March 11, 2011 Congratulations to the boys’ basketball teams from Sutton and Holdrege for making it to Lincoln to play in the state tournament last week. District 38 had good representation in both the girls’ and boys’ tournaments. We have passed the half way mark of this 90 day legislature. Forty two bills have been passed and are awaiting the Governor’s signature. Another 39 have been approved by the Governor. Senators have designated their priority bills. Those bills have a good chance of being debated, once they are advanced by the committee to the full legislature. I will report on my priority bill next week. The Ag Committee met and voted out several bills that have been heard this session. We advanced Senator Schilz bill, LB 459, which further classifies animals as property of the owner, making no other relationship legal. LB 473, a bill by Senator Louden, was also advanced. It provides for proper management of prairie dogs in Nebraska. Senator Christensen’s bill, LB 698, will be debated by the full legislature. Under its provisions, ethanol blends of under 11% will no longer need to be identified as ethanol. Senator Council has LB 200, which addresses food deserts in the state and encourages greater access to local grown foods. It was also advanced. I appeared in front of the Transportation Committee to introduce LB 244 on behalf of constituents from Naponee. These enterprising folks collected private money and had an attractive sign produced to promote their village, located two miles south of Highway 136. That highway is a federally designated “scenic by-way.” They found out that a change of law would be necessary for them to place the sign along the highway, as it included specific businesses instead of generic services such as, “food, gas, and lodging.” This bill continues my legislative campaign promise to promote rural economic development. “Population out” continues to be a challenge to rural Nebraska, but here we have small town citizens trying to promote their town. Due to federal rules and the resulting highway funding tied to such rules, they can not display their sign on the main highway connecting to their spur. My bill would allow such signs. The committee was interested in the problem and many of the members represent small communities that have the same roadblock.
I hope to work with our state and federal officials to make some changes to allow our local businesses to be advertised for passing motorists
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