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Updated: January 11, 2023 @ 11:41 am
Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil was elected chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee.
Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings was re-elected as chairman of the Legislature’s Agriculture Committtee.
Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil was elected chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee.
Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings was re-elected as chairman of the Legislature’s Agriculture Committtee.
Crime and courts reporter
Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil was elected chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee.
Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings was re-elected as chairman of the Legislature’s Agriculture Committtee.
Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil was elected chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee.
Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings was re-elected as chairman of the Legislature’s Agriculture Committtee.
As the Nebraska Legislature gathered to organize itself Jan. 4, lawmakers elected two area senators to lead the Education and Agriculture committees, respectively.
Twenty-six lawmakers were sworn into office Jan. 4, including nine re-elected senators, 16 newly elected senators and one newly appointed senator, according to the Nebraska Legislature website.
Lawmakers elected Sen. John Arch of La Vista as speaker of the Legislature and chose chairpersons for the Legislature’s 14 standing committees as the 108th Nebraska Legislature convened for its 90-day first session.
Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil unseated incumbent Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont to serve as Education Committee chairperson on a 32-17 vote.
Murman, who represents District 38, said his background on the Sandy Creek school board and having several family members in the education field qualify him to head the Education Committee.
He served on the committee for his previous four-year term.
“I feel privileged and honored to be elected to the Education Committee,” he said. “When I came into the Legislature, that was one of my top asks for committee assignments.”
Murman said the state needs to address the teacher shortage and look at ways to make it easier for teachers who are certified in other states to become educators in Nebraska.
He also said the state needs to more fully fund special education.
“We should provide equal opportunities to all students,” he said. “I think there will be several bills introduced on this and similar topics.”
As chair of the Education Committee, Murman said, his top priorities are encouraging Christian family values at the state level and revamping state funding for the education formula outlined in the Nebraska Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act.
He said just about 35.5% of all Nebraska schools currently receive state aid and equalization funding.
The current formula puts an undue burden on landowners to fund education through property taxes, Murman said.
“I hope to completely revamp the TEEOSA formula,” he said. “I plan to work with Gov. (Jim) Pillen to study education funding.”
Restructuring education funding would go along with another legislative priority of Murman’s — lowering property taxes.
With the new assignment, Murman also moved from the Health and Human Services Committee to the Revenue Committee as has been customary for the Education Committee chairperson.
In the revenue position, he believes he can help to reduce property taxes.
“We’ve done some good things in past to reduce property taxes, but I want to continue to do that,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done there yet.”
Taxes also are a priority issue for Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings, who represents District 33.
Instead of only looking at property tax relief, he said, the Legislature should focus on overall tax reform.
He is a proponent of changing to a consumption tax model, which would replace property, income and inheritance taxes, as well as the current sales tax model.
“I think it’s the answer in making Nebraska competitive with its tax structure,” Halloran said.
The current proposal would not tax groceries, with the aim being to curb the effect on underprivileged families.
Halloran said the consumption tax would be slightly less than 8%, but opponents say a higher percentage would be needed to replace current tax revenue.
Halloran was one of four committee chairpersons to be re-elected in uncontested races. He was chosen to lead the Agriculture Committee again.
Halloran has served as chair of that committee for four years and decided he would like to continue if elected again.
He said there aren’t many bills generally discussed in the committee.
“Farmers and ranchers are boldly independent, and that’s a good thing,” he said. “They like to deal with issues outside of government intervention.”
The session is scheduled to last 90 legislative days, during which lawmakers will craft a two-year state budget. Senators may introduce bills for the first 10 legislative days, ending Jan. 18.
During that time, Halloran said, lawmakers likely will address several issues, such as drafting rules for the voter identification law approved in the November 2022 general election.
Halloran expects the Legislature also will address the abortion issue in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
He was disappointed then-Gov. Pete Ricketts didn’t call a special session to deal with the issue last year because it would have allowed lawmakers to focus on the issue.
“It would have been a single-subject issue,” he said. “We wouldn’t have been distracted with other bills and issues that we will have to deal with in general assembly. This will take some floor debate.”
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