NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS PASS ERNIE CHAMBERS’ FINAL BILL, WHICH REQUIRES BIAS TRAINING FOR POLICE

LINCOLN - Nebraska lawmakers passed what almost certainly will be the last bill of State Sen. Ernie Chambers’ legislative career Friday.

Legislative Bill 924 would require sheriffs and other law enforcement officers to take two hours of anti-bias and implicit bias training every year. The training would be considered part of agencies’ efforts to minimize apparent or actual racial profiling.

After senators voted 49-0 to pass the bill, Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk took the opportunity to note the occasion and to congratulate Chambers on his record-setting career in the Nebraska Legislature.

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BILL TO ADD HAIRSTYLES TO DEFINITION OF RACE CLARIFIED, RETURNED TO FINAL READING

LINCOLN – A bill on final reading got more debate Monday when Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh made changes to improve and clarify it.

The bill (LB1060) would add hairstyles to the definition of race. As amended by Cavanaugh, the bill would say simply: Race includes, but is not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.

Protective hairstyles can be those that are not chemically treated to straighten or those in which the ends are tucked away and less prone to knotting and snagging, protecting roots and hairlines. Those would include dreadlocks and twists.

Cavanaugh made changes to the original proposal because of an email from Attorney General Doug Peterson's office that said it would be advisable to strike a section of the bill to clarify the bill does not add a protective class. So she amended the bill to make it more concise and make it clear the definition of race is inclusive of hair textures and protective styles.

Cavanaugh's amendment was adopted on a 34-0 vote and the bill returned to final reading.

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FILLING OUT FINANCIAL AID FORM BY HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS COULD BECOME NEBRASKA REQUIREMENT

LINCOLN - The Legislature advanced a bill Tuesday that would require public school students to fill out an application for financial aid for college, called FAFSA — Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The bill (LB1089), introduced by Omaha Sen. Tony Vargas, would also allow a parent or guardian to decline to submit such an application, or a principal to authorize a student declining to fill out the form. Each school would have to report how many students submit the applications.

Filling out the FAFSA would be a graduation requirement, he said, unless the requirement is waived.

Vargas said if the bill passes and is signed into law, Nebraska would be the fourth state to require the financial aid applications. Louisiana requires FAFSA completion and has the highest rate of completion, he said, accompanied by an increase in high school graduation and college attendance.

Senators voted 28-9 to advance the bill to a second round of debate.

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NEW NEBRASKA COMPROMISE PROPERTY TAX RELIEF PLAN EMERGES

LINCOLN - The Legislature's Revenue Committee on Tuesday rushed to the floor a last-ditch property tax relief compromise package negotiated by seven legislative leaders in the fading days of a session scheduled to adjourn next week.

The proposal would increase state property tax relief by $125 million in the first year, gradually rising to $375 million by the fifth year and then increasing at the same rate as the statewide increase in property tax valuation.

Benefits would be delivered in the form of a refundable state income tax credit for local school property taxes paid, and that new property tax offset would be in addition to the $275 million in property tax relief currently provided by the state property tax credit cash fund.

The Revenue Committee sent the new package to the floor on a 6-0 vote, with Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue not voting. Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte was absent at the time of the vote.

Revenue Committee Chairwoman Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn said she believes "prospects on the floor are very good. "Everybody won't get everything they want, but everybody's going to get something," she said.

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GOV. RICKETTS: DECISIONS TO REOPEN SCHOOLS MUST REST WITH POLICYMAKERS

LINCOLN - Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday that policymakers, rather than health experts, should decide whether schools should reopen to students.

Policymakers should take advice from different sources, including health experts, but have to base their decisions on the “big picture.”

At a press conference Monday, Ricketts was asked about the recommendation of health officials at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health that schools should consider staying closed when the number of COVID-19 cases in the community exceeds 50 per million population per day.

“Policymakers need to make these decisions,” Ricketts said, “because when doctors say that, they’re only looking at a very, very narrow part” of the situation.

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RICKETTS DEFENDS HIS STANCE THAT MASK MANDATES ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, WOULD ENCOURAGE RESISTANCE

LINCOLN - Under a flurry of questions from reporters, Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday defended his position that mandates to wear masks to fend off COVID-19 — like one being considered in Omaha and one in place in Lincoln — are counterproductive.

"Mandates would actually encourage resistance and we'd get less people using masks," Ricketts said.

The conservative Republican governor, during a press conference on a different subject on Wednesday, faced a bevy of questions about his threat to file a lawsuit if the Douglas County Health Director, Adi Pour, carried out a plan to mandate mask wearing in the county.

When asked if a mask mandate would aid Omaha residents in fighting off the coronavirus, Ricketts said Wednesday that he didn't think so. Asking people to "do the right thing" — as Ricketts regularly does at his press events — is more effective than using the "heavy hand" of government, he said.

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BAN ON ABORTION METHOD OVERCOMES FILIBUSTER, ADVANCES IN NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE

LINCOLN - Nebraska lawmakers shut down a filibuster and advanced a bill Wednesday to ban a type of second-trimester abortion in the state.

Legislative Bill 814, introduced by State Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, drew 34 votes on a filibuster-ending cloture motion. The motion needed 33 to succeed. Senators then gave the bill 34-9 first-round approval.

The action came a week after Geist said she did not have votes for cloture. But a week of work and a promise of amending the bill got it over the first hurdle. LB 814 seeks to ban a common second-trimester abortion method known medically as dilation and evacuation. The procedure involves dilating a woman’s cervix and removing the fetus in pieces. Opponents call the procedure dismemberment abortion.

Under the bill it would be a Class IV felony, punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, for a doctor to perform such an abortion. The bill also would allow a doctor to be sued for performing the procedure. The woman having such an abortion could not be charged.

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NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS FINDS NEW WAY TO PUSH LGBT DISCRIMINATION BAN

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Legislature will soon be asked to affirm the U.S. Supreme Court decision barring job discrimination based on sexual orientation and to declare to employers and workers that the state is “welcoming and inclusive for all.”

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln said a majority of state lawmakers have already signed on to a resolution, which she introduced Monday, affirming that sentiment. She said such resolutions can’t be filibustered. And while resolutions don’t have the legal force of law, she said passage would send a needed message.

Pansing Brooks said 27 of the state’s 49 lawmakers have already signed on to the resolution, and there are other supporters who were absent Monday when she introduced it. Among the co-signers is Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk, the speaker of the Legislature, which could help the measure avoid other procedural hurdles.

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TEMPERS FLARE AS FILIBUSTERS CONTINUE, BUT NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS ADVANCE PAROLE REFORM BILL

LINCOLN - Emotions usually get charged up during the closing days of a legislative session, but an unusually fiery speech from State Sen. Steve Lathrop about the growing partisanship in the Legislature drew applause Tuesday.

Lathrop, an attorney who usually keeps his emotions and speaking volume in check, grew incensed after nearly 30 last-minute amendments were filed by Gretna Sen. Andrew LaGrone in an attempt to kill Lathrop’s bill to give more prison inmates the opportunity for parole.

Legislative Bill 1004, Lathrop said, had the rare support of the state’s criminal prosecutors and the Omaha police union, because they know that inmates who are under parole supervision adjust to life outside prison better than those inmates who just serve out their time and walk out of prison. The proposal, he said, grew out of a suggestion from the head of the Nebraska Parole Board, Rosalyn Cotton.

LaGrone later withdrew his amendments, and LB 1104 easily advanced from first-round debate. But before that, Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman reminded Lathrop that he had filibustered one of his bills. So, Erdman said, don’t get so “righteous” when a senator seeks to kill your proposals.

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PROTESTERS RALLY AT CAPITOL OVER LINCOLN SCHOOLS REOPENING

LINCOLN- Protesters briefly blocked Gov. Pete Ricketts’ car as it left the state Capitol on Monday, then set up a "classroom" on the Capitol steps to illustrate the challenges of socially distancing in schools when they reopen.

In classrooms — like the imaginary one with 25 protesters crowding inside yellow tape on the Capitol steps — teachers will be expected to balance in-person and remote instruction, regular sanitizing, making sure students keep their masks on and monitoring students for symptoms, protesters said.

“We will demonstrate to delay reopening until there is an actual safe and equitable reopening plan,” Tyner said.

The protest was organized by a group of more than 1,000 LPS staff and parents called Safely Open Schools, who argue that until positive cases go down significantly in Lincoln, LPS should stick to remote learning — which will be more effective if teachers don’t have to teach both in person and remotely simultaneously.Organizers said they decided to protest at the Capitol and in front of the Governor’s Mansion because LPS officials seem intimidated by Ricketts, who is ultimately responsible. 

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COVID-19 RISK DIAL LOWERS, REMAINS ON HIGH-RISK

LINCOLN - Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and health officials updated the community on the City’s efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at a briefing on Friday.

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department announced on Friday that 29 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Lincoln, bringing the community total to 3,021. The number of deaths in the community remains at 15. The total number of recoveries has risen to 1,279.

The COVID-19 Risk Dial has lowered from the mid-high (orange) risk to low-high (orange) risk.

The position of the Risk Dial is based on multiple local indicators and information from the previous three weeks. More information on the metrics used by LLCHD is now posted online just below the Dial.

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OMAHA COMPANY SEEKS VOLUNTEERS FOR COVID-19 VACCINE TRIAL

OMAHA – Volunteers are being recruited for a COVID-190 vaccine trial. The trial is expected to enroll 30,000 people. The Omaha site will seek about 350 participants, said Dr. Brandon Essink, Meridian’s principal investigator and medical director. Essink also is one of three co-principal investigators leading the national trial.

While the coronavirus trial has gotten a lot of attention, Meridian has participated in a number of other important vaccine trials, including those involving anthrax, Zika virus and H1N1 influenza. The firm also participated in research on the first Ebola vaccine.

Patients who participate in trials are compensated for their time. But research ethics dictate that any compensation can’t be so much that it could be seen as coercive. By the time a vaccine reaches a phase III trial, such as this one, it has been shown to be relatively safe, Essink said.

But he stressed that all required safety precautions are being taken in developing the vaccine, despite the speed at which it’s moving through the regulatory review process.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week that the United States has never moved faster to develop a vaccine.

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MASKS IN THE LEGISLATURE NOT FOR ALL

LINCOLN - Masks on in the Nebraska Legislature. Masks off? Some of the time? All of the time? Mask messages were confusing at the beginning of the pandemic, although now the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend people wear them. And still there are political messages — and people — that downplay or even scoff at the use of masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

So maybe it’s no wonder that as 49 senators gathered at the Capitol two weeks ago from all parts of the state, they brought with them a variety of perspectives about if and when they would wear masks in the hard-to-avoid close confines of the chamber, where they spend hours a day debating. Or at hearings where they sit several feet apart and listen to impassioned speeches from people.

Yes, the state Capitol is in Lincoln, where a mask mandate is in effect. But the Legislature is excluded from the requirement. So you see senators, many wearing masks while at their desks, seldom wearing masks as they speak into microphones during debate. And leaning in close for private conversations, sometimes one or both senators unmasked.

About 15% of senators don’t wear masks in the chamber or elsewhere in the Capitol.

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UNL ALTERING DORM MOVE-IN PROCESS

LINCOLN - Residence hall move-in will look a little different this year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

UNL said Monday that it expects about 4,000 students to move in to its 14 dorms between Aug. 13 and Aug. 16. To speed the move-in process and reduce crowds and increase safety, it is instituting a curbside process.

The university has contracted with University and Student Services, a national company that specializes in moving residence hall students. Company crews will unload students’ belongings from their cars and deliver their items to their rooms.

Keith Zaborowski, UNL Housing’s associate director for operations and support, said safety is the main driver of the new process, which unlike previous years will not utilize any student volunteers.

“We want to promote social distancing, less contact with others and minimize touching of shared surfaces for students and parents," Zaborowski said.

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DOUGLAS COUNTY TO SPEND $1.85 MILLION OF COVID RELIEF

OMAHA - Douglas County plans to spend $1.85 million in federal coronavirus relief aid to buy a mobile command center for the county sheriff.

One Douglas County board member described it as “a tool in our toolbox” for fighting COVID-19. The board voted 4-2 Tuesday in favor. Mary Ann Borgeson, Clare Duda, Jim Cavanaugh and Chris Rodgers voted yes. Mike Boyle and P.J. Morgan voted no. Marc Kraft spoke against it, but couldn’t vote because he was not present and was attending the meeting by Zoom because of health concerns.

Officials with the Sheriff’s Office said the vehicle could help with traffic and coordination in small towns and rural areas of the county, and that other public safety agencies in the county could borrow it for emergencies.

“The Douglas County Health Department would be able to perform their critical public health function directly from the field because of the many capabilities within the mobile command center,” Hudson said. “Just what are those capabilities? They’re able to do this because the mobile command center is a self-contained unit that is capable of operating remotely for up to three days without refueling. All functions of the Douglas County Health Department can be done remotely at the scene of any public health emergency.”

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OMAHA PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD URGES CITY COUNCIL TO MANDATE MASKS

OMAHA - In a press release sent Saturday night, members of the Omaha Public Schools board urged the Omaha City Council to implement a mandatory mask ordinance before the school year begins Aug. 11.

The request comes after Douglas County Health Director Adi Pour backed off a mask mandate for Omaha on Friday, citing “legal disagreements” between the state and the Omaha City Attorney’s Office.

The board noted that a mask ordinance doesn’t have to be a “criminal offense with the potential of jail time,” and “Lawmakers and leaders can never allow the threat of a lawsuit to keep them from doing the right thing.”

OPS has decided to start the school year by dividing students into two groups and having them attend classes on alternate days.

The school board voted 9-0 in June to approve a resolution requiring anyone engaging in any activity on district property to wear a mask when other people are present.

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RICKETTS SAYS IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO GET KIDS BACK INTO CLASSROOMS ACROSS THE STATE

OMAHA - "There's a wide variety of things that go into the overall health of a child," Ricketts said at a press conference with Nebraska Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt.

Ricketts quoted Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said last week that suicides and deaths from drug overdoses have surpassed deaths from COVID-19 among high school students.

Ricketts said schools provide students with opportunities to socialize and are important for their physical, mental, behavioral and nutritional health.

School-age children have been relatively less impacted by COVID-19, Ricketts noted. Annual deaths from influenza are five to 10 times greater among that age group, he said.

The governor was asked if he believes schools are ready to reopen. "Absolutely," he said. He cited the thoughtful work school districts have done.

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CAN THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS BE TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE AIR? UNMC STUDY SUGGESTS THAT IT CAN.

OMAHA - University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers report that they have found, for what appears to be the first time, intact and potentially infectious coronavirus in some tiny airborne particles collected from the rooms of COVID-19 patients.

The researchers say their study supports evidence indicating that the virus, formally known as SARS-CoV-2, can be transmitted in an airborne fashion.

“I hope this says, ‘The concern over airborne transmission is legitimate enough that we need to really start taking it seriously and not just pay lip service to it,’” said Joshua Santarpia, an associate professor of pathology and microbiology at UNMC.

Airborne transmission doesn’t mean that the virus is lurking everywhere. Most transmission occurs when people are close to an infected person for at least 15 minutes, particularly in a crowded, poorly ventilated room, not just passing on a street or in a hallway.

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MASKS WON'T BE REQUIRED IN OMAHA, DOUGLAS COUNTY HEALTH DIRECTOR SAYS

OMAHA- Douglas County's health director said Friday that the Nebraska Attorney General's Office challenged her ability to implement a mask requirement in Omaha, so she is backing off her plan to do so.

Adi Pour said she will continue review data every day, "but for now, I have to trust everybody in this community to do the right thing moving ahead." Pour said last week that she thought it was time to require masks in indoor public spaces in Omaha.

"We need to get our cases under control if we want to get our schools open, Pour said at a press briefing with Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert last Thursday.

Stothert, who was at the Friday briefing where Pour announced the decision, said wearing a mask is very important and will control the spread of the coronavirus. But she said wearing a mask will be "a simple request we want to make to citizens of Omaha," not a requirement. Stothert said she had talked to the president of the Omaha City Council, Chris Jerram, about drafting a resolution that would let the council send a statement to the community strongly supporting the wearing of masks in public places. 

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SENATE FLOATS NEW FUNDING FOR TRIBES, DOE

Senate Republicans’ $306 billion coronavirus spending proposal includes emergency funding for American Indian tribes and the Energy Department. It would send $1.6 billion to tribes, which have been hard hit by the pandemic, and $307 million to DOE for an array of science efforts.

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