Day 10

Today marks the 10th legislative Day--that means two important things.  1) Only 50 more days to go and 2) Bill introduction is over!  Officially there are 445 legislative bills (LBs) introduced and 40 Legislative Resolutions (LRs).  Honorary resolutions will continue to be introduced throughout the session.

The last day of bill introduction is always a tense day, you never know what someone will put in at the last minute and there are always some great surprises.  Today was no exception.

Seventy-four bills were introduced today, some with proposals for dramatic changes in the way electric utilities do business.

One of the most troubling pieces of legislation introduced is LB 1068, Senator Ken Haar's bill to have the Public Service Commission review and approve electric utility rate increases. He states in the bill that there are instances in which the boards of public electric utilities have increased rates in spite of well-founded objections from their customer-owners.  I can say without hesitation, that the rural electric providers in Nebraska have taken their role of providing cost-based rates to their consumers very seriously and any assertion that we raise rates arbitrarily and without consideration of our consumers is absurd.  The more I get into the language of the bill, the more absurd his proposal seems to me. 

I'm going to take a deep breath, do a thoughtful analysis and provide you with a reasonable summary of this ridiculous proposal... If I tried to do that now, this blog would be more of a rant than anything else.

Hearings Begin

Public Hearings began on Monday, January 19.  This means the Legislature spends the morning debating carry-over legislation and then holds hearings on the new 2016 proposals in the afternoon.

The pace for the session this year is rapid.  Senators were allowed to begin designating their priority bills before bill introduction was even complete.  This was done to motivate senators to get their proposals in quickly to facilitate early action on bills that are of priority importance to individual members.  Previously, hearings were well underway before senators designated priorities.  Most want to know that their bill will advance from Committee before they commit to it as a priority, but that is changed this year.

Reducing Bureaucracy--A necessary improvement

On January 21, the Revenue Committee will hear testimony on LB 725, legislation introduced by Senator Schumacher from Columbus.  LB 725 will eliminate the requirement that electric utilities file a form 521 when they register easements.  The 521 form is meant to record property transfers. In the case of an easement there is no transfer of ownership and the current requirement is burdensome and unnecessary. We are grateful for the efforts of Senator Schumacher to eliminate this needless requirement.  Chet McWhorter, General Manager of Cuming County PPD will be providing testimony in support of the proposal at the hearing. You can live stream the hearing using a link on the front page of the Unicameral website. LB 725 is the fourth and final bill on the Revenue Committee agenda.

On January 21, the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee will listen to testimony on LB 876, legislation giving authorization for all public bodies to use electronic voting boards to record votes during public meetings. While this doesn't seem like something that needs Legislative authorization, there are current statutes that authorize a process for a limited number of public bodies. Without a change in statute it implies it is not legal for other public bodies, not listed, to use the electronic voting boards.  This legislation is just common sense adjustment to statutes.  While NREA does not have an official position on this bill, the Nebraska Power Association is submitting a letter of support for the change. The letter states that the proposal allows for greater transparency making the votes readily visible to the public in attendance.

Now that hearings have begun and bill introduction is over, my blog posts will likely become more frequent. There are a number of controversial issues impacting electric utilities and I want to provide current information. 

I strongly encourage you to use the Unicameral website as a resource this session.  You will be able to access the full text of legislative proposals, view agendas, transcripts, senator information and more.  I will include links in this blog that will take you to various documents.  As always you are encouraged to engage in the process. If you have questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact me.