Senator Brandt Introduces “The Nebraska Plan”

By Gordon HopkinsSenator Tom Brandt, District 32, of Plymouth, introduced LB (Legislative Bill) 1150, dubbed the Nebraska Plan, intended to change provisions relating to school aid and property valuations.Senator Brandt testified before the legislature's Education Committee on Tuesday, February 27, 2024. He noted it was similar to a bill introduced last year, LB 320, “It will restore equalization aid to our schools and lower property taxes. There are 244 school districts in our state, and only 64 of them are currently equalized. This is a drastic change from 2007, when 205 school districts were equalized. This reduction in equalization aid is due to the unprecedented rise in ag land values from 2008 to 2015.”Brandt explained, “First, the plan lowers ag land valuation from 72 percent to 42 percent. Second, it lowers all other real property, including residential, commercial, railroad and public utilities, from 96 percent to 86 percent. By lowering all property valuations inside the formula, we will spread meaningful property tax relief across the entire state.”Regarding school equalization, Brandt said, “This plan is estimated to restore equalization aid to 91 additional school districts. Schools that currently have the highest levies will see the greatest potential levy reduction and it would bring levies closer together, as was the original intent of TEEOSA (Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act).”Among the supporters of LB 1150 was Dave Welsch, a farmer and president of the Milford Public Schools Board of Education, “After its introduction, Governor Pillen had LB 1415 introduced, which in part, re-purposes the $560 million and property tax incentive Act funds by distributing them to schools based upon the valuation in each school.”While he supports LB 1150, he made it clear he does not support LB 1415, “Governor Palin is correct that we need to front load the property tax and center back funds directly to schools and eliminate the mechanism of requesting an income tax credit based upon the amount of school property taxes paid. But I am opposed to how the funds will be distributed under LB 1415. The property tax incentive Act was created to distribute funds based upon the amount of school property taxes paid by re-purposing these funds so that they are distributed according to property valuation does not respect the original intent of this act.”Other supporters who testified were Connie Knoche, the Education Director of OpenSky Policy Institute, and Jack Moles, Executive Diector of the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association (NRCSA). No opponents testified, although a single letter opposing LB 1150 was received by the Legislature.FJN spoke with Senator Brandt on Friday, March 1. He noted that, while LB 320 failed last year, there seems to be more interest this year, “It's a rehash of last year. And this time around, Senator (Lou Ann) Linehan and Senator (Justin) Wayne were legitimately interested in the components that we were offering. And I said, 'You're welcome to use any pieces or parts of this.'”When asked what he thought the chances of his bill and others that are part of Governor Jim Pillen's tax package being passed, Brandt said, “What they're going to do this next week is, they're going to weld together about eight different proposals to make the governor's property tax proposal and it's going to take 33 votes.”“And as you can imagine, people are upset about a one percent sales tax increase,” said Brandt. “In addition to a myriad of other stuff. But, at the end of the day, you've got to generate revenue to pay for property tax relief. The one percent will give us a half a billion dollars.”

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