Nebraska
Nebraska governor pushes for property tax reform
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen called a special legislative session, starting on July 25, to try to win lawmakers’ support for his property tax reform plan.
The plan involves funding Nebraska’s K-12 schools through sales taxes — eliminating certain sales tax exemptions and raising taxes on advertising, cigarettes, vaping products and alcohol — rather than through property taxes, according to comments by Pillen in his monthly radio call-in show, the
Pillen’s property tax reform push bears some similarities to
Governor.nebraska.gov
A spokesperson for Pillen did not respond to requests for comment. The sponsor of LB388, state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, did not respond to a request for comment.
It would also exclude from its definition of “school district taxes” any property taxes levied for bonds.
For cities and counties, bonds were outside of the cap that was negotiated, according to Lynn Rex, executive director of the League of Nebraska Municipalities.
Still, the legislation, which included the Property Tax Growth Limitation Act, the Property Tax Relief Act and the Advertising Services Tax Act, drew an onslaught of lobbying by a wide range of groups.
LB388 would have levied a 20% tax on vaping products, a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes and a 25% tax on CBD and hemp products. It would levy a 7.5% tax on firms doing business in Nebraska whose combined gross advertising revenue exceeds $1 billion. It also would tax lottery tickets, storage services, dry cleaning and veterinary services for household pets.
According to
Lobbying against it were the Nebraska Vape Vendors Association; the Cannabis Factory; Phillip Morris; Meta; Google; TechNet, a trade group representing technology CEOs and senior executives; Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group linked to the Koch brothers; the Association of National Advertisers; Walmart; and the Lincoln and Greater Omaha chambers of commerce.
Also opposed was the Nebraska State Education Association, a public school teachers’ union, which did not respond to a request for comment.
“There was an incredibly misleading campaign at the last minute against LB388 from the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association,” said Rex. “They led the effort against it … Senator after senator was getting pummeled with emails. They said, ‘This is going to tax food.’ … It would have added a sales tax on pop and candy. I don’t know of anything more flagrant in terms of an effort of misrepresentation against a bill.”
Ansley Fellers, executive director of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, said the group’s main concerns were the “increased cost of doing business” and that the bill was not a net tax reduction.
“One, soda and candy are food, they’re edible products,” she said. “[The bill] will hit lower-income individuals hardest. It’s also hard to justify taxing any food product right now given the kind of inflation we’re seeing.”
Fellers added, the way the bill was written would have taxed granola bars but not licorice, kettle corn but not Kit Kats.
“The governor has said that he’s looking more at the state taking over funding for public schools,” she said. “That’s an expensive proposition. … That would be a several-billion-dollar shift [onto sales taxes].”
According to Rex, exemptions added over recent decades have chipped away at sales tax revenues and property tax revenues in Nebraska. All were “legitimate exemptions at the time for Nebraskans to compete with other states,” she said, but there was a problem: other states’ legislatures then put together reimbursements for local governments through state aid programs as they narrowed the tax base through exemptions. In Nebraska, it all got shifted over to property taxes.
In March 2011, “they got rid of the one and only reimbursement to municipalities” in Nebraska, Rex said. She added, Nebraska voters have been confused by rhetoric about rising valuations. The problem, she said, isn’t increased valuations — “that’s the basis on which we get loans,” she noted — but consistently rising property taxes.
From fiscal 2022 to 2023, the total valuation in Nebraska increased by 11.44%, and the taxes levied during that period rose by 5.7%.
“It is critically important that the state legislature … try to address the incremental shifts over to property taxpayers that have happened over the last four decades,” Rex said. “It’s so important to make sure that local governments have the revenue that they need to do their jobs. … Just because your valuation goes up, doesn’t mean your taxes have to go up.”
The governor and his team are working with state senators to come up with a package that can pass the legislature during the special session, she said.
LB388 would have changed the current lid on restricted funds for municipalities and counties to 3% or the change in the consumer price index, whichever is greater: “That is a lid on basically all sources of revenue for municipalities and other political subdivisions except schools,” Rex said.
The schools are not under the current 2.5% lid on restricted funds. They have always had a different lid.
“Municipalities, counties, everybody else — we’re just hanging in the wind,” Rex said.
Grand Island, Neb. (KSNB) – The Nebraska Siege are back at home for the first time in three weeks when they play the St. Joseph Goats Saturday night at the BigIron Events Center.
The last time the two teams played was in St. Joe, where the Siege beat the Goats 56 to 47.
The Saturday night matchup marks the final regular season, home game for the Siege. But with a win, the Siege can clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Throwoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Saturday night.
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Nebraska
Nebraska DHHS evaluating USDA guidelines that could limit food access for undocumented immigrants
LINCOLN, Neb. — New requirements for the Emergency Food Assistance Program could mean some people lose access to food they previously received, and organizations like the Food Bank of Lincoln are warning the community about the looming change.
It has been five months since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) directed state agencies to review options to ensure undocumented immigrants do not receive taxpayer-funded benefits like food from the program. Nebraska DHHS manages the program in the state, and food banks distribute the food. DHHS confirms it is currently evaluating potential implementation of the request.
Says in a statement provided to 10/11,
The Food Bank of Lincoln says 10 percent of the food it distributes is provided by the USDA through the program, and the new rule would add another barrier to food access.
“We believe that all people should have access to food. Always. End of story for us. And so for us, it’s counter to our mission to think about turning away a child or a senior or a family because of their legal status and not providing them food,” said Tiffany Murray, chief operating officer of the Food Bank of Lincoln.
Currently, people receiving food provided by the USDA submit their income and household size, but their full name is not required on the form. The Food Bank said, under the new rules, a full name must be printed and signed, which may make some people hesitant to participate.
The Food Bank of Lincoln said during the last fiscal year they distributed
10/11 reached out to DHHS about when the changes would be implemented and had not received a response detailing the timeline as of Friday.
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Stephen C. Mason, 76, professor emeritus of agronomy and horticulture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, died June 15 in Lincoln from complications of pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease.
Mason retired Sept. 5, 2017, after 33 years of teaching and research in crop production and management in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. Admired by his students and respected by colleagues, Mason was a passionate teacher, adviser, mentor and researcher who generously shared his time and expertise.
“Dr. Mason was widely recognized as one of the most dedicated and impactful teaching faculty members in our department,” said Martha Mamo, department head of agronomy and horticulture. “He had a deep commitment to agronomy education and made lasting contributions through his teaching, mentorship and service.”
The oldest of five children, Mason was born Aug. 24, 1949, in Chillicothe, Missouri, to Frank and Martha (Deaton) Mason. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from the University of Missouri in 1971 and a master’s degree and doctorate in agronomy from Purdue University in 1976 and 1983, respectively.
He met his wife, Nora D’Croz, while they were both studying for their master’s at Purdue. They married in Colombia in 1979 and moved to Lincoln in 1984.
He began his career at Nebraska as an assistant professor in crop production and management with a 75% teaching and 25% research appointment. He moved to a 50/50 appointment in the early 1990s and was promoted to full professor in 1994.
Mason instructed all undergraduate grain-crop production courses at the university, co-taught several other courses and co-led College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources education study tours to Argentina with his wife, Nora D’Croz, an adjunct assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture.
He greatly enjoyed teaching and working with graduate students. Working with the international sorghum and millet program gave him the opportunity to conduct research mutually beneficial to developing countries and Nebraska, mentor graduate students and work with them after they returned to their home countries — many of whom made meaningful contributions to academia, research and agricultural development.
He was the principal investigator for the INTSORMIL Collaborative Research Support Program from 1986 to 2007 and regional coordinator for INTSORMIL Central America Program for seven years. He led a McKnight Foundation-funded soil and water management research project in Burkina Faso from 2010 to 2015. He also served as the IANR point person for collaboration with the University of Zagreb in Croatia for numerous years.
Mason’s research at Nebraska focused on production practices and environmental effects on grain quality of maize and grain sorghum, dryland production practices for maize and grain sorghum including plant population and planting date, yield component analysis, grain sorghum/soybean rotation, production practices for pearl millet as an alternate grain crop as well as international research in Africa and Latin America.
Mason received numerous honors and awards. He was named a Fellow of the National American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture in 1990, American Society of Agronomy in 1998 and Crop Science Society of America in 2006. He was honored with CASNR and university undergraduate teaching and advising awards, the Nelson Outstanding Graduate Student Advising Award and outstanding teaching awards from ASA and CSSA. He also authored or co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed journal publications, four book chapters and one book.
“His work significantly advanced the mission of the department, the university and Nebraska agriculture,” Mamo said. “Many of us had the privilege of working alongside Dr. Mason and benefited from his collegiality, wisdom and unwavering commitment to student success and agricultural education.”
Having played basketball in high school, Mason continued pickup games with fellow university professors until his shoulders no longer allowed it. A devoted Husker volleyball fan, he attended nearly every home match beginning in the mid-1990s and greatly enjoyed traveling, especially with his family.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Linda Dale. He is survived by his wife, Nora; his son and daughter-in-law, Daniel Mason-D’Croz and Ximena Alvis Gonzales; his son and daughter-in-law, Michael Mason-D’Croz and Lisa Mason-D’Croz; his granddaughters, Gabriela and Camila Mason-D’Croz; his brothers, Mark and Larry Mason; and his sister, Ann Bach.
A celebration of life will be 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 24 in the Nebraska East Union’s Arbor Suite.
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