State Lawmakers head back to Lincoln

The 108th Nebraska legislative session convened on Wednesday, January 4, and the first day was made up entirely of legislative procedure. The election of leadership and committee chairs, approval of temporary rules, and appointment of a new clerk of the Legislature, all paved the way for bills to be introduced, but also made clear the environment your Nebraska Farm Bureau team will be working in during this session.

Temporary rules were put in place until January 20 in order for bills to be introduced and business to get underway. However, there is an expectation that a permanent adoption of legislative rules could bring some early drama to the session, especially when it comes to the rules regarding secret ballots for committee chairs. We will see how this plays out as we get closer to the vote on the permanent adoption of rules.

New leadership and committee chairs elected

• Speaker: John Arch
• Executive Committee:
  • Chair: Tom Briese
  • Vice-Chair: Ray Aguilar
• Committee on Committees: Joni Albrecht
• Agriculture: Steve Halloran
• Appropriations: Rob Clements
• Banking, Commerce and Insurance: Julie Slama
• Business and Labor: Merv Riepe
• Education: Dave Murman
• General Affairs: John Lowe
• Government, Military and Veterans Affairs: Tom Brewer
• Health and Human Services: Ben Hansen
• Judiciary: Justin Wayne
• Natural Resources: Bruce Bostelman
• Nebraska Retirement Systems: Mike McDonnell
• Revenue: Lou Ann Linehan
• Transportation and Telecommunications: Suzanne Geist
• Urban Affairs: Terrell McKinney
• Rules: Steve Erdman

Nebraska Farm Bureau legislative priorities

As the Public Policy Team breaks down the bills being introduced, we will be looking at each bill to see if our policy supports it. Our policy as voted on by our members is the deciding factor on whether or not a bill gets our support or opposition.

The NEFB board of directors provides us with more pointed areas of emphasis that guide the Public Policy Team throughout the year. The following priorities outline what issue areas our team drills down on and spends the majority of our time and political capital on.

• Broadband/E-connectivity
• Rural Economic Development
• Environment
• Tax Relief and Education Funding Reform

Specific issues within these areas that we will push include property tax relief through policy and education funding, statewide agricultural programs, quality of drinking water, rural childcare development, drought monitoring, and local governance, just to name a few.

There will be a myriad of issues that will come up in the 90 days of this session before adjournment in June and further updates on specific bills will be forthcoming as the legislative outlook becomes clearer with the introduction of bills.

Daily Legislative Update Emails

If you would like to be on the list to receive daily email updates during the legislative session, please email Andrew Dunkley at andrewd@nefb.org or call/text to (402) 737-1416.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the state legislative session, please reach out to the Public Policy Team at 402-421-4400 or visit www.nefb.org/agricultural-issues-and-advocacy/.