LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen pushed back Thursday against recent legislative criticism of his approach and process for pursuing his favored property tax relief proposals. 

In a statement, the governor thanked state senators he said have worked hard to find ways to deliver the “transformative property tax relief” he and others have sought. 

He applauded them for resisting pressure from groups protecting sales tax exemptions on various items from the proposals he supports.

“These senators, who represent all political stripes and all corners of our state, are doing right by their constituents by engaging in tough negotiations, good faith exchanges of ideas, and collaboration with their colleagues to forge a compromise that will work for Nebraska,” Pillen said. 

Calls tactics obstructionist

He criticized “a small minority” of senators who called him out Wednesday on the floor of the Legislature. It’s a group likely to filibuster the Pillen-favored bill, which most vote-counters say is still short of the needed 33 votes.

Pillen said those senators should “end their obstructionist rhetoric, stop their time-wasting tactics, and engage with their colleagues to craft a bipartisan consensus solution.”

Pillen said Nebraskans who want property tax relief are “watching carefully” and will hold senators accountable, hinting that those who fail to act will pay at the ballot box. 

He also condemned “baseless personal attacks” alleging that he and his hog operation based in Columbus would benefit significantly from the tax relief he supports.

He repeated his stance that Nebraskans want a broader sales tax base, a cap on government spending and lower property taxes. He acknowledged that the plan continues to change.

“I know that any plan passed by the Legislature will be a hard-fought compromise and that it will not include every provision I believe in and am fighting for…,” Pillen said. “Doing nothing is not an acceptable option for Nebraskans.”

Some senators disagree with his funding sources

State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln and several others vented their frustrations Wednesday about the ways Pillen and others in his camp had handled the special session and his favored proposals.

Anger at Gov. Jim Pillen’s property-tax push spills into legislative debate

After the governor’s statement Thursday, she said she welcomed his right of free speech and said she would not be “bullied or silenced in my good faith efforts to represent my district.”

She and others who criticized Pillen for including only certain senators in early planning for tax proposals said they cannot justify raising sales taxes on everyday items that people need.

Conrad and George Dungan of Lincoln; Megan Hunt, John Cavanaugh, Jen Day and Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha; and Carol Blood of Bellevue questioned the governor’s approach from the floor.

Conrad said she would keep fighting against Pillen’s “misguided tax plan that would hurt working families, seniors, local businesses and our schools to benefit large wealthy landowners.”

She said average Nebraskans should not pay more. And she pushed to include other revenue options, such as gambling and legalizing marijuana, in any package to offset costs.

“I have enjoyed working with the governor on many issues,” Conrad said. “We simply have a principled disagreement about how to pay for our mutual goal of property tax relief.” 

Hunt shared Pillen’s statement in a tweet Thursday and wrote, “Governor Pillen is calling upon all of us to stop being mean.” State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar called him “King Jimmy.”

“King Jimmy is very angry senators are fighting his scheme to raise taxes on working Nebraskans. We should be expanding homestead exemptions, freezing valuations and capping spending, but those ideas are being ignored,” she tweeted. 

“Pillen doesn’t profit enough from those,” Slama tweeted.

Linehan says property tax ‘war’ is not easily won

One of the lawmakers working closest with the governor, State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha, echoed his defenders on the legislative floor on Wednesday.

She credited Pillen for being “willing to put everything on the table and take every political hit there is out there.” She pointed to “a bunch of senators” saying he’s the problem.

Linehan’s Revenue Committee postponed a couple of attempts at holding an executive session Thursday to vote out the committee’s new version of Legislative Bill 9, the latest vehicle for its tax proposals.

The eight-member committee was supposed to meet Thursday morning and early afternoon to vote out an amended LB 9, but significant technical changes needed to be made to a draft amendment. 

That included clarifying how the state would capture the local slice of sales taxes from new items covered by the state sales tax and specifying how the state would revamp school funding.

Linehan’s group was waiting on fixes that several senators on her committee and beyond have sought from a draft amendment Wednesday evening. In total, more than 120 motions and 80 floor amendments have already been filed that will likely prevent changes on the floor.

Linehan said she understands “raw politics” and the fight ahead. She said her side needs to know that “battle is just battle” and that they have “to win the war.”

“That’s why it’s got to be perfect,” Linehan said of the bill’s language. “We won’t even get to an amendment that changes a comma that’s in the wrong place.”