UNICAMERAL UPDATE News published daily at Update.Legislature.ne.gov Vol. 42, Issue 10 / Mar. 12 - 15, 2019 Enhanced tax sale certificate notification requirements advanced bill meant to ensure that homeowners receive suffi- cient notice that they may lose their property due to A unpaid taxes advanced from general file March 12. Currently, counties may sell real property at auction for delinquent taxes. Purchasers pay the delinquent taxes in exchange for a tax sale certificate. After three years, if the property owner has not paid the taxes and any accrued interest, the certificate purchaser may apply for a treasurer’s tax deed to acquire the property. The purchaser must serve notice to the property owner at least three months before applying for the deed. Among other information, the notice is required to include the amount of taxes represented by the tax sale certificate and Sen. Matt Williams said LB463 would ensure that property owners a statement that the right of redemption requires payment receive adequate notice that they are at risk of losing their property to the county treasurer. due to delinquent taxes. Gothenburg Sen. Matt Williams, sponsor of LB463, process begins only after a property owner fails to pay his said tax sale certificates and the treasurer’s tax deed process or her taxes for two or three years, he said. ensure that counties and other local taxing entities, such However, Williams said, current law has led to “inequi- as school districts, receive property taxes due to them. The table situations” in which property owners did not receive (continued page 2) Omnibus election bill clears first round awmakers amended a bill to board could adopt a resolution by eral election procedures; become an omnibus elections majority vote to allow voters to alter • LB280, also introduced by Brew- Lmeasure and advanced it to the number of commissioners on the er, which would increase the max- select file March 14. board. Currently, such a question only imum fine under the Nebraska Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk in- can be placed on the ballot by a peti- Accountability and Disclosure troduced LB411, tion signed by at least five percent of Act—which was last raised in which would allow registered voters in the county. 1999—from $200 to $500; county boards to “Citizen petitions can be cumber- • LB342, introduced by Gretna place a question some, costly endeavors, especially in Sen. Andrew La Grone, which on the ballot re- some of our rural counties,” Scheer said. would move oversight of the garding a change in “LB411 simply adds another option.” metropolitan utilities district county board mem- A Government, Military and Veter- elections from the county elec- bership. The bill Sen. Jim Scheer ans Affairs Committee amendment, ad- tion commissioners to the Ne- would apply to counties with a popula- opted 35-0, added provisions of six bills: braska secretary of state office; tion of less than 400,000 people that • LB246, introduced by Gordon • LB608, also introduced by La are not under township organization. Sen. Tom Brewer, which would Grone, which would remove Under the bill, a qualifying county make technical changes to sev- (continued page 2) INSIDE: Meet Sen. Murman • Tipped minimum wage increase stalls • Committee hearing schedule March 12 - 15, 2019 Enhanced tax sale certificate Omnibus election notification requirements advanced bill clears first round (continued from front page) (continued from front page) adequate or timely notice that they make a firm commitment that you do outdated language regarding were at risk of losing their property. owe those taxes and you should pay electronic voting and allow LB463 would require tax sale cer- them,” Groene said. ballots to be counted at polling tificate purchasers to make multiple However, Groene suggested that places; attempts to notify those who occupy the bill be amended to require coun- • LB618, introduced by Lincoln the property as well as anyone listed ties to include a property owner’s Sen. Mike Hilgers, which would on the property’s title, he said. name in an annual list of properties redefine electioneering; and Williams said the bill also would subject to sale due to delinquent taxes, • LB101, introduced by Omaha require a “checklist” of documents not just a legal description of the prop- Sen. Justin Wayne, which would that a tax sale certificate purchaser erty. He said many people would not change provisions of the Ne- must provide before a county treasurer recognize their property based only on braska Political Accountability issues a tax deed. that description. and Disclosure Act relating to Williams introduced an amend- Elmwood Sen. Robert Clements a potential conflict of interest ment, adopted 31-0, that would apply also supported the bill. He said a by an elected office holder of the bill’s requirements to tax sale couple in his district lost their home certain cities or villages or a certificates sold after Jan. 1, 2017. This and 80-acre farm to a tax sale certifi- school district. would ensure that those certificates cate purchaser after falling behind on Wayne said the provision of LB101 are subject to the enhanced notice re- their bills and property taxes due to would address situations when, for quirements when they become eligible medical problems. example, a school board member for the treasurer’s tax deed process in If the notice requirements in joins an association of school board 2020, he said. LB463 had been in place, Clements members and later is asked to vote Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte said, the man who rented and occu- on a matter affecting that association. supported the bill, saying the en- pied their land also would have been “It creates a natural conflict,” hanced notice requirements would notified of the delinquent taxes and Wayne said. “There’s no personal improve the tax deed process. could have urged the landowners to interest; there’s no financial conflict.” “Families should not lose their pay the county. Following adoption of a technical legacy—their inheritance—over delin- Lawmakers voted 35-0 to advance amendment, lawmakers voted 37-0 to quent taxes, even though we must … the bill to select file. g advance LB411 to select file. g UNICAMERAL UPDATE The Unicameral Update is a free, weekly newsletter published during the legislative session. It is produced by the Clerk of the Legislature’s Office through the Unicameral Information Office. For print subscriptions, call 402-471-2788 or email [email protected]. Visit us online at Update.Legislature.ne.gov, twitter.com/UnicamUpdate and facebook.com/UnicameralUpdate. Clerk of the Legislature: Patrick J. O’Donnell Editor: Kate Heltzel; Writers: Kyle Harpster, Ami Johnson, Mike Malloy; Photographer: Bess Ghormley Printed copies of bills, resolutions and the Legislative Journal are available at the State Capitol room 1023, or by calling 402-471-2709 or 800-742-7456. Status of bills and resolutions can be requested at that number or can be found on NebraskaLegislature.gov. Live video of hearings and floor debate can be viewed on NET2 and at NetNebraska.org/capitol. Senators may be contacted by mail at this address: Senator Name, District #, State Capitol, P.O. 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 Unicameral Update is available as an audio recording from the Nebraska Library Commission’s Talking Book and Braille Service. Call (800) 742-7691 for more information. THE NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE’S OFFICIAL NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1977 PAGE 2 • UNICAMERAL UPDATE • 106TH LEGISLATURE March 12 - 15, 2019 Meet the Senator Murman’s dream of holding office deferred but not forgotten en. Dave Murman of Glenvil does not often watch Then he met Kathy, a fellow Glenvil native. Murman the late evening news. But he was watching one night decided to move home, join his father and brother on the Sin mid-February 2018 when it was reported that his farm, get married and start a family. The couple raised predecessor in the District 38 seat had announced that he three children—Kelsi, Whitney and Chase—and have five would not seek reelection. grandchildren. Murman went to his wife, Kathy, who was already in Murman enjoys traveling, even though life’s circum- bed. stances have kept him “‘John Kuehn’s not mostly close to home. running for state sena- His younger daugh- tor again—I was think- ter, Whitney, has dis- ing I’d maybe consider abilities, and Kathy is running,’” Murman her full-time caregiver. told her. Murman drives home He expected her to each weekend to be give him a sharp elbow, with them. but instead Kathy told Despite the trav- him she knew how long el required, he said, he had thought about Kathy is “totally sup- running for the Legisla- portive” of his new ture and that it “might job. be a good thing” for The idea to run for him. the Legislature had “So that made me been in the back of his think, ‘Well, maybe I mind since he sold his could do that,’” Mur- interest in the dairy op- man said. eration to his brother Murman’s interest three years ago, Mur- in politics can be traced man said. Now that to his parents. His fa- he has returned to Lin- ther, a dairy and row coln as a state senator, crop farmer, served on the routine reminds the boards of several him of his younger dairy organizations, days as a dairy farmer as Murman later did. when “about all I had His mother—“a big fan time to do was work,” of FDR”—helped with Murman said.
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