Concealed Guns Without Permit to be Debated; Casino Bill Moves Ahead

Nebraskans would not have to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun, under a bill being considered in the Nebraska Legislature. And proposed casinos located in counties other than the ones that already have racetracks would have to wait up to several years for a market analysis to be completed.

Sen. Tom Brewer is the lead sponsor of the proposal to allow Nebraskans to carry concealed guns without the permit that’s currently required. His bill is currently stuck in the Judiciary Committee, without enough votes either to advance or kill it.

Tuesday’s debate centered, not on the merits of the proposal, but on Brewer’s attempt to pull the bill out of committee and place it before the full Legislature for debate. Brewer said his motion, which is allowed in the legislative rules, is justified in extraordinary circumstances:.

“The bill in question should be a senator’s priority bill – a priority bill. It should address a statewide issue, with a broad public support. And I think it should be deadlocked in committee, without the votes to kill it or advance it. LB773 (his bill) meets this criteria,” Brewer said.

Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Steve Lathrop argued against the move, on procedural grounds.

“There is a reason these things are deadlocked in committee. And there is a reason that we respect the committee process, because when these things are pulled, what’s the point of having a committee at that point, or a committee process?” Lathrop asked.

Sen. Megan Hunt also opposed the pull motion.

“I won’t speak to the merits of the bill, colleagues, because I don’t know the merits of the bill. I don’t have a committee statement. I don’t know what’s in a committee amendment here because we don’t have one. I don’t know what the committee would want because I haven’t heard from them as a whole,” Hunt said.

Sen. Curt Friesen supported the motion, saying it’s not unusual for bills to get stuck in committee.

“This is one of those issues, I guess, that rises to the level where the citizens want us to discuss this, talk about it on the floor and have a vote, because it is a constitutional right we’re talking about,” Friesen said.

After about an hour of debate, senators voted 30-12 in favor of the pull motion. The bill itself will now be debated Thursday.

Also Tuesday, the General Affairs Committee advanced a proposal to regulate casino development in the state. Two years ago, voters approved allowing casinos at the state’s horseracing tracks.

There are currently six tracks, in Lincoln, Omaha, Grand Island, Hastings, Columbus and South Sioux City. But there are also a slew of proposals for new tracks that could host casinos, including in Bellevue, York, Norfolk, North Platte, Ogallala, Gering and Kimball.

The bill advanced by the committee would allow casinos at existing tracks, or at new locations within the same counties, as has been proposed in Columbus and Hastings.

But any new tracks and casinos would have to wait for the completion of a casino and horseracing market analysis, which would have to be completed as soon as practicable, but no later than Jan. 1, 2025.

Earlier proposals would have limited the number of casinos in the state, or imposed minimum mileage distances between them. Committee Chair Sen. Tom Briese said this approach gives the Racing and Gaming Commission more authority over decision-making.

“They are the folks appointed to address and assess these issues. They are the folks that are the experts on these issues. It’s going to be up to them to assess what should happen here. And so we’re probably giving the Commission a little more authority than what some of the earlier proposals would have had,” Briese said.

And on another topic, Sen. Lathrop said a phone call from a constituent pointed to a need for more mental health treatment services.

Sen. Friesen said he agreed with Lathrop, citing a recent case from Hamilton County.

“There was a lady that was arrested. She was a frequent flyer. It was a mental health issue. And the sheriff knew her, knew that it was a mental health issue, but had nowheres to go but to put her in the county jail. During her time in that county jail, she attacked the sheriff and subsequently ended up at the women’s reformatory in York. It would have been a lot cheaper if we could have had a mental health facility to take that person to where they could have been treated properly,” he said.

Lathrop said the state’s regional centers for mental health treatment lack sufficient capacity.

“Our county jails and our Department of Corrections has become a de facto substitute for capacity in the regional centers. And it’s immoral,” he said.

Sen. Matt Hansen said regional centers in Lincoln and Norfolk have a combined capacity of about 300 people, while the state needs to be able to treat 750 to 1,000 people. More funds to increase capacity are not included in the state budget at this point.