RICKETTS CHALLENGED ON RADIO SHOW TO MANDATE MASKS

LINCOLN - Gov. Pete Ricketts was challenged Monday during his monthly call-in radio show to mandate the wearing of masks in public to better protect Nebraskans from COVID-19 and apply the brakes to spread of the virus before it breaks loose as it has in other states.

"Wouldn't it make sense if everybody just wore a mask?" Ann in Lincoln told the governor.

"If everybody wears a mask, you almost completely control the spread," she said.

Wearing a mask is "just one tool," along with social distancing and repeated hand-washing that's most effective in controlling the virus, Ricketts said, and "I think we get better compliance if you don't make it a mandate."

Ricketts pointed to declining coronavirus hospitalization numbers in Nebraska to argue that the state has been successful in slowing the spread of the virus while maintaining its ability to respond to any needs for hospital beds, intensive care unit beds and ventilators.

View article HERE.

NEBRASKA AG FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST OMAHA STEM CELL CLINIC

OMAHA - Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson on Thursday filed a lawsuit against an Omaha-based stem cell clinic. The lawsuit, filed in Douglas County District Court, alleges that the Regenerative Medicine & Anti-Aging Institute of Omaha and its owners, Travis and Emily Autor, made more than $2 million by making deceptive and misleading statements to consumers regarding the ability of their stem cell therapy to treat specific diseases and health conditions.

It seeks to stop the clinic from making deceptive and misleading claims regarding its treatments, to refund money to patients and to pay an undetermined amount of civil penalties.

“Consumers are entitled to accurate and truthful information about any product or service, but especially those products that affect their health and well-being," Peterson said in a news release.

View article HERE.

YEAR-END TAX COLLECTIONS $266 MILLION BELOW LATEST PROJECTION BUT NEBRASKA STILL IN THE BLACK

LINCOLN - Nebraska closed out its fiscal year in better shape than once feared but with little to spare for any new spending or tax initiatives, a key lawmaker said Wednesday. The State Department of Revenue released a report showing that the state collected $4.939 billion in net tax revenues for the year that ended June 30. That’s $10.66 million more than the certified forecast issued in July 2019 and represents a 4.2% growth in taxes compared to the previous year.

State Sen. John Stinner of Gering, the Appropriations Committee chairman, said the year-end tally looks much better than the estimates he got a couple of months ago, which had suggested the state would end the year about $95 million in the red because of economic disruption caused by the coronavirus.

Still, the year-end figure is $266 million less than the most recently updated revenue projections, issued in February. State lawmakers had been building their budget around that recent forecast before the session was interrupted by the coronavirus in mid-March.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Nebraska did well to end the year by putting more than $10 million into the state’s cash reserve fund.

View article HERE.

DON WALTON: WHAT TO WATCH FOR AS LEGISLATURE NEARS RETURN

LINCOLN - The Legislature resumes its virus-interrupted session a week from now with big question marks hanging in the air. Property tax relief, creation of a new business development tax incentives program, some form of early commitment to state funding support for a transformational University of Nebraska Medical Center project and pandemic-related adjustments to the state government's 2019-2021 budget are the early headliners.

Nebraska's current business tax incentives program is due to expire at the end of the year, and an early commitment to the ambitious Medical Center project might be critical in gaining federal designation and support.

This is going to be an odd, socially distanced legislative session in which senators are spread across the breadth of the legislative chamber and the lobbying corps and news media are isolated from senators during floor proceedings.

View article HERE.

SENATORS BACK AGAIN, BUT NOTHING’S QUITE THE SAME

LINCOLN - The last days of the 2020 Nebraska legislative session, which will reconvene Monday, will look different, with Plexiglas barriers, masks for those who choose to wear them and physical distancing.

Senators will be advised to wear masks in the chamber, rotunda, offices and hallways, and be tested for the coronavirus this week. But Speaker Jim Scheer acknowledged it's up to individual members whether they will follow the recommendations. Senators will be advised to wear masks in the chamber, rotunda, offices and hallways, and be tested for the coronavirus this week. Long days, many priority bills and intense issues await senators, along with the threat of rising COVID-19 cases in the state.

In addition to the 49 senators, others allowed into the chamber will be limited, but could at any given time total about 75 to 80 people, including Clerk of the Legislature staff, pages, troopers, sergeants at arms, legislative and committee staff and others.

Lobbyists will not be allowed to send in messages or gather at the lobby doors.

Priority bills will be the focus of the session, Scheer said, and his goal is to get all those that are out of committee debate time. It is worthy of note that revenue could be down substantially because of the coronavirus impact.

View article HERE.

TIGHT RACE BREWING IN NEBRASKA HOUSE CONTEST: INTERNAL POLL

WASHINGTON - A tight race is brewing in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District as Democrats are hopeful that progressive Kara Eastman can put up a stiff challenge to Rep. Don Bacon (R).

According to an internal poll from the Eastman campaign that was obtained exclusively by The Hill, Eastman has the support of 50 percent of likely general election voters, compared with 49 percent for Bacon. The results are similar to those of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poll conducted in May showing a narrow 48-47 margin in Eastman’s favor.

The battle between Eastman and Bacon is a rematch from 2018, when Bacon narrowly won reelection by 2 points in the Omaha district. Eastman won the Democratic nomination in May over attorney Ann Ashford, a centrist who is married to former Rep. Brad Ashford (D).

“I am happy to see in these numbers what I am hearing in talking to voters: that folks no longer want a Trump rubber stamp representing them in Congress,” Eastman said in a statement to The Hill.

View article HERE.

SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE PREPARING FOR ELECTION AMID PANDEMIC UNCERTAINTY

LINCOLN - Nebraska’s Secretary of State, Bob Enven, said the department is still considering whether to send early ballot request forms to all Nebraskans this fall.

Evnen said the decision will be made in time to let voters know before the election. He anticipates early voting will be higher than previous elections, but not as high as the May primary.

Evnen said the November election may require adjustments, such as moving polling places, depending on the status of the pandemic.

“We gained a lot of knowledge and experience in May," Evnen said. "We had tremendous cooperation from vendors. We had great cooperation from a number of different professional groups to help us develop a new generation of poll workers. And I expect we will draw on our experience from the May primary to ensure that the election in November goes forward well.”

View article HERE.

NEBRASKA’S 3 LARGEST COUNTIES TO SEND BALLOT REQUEST FORMS

LINCOLN - Nebraska’s three largest counties plan to send ballot request forms to every voter before this fall’s general election, but it’s not yet clear whether those forms will be sent statewide as they were before the primary.

Officials in Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster counties say they are planning to send out the ballot-request forms because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and because it will help them plan for the election. Nebraska also has 11 rural counties that routinely vote entirely by mail.

Heavy use of mail-in ballots during the May primary helped the state set a record for turnout when more than 471,000 people voted.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen told The Omaha World-Herald he hasn’t decided whether to send out ballot request forms to every registered voter in the state. He said anyone who wants to vote by mail can contact local election officials to request a ballot.

View article HERE.

WHY REPUBLICANS MIGHT KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR, BUT DEMOCRATS MIGHT NOT – YET

OMAHA - After leaning heavily on phone and digital outreach, many political campaigns are sending volunteers to voters’ doors ahead of the general election. So far, it’s mostly Republicans campaigning at the stoop. Democrats are still debating whether and how to safely canvass for the Nov. 3 election. Most door-to-door campaigning was put on hold in March as the country shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans started ringing doorbells again in mid-June in Nebraska’s most competitive congressional race, the Omaha area’s 2nd Congressional District.

Volunteers for Rep. Don Bacon wear masks and practice social distancing, said Kyle Clark, a Bacon campaign spokesman. Clark said the response from GOP voters answering doors has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Bacon’s key challenger in the 2nd District House race, Democrat Kara Eastman, is not yet ready to knock on voters’ doors. She said through a campaign spokesman that she wants to be smart with people’s health.

Not all Republicans are resuming door-to-door campaigning. State Sen. Julie Slama of Peru, who’s in a hotly contested legislative race with another Republican, real estate agent Janet Palmtag, said her campaign is sticking with phone calls and virtual meetings for now. “We’re closely monitoring the confirmed cases in District 1,” Slama said.

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FORMER GOVERNOR, POLITICAL CONSULTANT CLASH OVER ATTACK ADS IN NEBRASKA LEGISLATIVE RACE

LINCOLN - On Friday, former Gov. Dave Heineman said that Jessica Flanagain, a top political adviser for Gov. Pete Ricketts, “directed and orchestrated” a campaign mailer in May attacking Janet Palmtag, a longtime Republican Party campaign worker from Nebraska City.

The attack ads accused Palmtag of “going Lincoln” and siding with “radical” Sen. Ernie Chambers. If, as Heineman says, the Nebraska Republican Party ads were orchestrated by Flanagain, that would run counter to the party’s recent, amended campaign filing, which reported a $66,000 “independent” contribution to the Slama campaign.

Flanagain, when reached Friday, denied that she directs spending by the GOP. She added that state law does allow campaigns and the party to use the same vendor to distribute mailers and other political advice.

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GOP DELEGATES WILL HEAD TO FLORIDA FOR CONVENTION, WHILE DEMOCRATS TAKE VIRTUAL ROUT

OMAHA – Hal Daub, Omaha’s former mayor and congressman, has attended the past 11 GOP assemblies — a run that goes back 44 years — and is excited to make it an even dozen next month in Jacksonville. And the 79-year-old says Florida’s recent surge in coronavirus cases gives him no pause about traveling there.

The two parties are taking different approaches as they scramble to make last-minute changes to their nominating conventions in the age of COVID-19.

Republicans plan to conduct some business meetings in Charlotte, North Carolina, as originally scheduled before moving on to Jacksonville for the main festivities during the week of Aug. 24.

Democrats delayed their own gathering in Milwaukee, which is now set for the week before the Republicans’, and have decided to make theirs a mostly virtual affair. A few top Nebraska Democrats will likely travel to Milwaukee in person, but others can anticipate breakfast meetings and caucus gatherings conducted via video teleconference.

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DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES ARE FEELING SOME MOMENTUM AFTER STRONG FUNDRAISING

OMAHA - Democratic congressional candidate for Nebraska's 2nd District, Kara Eastman, is ahead of the fundraising pace she set last cycle. Her campaign says it raised about $710,000 from April 1 to June 30, bringing the total for this election cycle to just over $1.45 million. Eastman is running against the incumbent congressman, Jeff Bacon.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., also has yet to release his most recent numbers, but at the end of the last reporting period, his campaign had a full $1.9 million cash on hand. Fortenberry represents Nebraska’s 1st District, which covers much of eastern Nebraska and includes both Lincoln and Bellevue.

Pitted against Congressman Fortenberry in the 1st District race is State Sen. Kate Bolz. The Bolz campaign said in a statement that she raised about $264,000 for the most recent quarter, bringing her total for the overall cycle to more than $500,000. She has $253,462 cash on hand. Although that leaves her far behind Fortenberry, it also indicates that she will have the means to mount the best-financed campaign against him in years.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Ben Sasse has brought in millions of dollars in campaign contributions this cycle. His embattled Democratic challenger Chris Janicek, meanwhile, has raised a tiny fraction of that and faces a push from his own party to stand aside over sexually explicit comments he made about a staffer in a group text.

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PLATTE INSTITUTE WEBINAR: ‘BACK IN SESSION’ WITH SEN. LOU ANN LINEHAN

Kissel Kohout ES Associates offers the following notes on Wednesday’s Platte Institute webinar with Sen. Lou Ann Linehan. The webinar primarily dealt with the issue of property tax reform and how that will be dealt with when the Legislature reconvenes this July.

View notes HERE.

LINCOLN THINK TANK QUESTIONS $230 MILLION TAX BREAK FOR NEBRASKA BUSINESSES

LINCOLN — A Lincoln-based think tank on Monday questioned the wisdom of allowing coronavirus-related tax changes that would effectively provide a $230 million tax break for businesses, a reduction that has the backing of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.

The Open Sky Policy Institute said Nebraska has more pressing needs than granting such a big state income tax cut to businesses, citing the need to retain state tax revenue for other priorities. The Open Sky opinion piece puts the organization in the same camp as State Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte — with whom it often doesn’t agree — who has also called for the state to temporarily “decouple” from the federal tax code so that the tax break doesn’t go into effect.

Groene, the head of the Legislature’s Education Committee, recently said the $250 million would be better spent, and would benefit more people, if it was used to reduce local property taxes by increasing state funding of K-12 schools.

View article HERE. 

DAPL STILL PUMPING OIL

WASHINGTON - The operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline is making no moves yet to shutdown the North Dakota pipeline, despite an order from a federal judge on Monday to empty it of oil by Aug. 5, a process that Energy Transfer said could take roughly 90 days. Company spokeswoman Vicki Granado said, "We have not yet started the process of shutting it down as we work through the legal process."

The company said Wednesday that D.C. District Court Judge James Boasberg had "exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline" until the Army Corps of Engineers conducted an environmental review of a section of the pipeline, and filed a motion asking that the shutdown order be suspended while it appeals the court ruling.

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JUDGE ORDERS DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE SHUT DOWN PENDING REVIEW

WASHINGTON - A judge on Monday ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down for additional environmental review more than three years after it began pumping oil — handing a victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and delivering a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to weaken public health and environmental protections his administration views as obstacles to businesses.

In a 24-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., wrote that he was “mindful of the disruption” that shutting down the pipeline would cause, but that it must be done within 30 days. Pipeline owner Energy Transfer plans to ask a court to halt the order and will seek an expedited appeal, spokeswoman Vicki Granado said.

The order comes after Boesberg said in April that a more extensive review was necessary than what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already conducted and that he would consider whether the pipeline should be shuttered during the new assessment.

View article HERE.

SPAT AT HISTORY NEBRASKA PROMPTS AN UNUSUAL MOVE – CREATION OF A SECOND FUNDRAISING FOUNDATION

LINCOLN - A long-running spat between History Nebraska and its fundraising foundation has prompted an unusual move — the creation of a totally new, second foundation by the state historical society.

Whether having two foundations devoted to the state’s top history organization will create confusion among donors, or increase or decrease gifts, remains to be seen.

But those are major questions for an agency that relies on donations and sales of memberships and merchandise to cover half its annual $8 million budget, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic has shot a hole in its budget with the closing of the Nebraska History Museum and other History Nebraska sites.

The head of the History Nebraska Board of Trustees, the agency’s governing body, said that the new History Nebraska Foundation will be formed by the trustees, will be more responsive to the goals of the history agency and will devote 100% of its funds to that effort.

The current foundation, the 78-year-old Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, is a separate, private 501(c)(3) that devotes 75% of its income to History Nebraska and appoints its own board members. Officials there say the donations designed for History Nebraska will continue to flow to the agency, but that the foundation is also launching a new push to gather donations for local historical societies.

View article HERE.

NEBRASKA NOT PLANNING TO CHANGE GUIDANCE AFTER THREATS FROM PRESIDENT TO WITHOLD FED DOLLARS

Nebraska education officials Wednesday said they have no plans to change guidance for reopening schools after threats from President Donald Trump to withhold federal education funds to schools that don’t fully reopen in the fall.

“The Nebraska Department of Education has been working with local school districts for several months to safely provide continuity of learning for all students in the state,” said Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt.

The state Department of Education has a website called Launch Nebraska that provides guidance for schools this summer and beyond, though officials plan to update the guidance soon to focus more specifically on fall.

Current guidance includes that students and staff wear face masks and social distance whenever possible, and stresses that school districts should work with local health departments to come up with a plan.

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STATE SENATORS CONSIDER REMOTE MEETING, VOTING OPTIONS FOR THIS MONTH’S SESSION

LINCOLN - As the Nebraska Legislature approaches a July 20 restart to finish its last days of the 2020 session, six senators met virtually Wednesday to discuss remote meeting or voting options.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Legislature to call a halt to its session in March, except for three days of gathering to pass emergency COVID-19 funding for the state.

Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks earlier sent a memo to her colleagues saying the Legislature should make accommodations for those senators who don't want to come to the Capitol when it meets again. One senator, Mike Moser of Columbus, was hospitalized for five weeks with COVID-19.

Some states have allowed proxy votes, enabling senators to have another member vote on their behalf. Nebraska Speaker Jim Scheer said at Wednesday's meeting he was not in favor of that. "We were elected by a district to represent a district and the state, and (proxy voting) circumvents your district having its voice in the process," he said.

The Rules Committee was told that this year, legislatures in at least 23 states changed their rules or statutes to allow for remote participation of some kind during the COVID-19 emergency. Those states included Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Crawford said Wednesday's conversation was more about whether the Rules Committee should debate and discuss rules changes for January or future sessions. The speaker and clerk have worked hard to make this month's session safe, she said, although rules could be changed, if needed and feasible, she said

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LINEHAN SAYS PROPERTY TAX RELIEF DEPENDS ON PACKAGE DEAL

LINCOLN - It's going to be "something done for everybody," or nothing gets done when the Legislature reconvenes later this month and confronts a trio of major issues, including proposed property tax relief, Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn said Wednesday.

LB1106 would provide $520 million in local property tax relief by lowering valuations and increasing state aid to schools. LB720 would enact a new business investment tax incentive program to replace the Nebraska Advantage Act, which expires at the end of the year. LB1084 would commit the state to provide $300 million in funding to help build a blockbuster $2.6 billion center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to respond to national health threats and crises if the federal government chooses UNMC to perform that task.

Linehan said a group of 10 senators has been meeting quietly to seek a property tax compromise agreement.

View article HERE.