Senator Brandt Gives Legislative Update

By Gordon HopkinsNebraska Senator Tom Brandt (R-District 32) appeared at a meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners the morning of Tuesday, November 19, to provide local officials with a recap of the prior legislative session and a preview of the upcoming session. 2024 Special SessionOn July 25, 2024, the Nebraska Legislature formally convened a special session. The day prior, Governor Jim Pillen issued a proclamation calling for a special session of the 108th Nebraska Legislature. Per a statement from the governor, “the scope will be limited to enacting legislation related to reducing state property taxes.”Brandt noted that, while the legislature did provide a form of property tax relief, it was not the 40 percent cut the governor had wanted and many are unhappy with the end result, “We went into special session this year for 17 days. The governor worked for several months with 17 senators and others. He did not do a very good job of communicating with the rest of us, because we had maybe competing proposals going at the same time. So, I think his stuff died day two, and then we kind of were on plan B for about three days, and then that went down the tubes, and then we ended up with what we ended up with.”“Which, basically we still screwed that up, unknown to some of us,” Brandt added. LB 34According to some senators, LB (Legislative Bill) 34, which was intended to provide that property tax relief for Nebraskans will actually cost some taxpayers a tax rebate.LB 34 front loads a 30 percent property tax credit that goes to the schools, rather than requiring taxpayers to claim it as a credit on their state income tax return.Front loading the credit was intended to fix that problem. However, according to a press release from three state senators, Steve Erdman (R-District 47), Steve Halloran (R-District 33), and Justin Wayne (D-District 13), issued in September of this year, “Because the language of the bill put an end to the rebate beginning January 1, 2024, taxpayers will not be able to claim the 30 percent property tax rebate that is owed them on their 2024 income tax return.”Brandt said. “Senator Erdman claims it was intentional. Senator Erdman is gone, so he can say that. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, because I’ve got to be there two more years, and say it was an oversight.”Some people have asked how the legislature could not know about this. Brandt explained, “Well, I’ll tell you how we did not know. It’s that we all studied the governor’s proposal ad nauseam, and that lasted two days, and then it goes to a revenue committee, and we had introduced 100 constitutional amendments and LBs on the special session that all got hearings. We’re trying to take the best of all this stuff and do politics at the same time and stuff. Some days was changing hourly.”Brandt noted, “I do know I specifically asked somebody on that committee, the Vice Chair, does this affect the delinquencies for the 23 taxes? And I was told no twice. Senator (Myron) Dorn asked the governor’s budget guy, Lee Will, same question, was emphatically told, this will not affect that.”None of this is to suggest LB 34 is a bad bill, Brand emphasized, “The effect of LB 34 is good. LB 34 took tier two, or the 1107 money that you would normally apply for a refundable state income tax credit, and it now will become automatic on the December statement.” School FundingCommissioner Mark Schoenrock told the senator that at the last meeting the governor had with representatives of NACO (Nebraska Association of County Officials), “He said he wants to work to try to increase the state aid to schools.”According to Brandt, the governor’s ultimate goal is, “Outside of the bonds for buildings, the state pays for the whole school system.”The difficulty, Brandt said, will be figuring out how to fund it, “We don’t have that much revenue stream.”“Income is way down for the state of Nebraska,” said Brandt, who noted that ARPA (The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, or the COVID-19 Stimulus Package) is drying up. “And it’s probably the same way for the county. You know, the hangover is coming now, guys. So, we’ve got to find a revenue stream to fund this.”Taxes and ExemptionsBrandt said senators are looking to increase sales taxes to raise revenue, “We’ve got a proposal for some ‘sin taxes’ to increase. Possibly increasing cigarettes, hemp.”Nebraska voters recently approved an initiative for medical marijuana. Brandt said, “If we enact the medical marijuana, some of that income will be coming in.”Some senators are also looking at eliminating several sales tax exemptions. Brandt said, “Right now, you don’t pay sales tax when you charter an airplane, get your swimming pool cleaned, dating services, go to the zoo, things that are kind of discretionary. And so, a group of senators have identified that, and we’re going to try and go after these sales tax exemptions.” Winner Take AllOne issue likely to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session is how Nebraska allocates electoral votes.Most states allocate electoral votes to a single candidate. Only two states, Nebraska and Maine, allocate two electoral votes to the state popular vote winner, and then one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each congressional district. This leaves open the possibility that Nebraska and Maine could allocate electoral votes to more than one candidate.Governor Pillen wants to see the state move to a Winner Take All system. An attempt in the special session failed but Brandt believes the governor will try again in 2025.Schoenrock said, “The comment I kept hearing from people was, if all the states did that same system, then fine, but us in Maine are the only ones that did it like that. And so, it kind of puts Nebraska at a disadvantage to other states.”“It really just affects one election. I mean, it isn’t for Senate or House or anything else. It’s just for President,” said the senator.Brandt’s position such a change should be put to a vote of the people, “It could be a constitutional amendment, which I favor. Let the people vote on it in the next general election, and then that way it’s in the constitution, and we can go on to the next thing.”

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