Mar 18

Written by: ngreditor
3/18/2008 8:36 PM 

Speaker of Legislature discusses roads, money, schools over breakfast

By Kenneth Purscell

Senator Flood with Mike Nelson, Gary Duhachek and Ray Herbert.

Road funding, spending reatraint and the State Fair were among the major topics at State Senator Mike Flood’s Legislative Breakfast at the City Café, Saturday, March 8.

Nearly thirty residents were on hand to hear Sen. Flood, District 19 Senator and the Speaker of the Legislature, comment on important decisions facing the 2008 session and to ask questions on a host of other topics.

After complimenting the community for always having a large turnout for his visits, the senator raised fi ve subjects that will require major decisions.

Mark Seier one on one with Senator Flood. Harvey Young standing tall in the background.

Road funding: Forecasts show a shortfall of $90-110 million from Federal sources at the same time that infrastructure maintenance and upgrade needs are rising. The Nebraska gasoline tax, currently 23 cents per gallon, is a user tax; when prices go up and consumption falls, the revenues also fall. “There are projections that by 2017 we will only have enough money to maintain our road system, with no new roads or upgrades,” said Flood. “There just is not a bright outlook for roads funding.”

Options include toll roads or bonding, although there are problems with both. A bill coming before the Legislature would remodel the gas tax, with a 5% excise on wholesale petroleum and a variable tax at the retail level. “But with gas prices heading up from $3.00, I know how hard it is to talk about remodeling the gas tax.” Still, Sen. Flood said, “If we don’t make some commitment, we won’t have any infrastructure.”

Restraint on spending: “We currently have about $542 million in reserves, but we’re going to need every dollar of it,” the senator said. Current projections show that revenue is expected to decrease by $68 million in 2009, $75 million in 2010, and possibly to $300 million or more further out.

Immigration: The Federal level has failed to articulate a coherent policy, according to Sen. Flood. This means that states have had to step in and establish their own temporary and local policies on what is by the Constitution a federal matter. A bold move, said the Senator, would hold employers responsible for verifying citizenship of their employees and would build prisoners to handle illegal immigrants. “That would be a $130 million solution,” he said. A bill is coming up that would deny economic development incentives to employers hiring illegal aliens, and Sen. Flood did endorse the bill.

State Fair: UNL desires the current Fair site for an innovation and research center, and companies would be expected to find sites near such a center. The Fair itself wants $45 for a proposed move to a Grand Island site. The Legislature is trying to fi gure out the next step. “I would expect some money to come from UNL if they want the land, and from Lincoln businesses” said the senator, “and some from Grand Island, too, if they want the site.” He endorsed the idea of the Fair move: “I think it’s appropriate to help a town outside of Lincoln to get a leg up.”

Stem cell research: A bill is moving quickly through the Legislature, representing a compromise. LB606 would ban “clone and kill” and would follow the Presidential executive order limiting research to current cell lines, but would allow the University to do research in this area. “The Legislature is working hard to find common ground while supporting ethical concerns,” said Sen. Flood.

School finance: The current funding formula rewards districts that are growing and without a tax base but punishes declining districts with high land values, the senator explained. There are several efforts to change the formula and provide help for rural districts, but “the proof is in the pudding.” Rural schools aren’t the only ones that get hurt. “Norfolk lost $2 million in state aid when Tyson closed,” he said, “but they still had to have fourth grade.”

A question was raised from the crowd about economic development aid. Newman Grove is currently disqualified from rural tier development grants because the town is part of the larger Madison County population. LB895 would address that and allow rural tier grants; if approved, this could start by July, 2009.

LB1174, Sen. “Cap” Dierks’ effort to re-introduce the language of the now-unconstitutional Initiative 300 into state law, was questioned. Sen. Flood was hesitant to commit on the attempt. “We spent a lot of money on lawyers defending an amendment that was slapped down pretty easily by the courts,” he said. Nevertheless, he wished to know how constituents felt about the bill, which would limit farm operations by corporations.

Questioned about the death penalty, Sen. Flood offered that he is in support of the penalty. However, with the Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that the electric chair is unconstitutional, and with the federal Supreme Court considering the constitutionality of lethal injection, the present moment might not be the best time to consider an alternative method of execution. “If the Supreme Court rules lethal injection constitutional, then we should consider a special session of the Legislature,” Sen. Flood said.

Jeff Gerhart with Louis Pofahl from Norfolk.

Other topics discussed included gasoline prices, the Open Meeting Law, statewide educational testing standards, and the Republican Valley water rights dispute with Kansas.

Attending with Sen. Flood was Louis Pofahl, District Representative for Congressman Fortenberry.

Sen. Mike Flood closed by asking anyone with further questions or opinions to call him at (402) 471-2929, or to email him at mflood@leg. ne.gov. Mail can be sent to him at Room 2103, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509.