Second budget bill advances after another filibuster

State Sens. Justin Wayne of Omaha, speaking, with State Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood. Aug. 14, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature on Thursday advanced the second of two budget bills of the special session intended to offset the costs of a slimmed-down property tax relief plan.

But state senators spent most of the day getting there, venting about what they wish they had included in a property tax package and hunting for a last-minute path toward more substantive relief.

Essentially, senators seeking different options than provided by Speaker John Arch’s special session procedures/process watched Wednesday’s failed filibuster of the first budget bill and said: “Samesies.”

The Appropriations Committee rewrote Legislative Bill 3 to shift $22 million in fees and interest gathered by state agencies to the general fund to cover some costs of Legislative Bill 34, the property tax relief package championed by Gov. Jim Pillen and his allies.

The bill advanced in a 35-11 vote after eight hours of debate. LB 3 followed passage of LB 2 on Wednesday, which contained $117 million in spending cuts. Combined, the two would cover most of the $185 million cost of the new relief.

State Sen. Rob Clements, chair of the Appropriations Committee, said the state would use $46 million from its cash reserves to cover the rest, but LB 3 helps cover part of the cost.

Clements repeatedly defended the committee’s decision to sweep or use interest earned from state fees for license plates and other items produced by state prisoners.

He eventually acquiesced to an amendment from State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha that restored the $250,000. He did so saying conflict over that issue wasn’t worth losing the other $22 million-23 million in funds.

“We don’t need to move this money, because we have issues currently that need to be solved,” McKinney said.

Clements apologized “for the great turmoil this has caused” and said no one had raised issues about the corrections money during hearings the committee held on LB 3.

“That’s why we bring bills to the floor and debate them,” he said.

Clements thwarted a similar effort to restore $2 million being culled from Universal Service Fund dollars, parts of which are used to improve rural broadband and cell phone service.

“We have come up with funding that will help the property tax bill be funded but not hurt any individual agency that has a cash fund,” Clements said.

For the second straight day, State Sens. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln and Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha argued there was no need to find funding for property tax relief during a special session.

But members of the Appropriations Committee, including State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, pushed back against efforts to filibuster the cuts, saying that appropriators took their work seriously.

Much of the debate, as the Examiner reported earlier Thursday , was hijacked by efforts to push for more property tax relief than provided by Legislative Bill 34, as advanced this week.

SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX