Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee February 19, 2015 [LB166 LB291 LB400 LB640] The Committee on Government, Military and Veterans Affairs met at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, 2015, in Room 1507 of the State Capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska, for the purpose of conducting a public hearing on LB291, LB166, LB400, and LB640. Senators present: John Murante, Chairperson; Tommy Garrett, Vice Chairperson; Dave Bloomfield; Joni Craighead; Mike Groene; Matt Hansen; and Beau McCoy. Senators absent: Tyson Larson. SENATOR MURANTE: Okay, everyone. Welcome to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. My name is John Murante. I'm the Chairman of this committee and state senator for District 49, which is Gretna, Chalco, and northwest Sarpy County. We are here today for the purpose of hearing four pieces of legislation. The bills will be taken up in the order on which they appear on the agenda which is located on the outside of the room. If you intend on testifying on any of the bills today, we would ask that you fill out one of these green sheets which are located on either side of the room. On that, you will indicate whether you are a proponent, opponent, or testifying in the neutral capacity on any piece of legislation. If you are here in support or opposition to a bill but do not wish to testify, we have a sign-in sheet also located on either side of the room, please fill that out and your opinions will be taken into consideration just as if you had testified on a given bill. When you testify if you come forward, we ask that you please state and spell your name for the record. That's very important for our Transcriber's Office. The order of business on a piece of legislation will be, first, the introducer of a bill will give an opening. That will be followed by the proponents, and then opponent testimony. That will be followed by neutral testimony, at which time the introducer will have an opportunity to close. We ask that you listen very carefully to the testimony that precedes you and not be repetitive. If a person who has already spoken has articulated the point that you wish to convey, again, we'd ask that you fill out the sign-in sheet and we will take your opinion into consideration. We do use the light system in the Government, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee. Each testifier will have an opportunity to speak for four minutes. When the amber light comes on, we will have one minute remaining and we would ask that you begin wrapping up your testimony. When the red light comes on, we ask that you end testimony, at which time we will open up the committee for questions. At this time, I'd ask everyone to turn off or silence any cell phones or other electronic devices. You will have...you may have noted that this committee is equipped for technology, so you may see senators using electronic devices or computers. We're just taking notes and pulling up information as we receive it. If you have a prepared statement, an exhibit, handouts, anything that you would like distributed to the committee, when you come up give it to the page. The page will distribute it for you. We need 12 copies, so please distribute 12 copies. If you don't have 12 copies, again, give it to the page and the page will take care of making copies for you. And our page today is Seth Thompson from Ogallala, Nebraska. Welcome, Seth. And with that, I'll proceed to the introduction of members. Again, my name is John Murante, state senator for District 49 and Chairman of the committee. 1 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee February 19, 2015 To my immediate left is state Senator Matt Hansen from Lincoln, Nebraska; to his left is state Senator Beau McCoy from Omaha; followed by state Senator Joni Craighead, also of Omaha; Sherry Shaffer, our committee clerk, is at the end. To my immediate right is Charles Isom, our research analyst; to his right state Senator Tommy Garrett of Bellevue who is the Vice Chairman of the committee; to his right, state Senator Dave Bloomfield from Hoskins, Nebraska; Senator Larson sent me a note earlier that he will not be here today which just demonstrates he has a very good sense of humor in letting me know that he wouldn't be here; (laughter) followed by state Senator Mike Groene of North Platte, Nebraska. So with that, we have concluded the formalities and we'll proceed to the first item on the agenda, LB291, state Senator Colby Coash. Welcome. [LB291] SENATOR COASH: (Exhibit 1) Thank you, Chairman Murante. Good afternoon, members of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. For the record, I'm Colby Coash, C- o-l-b-y C-o-a-s-h, represent District 27 right here in Lincoln. So here is LB291. This bill removes professional wrestling from the jurisdiction of the State Athletic Commissioner. I am bringing this bill on behalf of the Pinnacle Bank Arena, which is in my district and, in addition, Omaha CenturyLink Center and for professional wrestling fans from across the state. Currently, Nebraska's Athletic Commission incorporates a 5 percent tax of gross revenue on the rights, broadcast fee for live televised events exclusive of state and federal taxes. By removing professional wrestling from this jurisdiction of the State Athletic Commission, the 5 percent television tax would not apply to live professional wrestling events. I hope there are no children here because I'm going to tell you guys something. Professional wrestling is not real. (Laughter) It's not a real sport. It's not a competitive sport. In fact, professional wrestling is no different than a play that you might go see at the Community Playhouse or a show that you might see at the Lied Center. Professional wrestling is not boxing and it's not mixed martial arts. It is entertainment, so it should not be under the same jurisdiction as these two sports. Professional wrestling has more in common with the Cirque du Soleil and the Ringling Brothers than it does with boxing. LB291 will help ensure that live professional wrestling events like WWE Monday Night RAW and Thursday Night Smackdown return to Nebraska. I have it on good authority that WWE may not send live events back to Nebraska because of this tax placed on ticket sales that go towards the State Athletic Commission. Last year alone, Nebraska saw the WWE sell out Omaha CenturyLink Center for Monday Night RAW and Lincoln's Pinnacle Bank Arena for Thursday Night Smackdown. WWE had to fork over $60,000 of revenue for the event just in Lincoln that would not have been forfeited in cities like Des Moines or Kansas City. And losing out on these events would have a fiscal impact on the surrounding community and cities. The chances of attracting future live WWE events in Nebraska will be in jeopardy if this bill is not passed. Professional wrestling has a huge fan base and has incredible market appeal. Growing up, I watched the WWF on Sunday mornings and was caught up in the story lines or, as we referred to it, soap operas for guys. I remember guys like Randy "Macho Man" Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, Junkyard Dog, Captain Lou Albano, Bret "Hit Man" Hart, Hulk Hogan, Bam 2 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee February 19, 2015 Bam Bigelow, Andre the Giant, the Undertaker, Big Fred, Big Boss Man, Rowdy, Roddy Piper, the Road Warriors, Bushwackers, Ravishing Rick (laughter) Rude, Shamrock, Dusty Rhodes, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and of course the Rock. It would be a travesty if none of these entertainers and future generations of professional wrestlers never had the opportunity to provide live entertainment to Nebraskans. So in closing, I ask you for your support of LB291 so that professional wrestling organizations like the WWE will return to Nebraska. Thank you. I do have a letter from them. It is not signed by Hulk Hogan. It was my hope but, nevertheless, they have indicated their support via letter. Thank you for your time. [LB291] SENATOR MURANTE: Thank you, Senator Coash. Senator Garrett. [LB291] SENATOR GARRETT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Coash, thank you for bringing this bill. I actually have a daughter who follows this very passionately. She travels to Chicago. She travels to Kansas City. She travels to Des Moines, spends a lot of my money (laughter). So, I indeed, I agree with what you're saying and the fact that it does have a large fan base and there's a lot of folks that support that. It'd be really nice to see those events take place here. I think, you know, looking at the fiscal note, you know, where we lose, what is it, $53,000 in revenue or $51,000, I think we would more than make up for that if we had events here, just hotels and... [LB291] SENATOR COASH: Well, thank you, Senator Garrett, and I'll address that. They're not going to come back if this tax remains on there, so we're not going to see that anyway. So in effect by the current law we've lost that money already. The tax implications aside, when this was brought to my attention, I thought, you know, there's reasons that the State Athletic Commission regulates boxing.