to permits for overweight vehicles - extends the number of times a overweight permitcan be requeted from three to four times and the number of dasy from 120 to 150 that a permit can be valid for.

LB108 Karpisek Prohibit counties, cities, and villages from imposing credentialing requirements - restricts cities, counties, or villages from requiring any person or business to be credentialed to conduct business or engage in any profession within its jurisdiction

LB58 Larson Adopt the Workplace Privacy Act - does not allow employers or potential employers to use social media as for condition of employment