Time for one of my legislative updates on various topics, rather than focusing on any one specific matter. So, let’s jump right in!
End of Hearings. Last week marked the final day of legislative committee hearings. That audible sigh of relief you just heard came from me and many State Senators, legislative staffers, lobbyists, and active citizen testifiers!
For over two months, State Senators diligently listened to testifiers across the state and country on over 700 legislative bills introduced this session. After hearing from the "Second House" (that's all of us!), they take this input into consideration as they decide whether to advance legislation from committee with or without amendments, indefinitely postpone legislation (i.e., kill the bill), or simply let the legislation sit in committee (either to advance it at some later point or let it die a slow legislative death).
Learn more about the bills the Nebraska Catholic Conference took a position on and review our testimony by visiting our Legislative Bill Tracker at www.NEcatholic.org.
All Day Floor Debate. When legislative bill hearings take place, they occur in the afternoons after the Unicameral has spent their morning in floor debate. Once bill hearings are complete, the afternoon is freed up for all day floor debate. There will be 37 days of all day floor debate this session.
As I’ve mentioned before, at this point in the legislative session, the focus will be on “priority” bills. These are the bills that have been designated by Senators and legislative committees as the most important 100 or so bills to deal with for the remainder of the legislative session. Even then, given that there are only so many days and hours to debate legislation, it is unlikely that the Nebraska Legislature will get through all the “priority” bills.
Want to watch legislative debate? Turn on Nebraska Public Media on your television or stream it online.
The Death of a Bill. One important bill that we were very much looking forward to supporting through the legislative process this session was LB299. This legislation would have ensured that federally work-authorized migrants would have been able to access important employment benefits, such as unemployment insurance and retirement. Our state law for years and currently has excluded any number of immigrants who have been cleared through federal law to work in Nebraska from accessing these benefits. It’s a public policy that makes little to no sense, but has not been remedied.
This year, LB299 had a promising path ahead, with hopes of passing into law.
That is, until the federal government recently stated that passing LB299 would somehow put the state of Nebraska out of compliance with federal labor law, potentially costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
This news came like a thief in the night. One day the bill had strong prospects of passage. The next day, it was on the proverbial chopping block and suffered an ill-timed death.
The death of LB299 is one more piece of evidence concerning our federal government’s broken immigration system which needs dire overhaul.
While the state legislature is not the place for immigration law overhaul (that’s an issue for the federal government), state laws can ensure that migrants find themselves in a welcoming community in our state. Unfortunately, with the death of LB299, hard-working and lawfully working migrants in our communities must wait yet another year to receive equal access to various benefits that all of us otherwise take for granted.
Pray & Fast. Last, but certainly not least, as we continue our Lenten journey, please offer up some prayer and fasting for our elected officials at the state level, whether it is our State Senators, Governor, Attorney General, State Auditor, you name it. We’ve a lot of elected officials and their staff who are making big decisions that affect the common good of our state and the human dignity of Nebraskans. Let us pray that they render unto God what is God’s!
