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Lawmakers warned of tight schedule as budget shortfall and several bills advance
Summary
Legislative leaders say about 250 hours remain for debate before the April 29 deadline, and the Appropriations Committee projects a $289 million revenue shortfall. Multiple bills were advanced, including measures on lab-grown meat, feedlot fees, agency consolidation and LB 526 on crypto power costs.
Speaker John Arch warned that the legislature has limited time left to finish its work, saying, “as of March 31, approximately 250 hours remained available for debate.” The briefing noted lawmakers face a procedural deadline: the budget must be presented by April 29, the 70th day of the session.
The Appropriations Committee, which continues work on the state budget, projected a $289,000,000 revenue shortfall, the report said. The revenue committee has voted to advance several bills but must complete internal committee work before formally reporting them out for floor debate.
Several measures were listed as advancing from the first round of debate this week. The reporter noted a bill to ban the sale or distribution of cultivated protein products (commonly called lab-grown meat) and a proposal to cap brand inspection fees charged to certain feedlots. Other bills mentioned would limit annual increases in the state minimum wage and would merge the Department of Natural Resources with the Department of Environment and Energy.
Lawmakers also advanced LB 526 on select file, a bill that would allow public power districts to recover infrastructure upgrade costs needed to serve cryptocurrency mining operations; the briefing said an earlier proposal to add an excise tax on electricity was removed from that bill.
On the select-file agenda for the next floor session is LB 78, which would raise documentary stamp taxes by 7 cents per $1,000 of property value to fund housing for trafficking survivors and domestic violence victims; the report said the county share of the taxes would not change.
Floor debate is scheduled to shift to LB 3, a proposal to change Nebraska's allocation of presidential electoral votes to a winner-take-all system. Because the issue is highly contested and many senators have already said how they will vote, the legislature plans a cloture vote after four hours of debate rather than eight. If needed, the legislature said it would remain in session after 5 p.m. to take the cloture vote.
The briefing did not provide vote tallies or sponsor-level amendments for the listed bills. The Appropriations Committee's projected shortfall and the scheduling plan for LB 3 are the most immediate items the legislature will confront as the session moves toward the April 29 budget deadline.
