Nebraska
Nebraska governor issues a proclamation for a special session to address property taxes
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen issued a long-awaited proclamation on Wednesday calling a special legislative session to address the state’s soaring property taxes, ruffling some lawmakers’ feathers by giving them just a day’s notice.
Pillen warned lawmakers on the last day of the regular legislative session in April that he would convene a special session sometime in the summer after lawmakers failed to pass a bill to significantly lower property taxes. Last month, he sent a letter to Speaker of the Legislature John Arch saying he planned to call lawmakers back on July 25.
Property taxes have skyrocketed across the country as U.S. home prices have jumped more than 50% in the past five years, leading a bevy of states to pass or propose measures to rein them in. Nebraska has seen revenue from property taxes rise by nearly $2 billion over the past decade, far outpacing the amount in revenue collected from income and sales taxes.
Pillen’s proclamation calls for slew of appropriations and tax changes, including subjecting everything from cigarettes, candy, soda, hemp products and gambling to new taxes. It also calls for a hard cap on what cities and other local governments can collect in property taxes.
Just as significant is what’s not included in the proclamation: Pillen didn’t direct lawmakers to consider a winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes ahead of this year’s hotly-contested presidential election.
Nebraska and Maine are the only states that split their electoral votes. In Nebraska, the three electoral votes tied to the state’s three congressional districts go to whichever candidate wins the popular vote in that district. Republicans who dominate state government in the conservative state have long sought to join the 48 other states that award all of their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins statewide, but have been unable to get such a bill passed in the Legislature.
Pillen said this year that he would include a winner-take-all proposal in a special session proclamation if the measure had the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. He could still call another special session to consider a winner-take-all proposal if he thinks it has enough support to pass.
Pillen’s 11th-hour call for a special session to deal with property taxes drew testy responses from some lawmakers, who have to interrupt summer plans, find day care for children and put their full-time jobs on hold to head back to the Capitol. Even some of Pillen’s fellow Republicans joined in the criticism.
State Sen. Julie Slama, a Republican in the single-chamber, officially nonpartisan Legislature, slammed Pillen in a social media post as “an entitled millionaire.” She also dismissed his plan to shift a proposed 50% decrease in property taxes to a wide-ranging expansion of goods and services subject to the state’s 5.5% sales tax.
Pillen “thinks the Legislature will pass the largest tax increase on working Nebraskans in state history because he snapped his fingers and ordered us to dance,” Slama posted on X.
State Sen. Justin Wayne, a Democrat from Omaha, called on fellow lawmakers to immediately adjourn the session Thursday and demand a week’s notice from Pillen before reconvening. Barring that, the Legislature should at least recess on Thursday until Aug. 1, Wayne said in a Tuesday letter to his fellow 48 senators.
Under Nebraska rules, governors can call a special session but must issue a proclamation that outlines specifically what issues the Legislature will address during it. There is no deadline by which governors must issue a proclamation before calling lawmakers back for a special session, but legislators have typically gotten that call a week or more ahead of time.
Wayne called the lack of a proclamation from Pillen with only hours before the planned special session “blatant disrespect.”
“We are not his slaves to be summoned at his whim,” Wayne said. “We have families and lives, and this lack of consideration is unacceptable.
“It is time we assert our independence and demand the respect we deserve.”
Pillen’s office did not answer questions about why he waited until the day before the special session to issue the proclamation calling it.
Nebraska’s last special session took place in September 2021, when lawmakers convened to redraw the state’s political boundaries. That session lasted 13 days. Pillen has said he’ll call as many special sessions as needed and keep lawmakers in Lincoln “until Christmas” until a significant property tax relief bill is passed.
LINCOLN, Neb — Gov. Jim Pillen has appointed Antonio Gomez of Jackson to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, adding a longtime Siouxland business leader and public servant to the panel.
Commission members serve four-year terms and are subject to approval by the Nebraska Legislature.
Gomez launched Gomez Pallets in South Sioux City in 1983. He has since retired from daily operations, but last year the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce recognized him with the W. Edwards Deming Business Leadership and Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.
Gomez previously served on the Nebraska Commission on Latino Americans from 1981 to 2002. He also served as a Dakota County commissioner for 12 years and was on the Foundation Board for Northeast Community College.
Gomez’s appointment is effective April 1.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers will face the Iowa Hawkeyes on Thursday in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. This is the Huskers’ first Sweet 16 in program history, while Iowa is playing in its first Sweet 16 since 1999.
Nebraska defeated Vanderbilt 74-72 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa advanced after beating the defending national champion, the Florida Gators, 73-72.
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CBS Sports reporter Isaac Trotter broke down Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup. Trotter started by looking at the two previous matchups in this series.
These teams have played twice. Iowa won at home in a 57-52 rockfight. Nebraska returned the favor by winning at home, 84-75 in overtime, in another to-the-death brawl.
It’s no secret that Nebraska’s defense caused significant problems for the Iowa offense in the second game, and if the Hawkeyes are going to win the rubber match, Trotter believes that turnovers will be the key.
There are no secrets in the rubber match. Nebraska’s no-middle defense has given Iowa real problems both times. The Hawkeyes turned it over 20% of the time in Game 1 and 26% of the time in Game 2. That can’t happen in the third encounter.
CBS Sports believes that Iowa has the best player on the floor in Bennett Stirtz, but Trotter also believes that Nebraska’s defense is just too much in the end for Iowa.
Iowa has the best player on the floor, Bennett Stirtz, and can hurt Nebraska on the glass, but the Huskers get the nod because of this pick-and-roll defense. You have to be able to guard ball screens effectively to shut down Iowa, and Nebraska has been an elite pick-and-roll defense, rating in the 99th percentile nationally, per Synergy.
In the end, Trotter selected Nebraska as his pick. Should the Huskers advance to the Elite Eight, Nebraska would play the winner of the Illinois-Houston game. Nebraska-Iowa play in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. CT on TBS.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: CBS Sports predicts Nebraska-Iowa basketball in the Sweet 16
We need to do our homework on Nebraska canal plan
Re: “Colorado’s water war with Nebraska comes to a head,” Sept. 21 news story
Farming in northeastern Colorado has never been easy, and it is getting harder. Markets are tough, input costs are up, and young people are leaving. What keeps communities in Northeastern Colorado going is agriculture, the water, the ground, and the community that ties everything together. The proposed Perkins County Canal — to carry South Platte River water into Nebraska — threatens all of it.
When you take water off farmland, the damage does not stop in crop yields. Equipment dealers, elevators, local banks, and businesses all feel it. Schools and roads will suffer. We have seen what happens to towns that lose their agricultural base, and we cannot let that happen again without a real fight.
That fight needs to be a regional one. I am asking communities across northeastern Colorado to come together and hire an independent economic consultant to assess the true local impact of this project (acres affected, jobs at risk, income lost, tax base eroded).
The Corps of Engineers will do its own analysis, but we need our own numbers. If their conclusions do not match what our communities are actually facing, we need the documentation to say so and demand they take another look.
Rural communities have always figured out how to help each other when it counts. This is one of those times. I urge local officials, water boards, farm bureaus, and civic leaders to set aside any differences and work together on this. The permit process will not wait, and neither can we.
Kimberly L. Kinnison, Ovid
Don’t let our children be ‘policy pawns’
Re: “District accused of violating Title IX,” March 14 news story
The Trump administration seems intent on the persecution of transgender children, excluding them from bathrooms, sports and school activities. Refusing to allow transgender children to participate in school in a manner consistent with their gender identity promotes the exclusion of particularly vulnerable children.
Participation in sports, access to bathrooms in which they feel comfortable, and full inclusion are critical components of healthy development for all children.
Some children are taller, faster, or stronger, have been training with private coaches or attending schools with better facilities, but the requirement of biological uniformity applies only to transgender children.
Exclusion harms children. Is this in dispute? Our children are not political pawns.
Jane Cates, Jefferson County
Don’t forget the Denver Chamber Music Festival
Re: “Classical blast,” March 15 feature story
Thanks to Ray Rinaldi for a terrific article about classical music festivals in the mountains this summer. I’d like to add one, and it’s right here in town: the Denver Chamber Music Festival from June 5 to June 13. World-class musicians, including the amazing classical/bluegrass violinist Tessa Lark, our first composer in residence, and local favorites Stephanie Cheng and Margaret Dyer Harris, and the members of the Colorado Cello Quartet.
All performances are at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts; tickets available at denverchambermusicfestival.org. Avoid Interstate 70 and enjoy phenomenal music in Denver!
Alix Corboy, Denver
Editor’s note: Corboy is executive director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival
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