Proposal to cut down on health reports draws opposition

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

17 de Marzo de 2025 a las 17:00 ·

Nebraska Capitol (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

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Nebraska state senators Monday delayed further debate on a proposal that could increase their pay, and got hung up on a bill (LB376) to discontinue a series of reports on subjects ranging from cancer to lead poisoning. And a proposal to end tenure in higher education ran into opposition in a committee hearing.

The Legislature had been scheduled to continue debating a proposed constitutional amendment Monday to create an independent commission to recommend changes in their pay. But Sen. Ben Hansen, sponsor of the proposal, asked for it to be delayed.

“I’d like to make sure that we can get some good bills in the floor that deal with property tax relief, property tax reform, get the budget going, get the people's work done before we start bringing up other issues that have to do with senator pay or term limits. So it's not dead by any means. (I) just want to kind of bring it up later to get the people's work done first,” he said.

Senators then proceeded to debate a proposal by Sen. Brian Hardin, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, to eliminate a series of reports on subjects ranging from cancer to lead poisoning.

Hardin said the idea is to cut down on unnecessary work.

“Indeed, many of these reports services and programs are outdated and need to be changed or removed," he said. "As a legislator, I value the importance of data and solid information in making policy decisions. Reports serve as an important tool of legislative oversight. However, when reports are layered over each other, year after year, their importance is diminished."

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said the bill should be sent back to the committee. She said it covers so many different subject areas that it should have been broken up and subject to more than one public hearing.

“This is not how the sausage gets made. This is burying things on top of things, on top of things. Even if every single thing in this bill I agreed with, even if I thought it all was sound public policy, this is still egregious and offensive. This this is not how we legislate,” she said.

Sen. Jane Raybould objected in particular to the discontinuance of reporting on the number of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood.

“Why, in section 38, would we eliminate (a) report relating to the number of children for elevated blood lead levels? That is bonkers! If we're not going to report on it, how can we manage the issue throughout our state of Nebraska, with aging water infrastructure, including lead pipes?” she asked.

Raybould said the lack of information could cost the state federal money to replace lead pipes through money contained in the infrastructure bill.

Hardin said the same information would still be collected and available if legislators requested it, and the bill would simply cut down on effort wasted in compiling reports.

“Many of these reports that have been eliminated have not been accessed a single time, and we know that digitally…These reports do not write themselves, real human beings who use toothpaste and deodorant and hours have to put these reports together, and that does take money and time,” he said.

The Legislature adjourned for the day before reaching a vote on the bill.

Also Monday, the Education Committee heard a proposal by Sen. Loren Lippincott to ban tenure for future professors at the university and state colleges.

Lippincott said tenure makes it too difficult to fire professors who may not be performing well, and that several states around the country were considering similar limitation.

Sen. Danielle Conrad said a 1977 Nebraska Supreme Court decision, Exon v. Board of Regents, determined the Legislature can appropriate money to the university, but can’t determine its policies.

“Is it your contention that this measure that you've brought forward is in conformance with Exon or is prohibited by Exon?” she asked.

“It’s in conformance with it,” Lippincott replied.

“How so?” Conrad asked.

“There's a movement nationwide in all these other states. Yes,” Lippincott said.

“That's not responsive to the question,” Conrad said.

“Okay, we'll get back to you on that,” Lippincott answered.

NU President Jeffrey Gold led off a long list of testifiers opposing the bill. Gold said it would make Nebraska the only university in the Big 10 without tenure, and would make it more difficult for the university to compete for top talent.

Lippincott also proposed a bill to prohibit the university from having any offices to promote diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The Lincoln and Omaha campuses have discontinued their DEI offices, and Gold said no DEI programs are currently operating.

The committee took no immediate action on either bill.