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Dist. 40 R eport
Dist. 40 Report
Last week, Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke gave his first State of the Judiciary Address since taking on his new role on the Nebraska Su preme Court late last year.
In his speech, the Chief Justice talked about how Nebraska is a national role model in some areas. This includes how Nebraska has handled probation for both minors and adults. However, these successes might be at risk because there is not enough financial support f or several key programs and systems. One concern from the court is that their existing system for filing and managing case documents, called JUSTICE, is “archaic”; it’s originally from 1994 and has long needed to be updated.
The Supreme Court is looking at ways to modernize the system, but they say they will need more money from the Legislature to do t his. I agree with Chief Justice Funke that the Legislature should be prepared to give the Supreme Court the necessary funds to ensure the state’s court system can meet its technology needs as the modernization project gets underway.
Meanwhile, the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee held a public hearing on two proposals to change how Neb raska gives its Electoral College votes for president.
LB3 by Sen. Lippincott would change the statute to assign electoral votes to the popular vote winner in each of Nebraska’s three co ngressional districts.
LR24CA by Sen. Dorn would make the winner of a presidential election take all of the state’s electoral votes through an amendment to the state’s constitution, giving the voters the opportunity to decide the issue at the November general election in 2026.
Gov. Pillen has indicated he would like to see Nebraska change to a winner-take-all state, and he has designated this issue as one of his top legislative priorities for the year. While I do expect at least one of these proposals to be debated this year, it is unclear right no w whether either proposal has the necessary 33 votes needed to break an e xpected filibuster.
The Agriculture Committee heard three bills this week: LB7, LB372, and LB145. LB7, which I introduced, would make some small updates to a law I worked to pass last year, the Foreign-owned Real Estate National Security Act.
These updates are needed because of changes made at the federal level and to make sure the state’s tribal nations are not accid entally affected by the law. LB372 by Senator McKeon would repeal several obsolete provisions in law that have never been used by the Department of Agriculture.
LB145 would provide additional funding to local entities to manage noxious weeds and invasive species vegetation within the banks or the flood plain of a natural stream. The bill would also require the Director of the Department of Agriculture to administer the program already established in statute.
Finally, two of my bills, LB43 and LB91, which were previously heard in the Natural Resources Committee were moved forward to General File.
Both bills are technical updates to laws relating to the public power industry. After a short debate, both bills were advanced to Select File on unanimous votes.
Contacting my office and hearing insights from you is always appreciated. Call my Capitol office telephone number at (402) 471-2801 or sen d email to [email protected]. My mailing address is: Sen. Barry DeKay, Dist. #40, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509.
