BEATRICE – For Nebraskans hoping for passage of a major tax relief plan or a new economic development incentives bill, the restart of this year’s legislative session could have gone better.


State Senator Myron Dorn, of Adams says LB 1106 doesn’t have the votes currently for final passage, and LB 720 likely doesn’t either.
"There's enough senators that want property tax done first, and I am one of them. I've told people from the economic incentive proposal that I will not vote for that until we develop something for property tax relief. Both bills, the way I understand it, are two, to five or six votes short...so neither one, by themselves, will proceed".


Without the necessary votes by the end of this week, Dorn said the discussion may focus on changes to both bills, or perhaps an effort to bring them back to the floor as part of a package. The 30th District lawmaker says the main concern of those questioning the property tax relief and school aid plan, is whether the money will really be there for education…and whether schools are hit with an inability to raise taxes.  Over two-thirds of students in Nebraska go to school districts that don't receive anything from a state aid averaging adjustment.


"Part of eleven-oh-six is that's going to go away. I do know that is a concern of the schools...and also, if you're not up to the dollar and a nickel, currently there's a fourteen cent levy building fund, that you can go in and collect additional amounts to use for buildings. If you are at the dollar and a nickel, you can't go above that. Beatrice, for instance, would very seldom get to use it because they're just always at a dollar and a nickel. Others, like Diller-Odell uses this quite a bit. Fairbury, they are using that right now. That is going to be lowered to six cents, from the fourteen cents. You can still go up to the fourteen cents, but it would take a vote of the people...not something the local school could do".


For districts that have had difficulty getting public approval on bond issues, the building fund has become an alternative in order to at least accomplish some projects.


This year, the Nebraska Advantage Act is set to expire…and its proposed replacement…the ImagiNE Nebraska Act….has gotten off to a rough start in the waning days of this year’s session.


Nebraska got a better-than-expected revenue forecast this week, such that there may be as much as $90 million in funding for various legislative proposals. Still, some are urging caution regarding any new spending.


"Nebraska's been very fortunate. Right now, we have the lowest unemployment rate, we have had sales tax collections that are pretty close to estimates. Outside of shifting the income tax from April to July this year, which moved it into another fiscal year, that was also pretty close to estimates."


Dorn said the state is definitely in a better condition than a lot of states that have had a lot of impact on their tourism or oil production.


"But, we also need to be very careful and very mindful of how we spend our future dollars...and I think Chairman (John) Stinner's probably right...that there is a greater probability that we will have decreased revenue in future years".


Bills with an appropriation attached to them, are likely to be debated in the next week, including the funding for the major initiatives that remain, this session.