Mike Jacobson: A strong start to the 108th Legislature

The second session of the 108th Legislature began last Wednesday. The first three days of the 60-day session are in the books. Our first order of business was to elect Sen. Ray Aguilar to serve as chair of the Executive Board following Tom Briese's resignation to take the post of our State Treasurer.

Sen. John Lowe was elected to replace Sen. Aguilar as vice chair, and I was honored to be selected by my caucus to serve as the additional 3rd Congressional District representative.

As promised, I also named LB 31 (two-person crew) as my personal priority bill on day one. In fact, it was the first priority designation to be read into the record this session.

Although the session will go fast, I am very focused on getting my proposed legislation across the finish line this year.

I have introduced seven new bills so far, and intend to introduce a few more bills before the end of bill introduction on Jan. 17.

I spent much of the interim working on new and pending legislation so that I could get to the bill drafters early. As you may have guessed, the bill drafters are very busy now and it is likely any new ideas may not get drafted into legislation before the deadline to file passes.

I continue to get ideas sent to me by constituents and, although it may be too late to draft a new bill, there may be opportunities to amend other bills to include issues raised depending upon the subject matter. So please continue to keep me informed about your concerns, but understand that getting an additional standalone bill introduced this year is unlikely.

In addition to passing LB 31, I will focus on getting LB 32, the Medigap bill, passed. After several meetings with the health insurance industry and the supporters of the bill, I have drafted an amendment that I believe is the best compromise to ensure that the bill can pass while keeping Medicare supplement premiums affordable for those already enrolled in these plans.

There will certainly be those who disagree with the compromise, but I believe that several hundred Nebraskans will now have coverage that will likely keep many of them out of bankruptcy and allow them to have the care they need. This is one of the best parts of serving as your state senator.

The other major bill I introduced this session is LB 853, which affects the homestead exemption. After meeting with Lincoln County Assessor Julie Stenger this summer, I decided to make this legislation a priority to help both our elderly and our veterans stay in their homes.

Julie, like many county assessors across Nebraska, take their jobs seriously and in some cases find existing rules inconsistent with the objectives of the law.

Julie shared with me an anonymous situation where a widow living in a modest home on Lake Maloney has lost her homestead exemption because the value of the land has risen so much over the past two years (due to market demand for lake lots) that she no longer meets the home value limitation.

Meanwhile, she lives on social security, and her home is valued well under $100,000 when the lot is not included. I also have heard of far too many veterans who are less than 100% disabled and unable to qualify for this exemption.

After working with the governor's property tax working group this past summer, I have concluded that a change needs to be made in this exemption to better carry out the original intent of the law.

Today, you can qualify for a homestead exemption if you are over the age of 65, fall below a certain income level and have a home that does not exceed a certain maximum value.

You also qualify if you are a veteran who is 100% disabled. LB 853 raised the maximum income level and the maximum home value for those over the age of 65. It also makes provisions for veterans who are disabled at something less than 100%.

The bill, if adopted would allow veterans to qualify for a homestead exemption equal to their percentage of disability (i.e., a 50% disabled veteran would have their property taxes cut in half). It is important to keep in mind that a homestead exemption allows for a qualified homeowner to avoid paying local property taxes, but the local political subdivisions are fully reimbursed by the State. Therefore, other property taxpayers are unaffected.

Although property taxes are only assessed by local political subdivisions, the state can play a role in reducing the net cost of your taxes in four ways.

First, the state can provide direct credits to each taxpayer through a property tax credit, allow for a homestead exemption, increase funding to local public schools to offset their property tax ask or cap the amount a political subdivision can tax.

At this point in time, the state is using each of these methods to help reduce local property taxes. I can assure you that the governor and the legislature is working to adjust each of these methods to find the right balance to reduce the property tax burden. I will discuss this further in future articles.

I look forward to continuing to hear from you regarding issues that are important to you. It is a privilege to serve as your state senator and I will continue to give my full effort to make a positive difference for the district and the state. You can reach me at [email protected] or by calling my legislative office at 402-471-2729.