Rotunda Review Archive

February 26, 2008

NHA Advocacy Action Center

Legislative Bill Status

Advocacy News

Email Your State Senator

Other Advocacy Resources

Where to get current legislative news

The NHA Web site Advocacy page has valuable information resources for your advocacy efforts, including:
 

NHA Legislative bill status Nebraska Legislature online E-mail your state senator Weekly schedule of committee hearings Contact the Nebraska Governor  Contact Nebraska's U.S. Senators and Congressional Delegates House of Representatives United States Senate

The Unicameral Web site has been redesigned and includes comprehensive information about the senators, bill status, legislative calendar and news.

If you have questions or concerns about any state legislation, please contact Bruce Rieker, vice president, advocacy, at 402/742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org; or Carly Runestad, director of health policy, at 402/742-8153 or crunestad@nhanet.org. 

NHA issues smoking ban "Call to Action"

NHA is pleased to announce that Friday the legislature approved a statewide smoking ban without the "opt-out" clause. If approved by Governor Dave Heineman, Nebraska's Clean Indoor Air Act (or the "statewide smoking ban") will prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and almost all other workplaces ultimately creating safer, healthier environments for our state's residents. The bill (LB 395) has been presented to the Governor. He has five working days from the time he received the bill to either sign or veto it. If approved, the law will go into effect June 2009.

You can advocate for a smoke-free state. Join the 70 percent of Nebraskans who want a smoke-free state, and encourage Governor Heineman to sign LB 395 into law and protect the health of Nebraskans. First, click here then click the "Take Action" button to contact Governor Heineman.
 

NHA offers testimony at legislative hearings

Click on each bill number to read the testimony.

• Support LB 894 — Increase tax deductions under the Long-Term Care Savings Plan
• Support LB 966 — Change provisions relating to Tobacco Prevention and Control Cash Fund
• Support LB 983 — Change an income tax credit for planned gifts
• Support LB 1002 — Require disclosures by group health benefit plans
• Support LB 1121 —  Adopt the Medicaid Insurance for Workers with Disabilities Act
• Support LB 1122 — Change dental coverage provisions under the medical assistance program
• Support LB 1169 — Authorize health care assistance for certain veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Oppose LB 1176 — Change provisions relating to reducing Medicaid benefits

Speaker, senators and committees designate priority bills

The following priority bills of interest to NHA members have been designated priority bills.

2008 Speaker priority bills:

LB 308 – (Stuthman), Adopt the Automated Medication Systems Act
NHA position: Support

LB 786 – (Howard), Regulate traffic approaching or passing a stopped authorized emergency vehicle
NHA position: Monitor

LB 877 – (Wightman), Change public assistance provisions relating to postsecondary education and related work activities
NHA position: Monitor

LB 884 – (Gay), Change provisions relating to the Director of Personnel and employee health benefits
NHA position: Monitor

LB 894 – (Gay), Increase tax deductions allowed under the Long-Term Care Savings Plan
NHA position: Support

LB 911 – (Hudkins), Provide REAL ID operator's licenses and state identification cards
NHA position: Support

LB 962 – (Preister), Change public body meeting provisions of the Open Meetings Act
NHA position: Monitor

LB 1104 – (Fulton), Provide for unlawful billing practices under the Uniform Credentialing Act
NHA position: Monitor
 

2008 Senator priority bills:

Dubas: LB 830 – Adopt the Prescription Drug Cost Savings Act
NHA position: Monitor

Flood: LB 889 – Provide construction alternatives for political subdivisions
NHA position: Support

Friend: LB 963 – Require verification of lawful presence in the United States to receive public benefits
NHA position: Oppose

Fulton: LB 765 – Change provisions relating to certificates of need
NHA position: Monitor

Harms: LB 1092 – Require seat belts on school buses
NHA position: Monitor

Howard: LB 782 – Allow disclosure of child abuse and neglect information
NHA position: Monitor

Johnson: LB 245 – Change provisions relating to fluoridation of drinking water
NHA position: Monitor

Pankonin: LB 983 – Change an income tax credit for planned gifts
NHA position: Support

Rogert: LB 253 – Adopt the Motorcycle Safety and Training Act and change motorcycle helmet provisions (failed to advance)
NHA position: Oppose

Stuthman: LB 157 – Prohibit prosecution for leaving a child at a hospital (signed into law)
NHA position: Monitor

Wallman: LB 575 – Change a sales tax exemption for nonprofit entities and provide an exemption for nonprofit assisted-living facilities
NHA position: Support
 

2008 Committee priority bills:

Business & Labor:
LB 1082 – Amend the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act to redefine injury and personal injuries
NHA position: Monitor

LB 1016 – Adopt the Proper Employee Classification Act
NHA position: Monitor

Health & Human Services:
LB 797 – Change provisions relating to Health and Human Services
NHA position: Monitor

LB 928 – Repeal the Hepatitis C Education and Prevention Act
NHA position: Monitor

Legislative Performance Audit:
LB 823 – Change and eliminate provisions relating to governmental information technology
NHA position: Monitor

Click to see the full list of speaker, senator or committee priority bills.

Hearing schedule for Feb. 25 – 29

During the final week of committee hearings, the following "bills of interest" to NHA members will be heard. All day floor debate begins Tuesday, March 4.

 Behind each bill number is the committee that will hear testimony. If you would like to share your perspective on a particular bill or are interested in testifying at the hearing, please contact Bruce Rieker, vice president of advocacy, at 402/742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org; or Carly Runestad, director of health policy at 402/742-8153 or crunestad@nhanet.org.

Monday, February 25
LB 1086 (Business) – Change workers' compensation provisions relating to third-party claims, subrogation and settlement
LB 1105 (Business) – Provide for confidentiality of certain workers' compensation court documents and information

Tuesday, February 26
LB 786  (Transportation) – Regulate traffic approaching or passing a stopped authorized emergency vehicle

Wednesday, February 27
LB 963 (Judiciary) – Require verification of lawful presence in the United States to receive pubic benefits
LB 1120 (HHS) –  Change exemption provisions under the Nebraska Health Care Certificate of Need Act

Thursday, February 28
LB 951 (HHS) – Provide for umbilical cord blood banking
LB 1003 (HHS) – Adopt the Saving the Cure Act and provide for an accredited laboratory
LB 1037 (Revenue) – Change income, sales and use tax rates

Friday, February 29 – Recess Day

To see this week's complete schedule of committee hearings click here. To search for a specific bill, click here to access the Unicameral's bill finder.

Time running out to register for Advocacy Day

The Nebraska Hospital Association's annual Advocacy Day is scheduled for Wednesday, March 5, at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln. This half-day workshop will provide health care advocates with important information about state legislative issues. Scheduled speakers include Speaker of the Legislature Sen. Mike Flood (Norfolk); Sen. Deb Fischer (Valentine); Scot Adams, Nebraska Health and Human Services director of division of Behavioral Health; NHA President, Laura J. Redoutey, FACHE; Bruce Rieker, NHA vice president of advocacy; and Carly Runestad, NHA director of health policy.

Following the morning's educational programming, participants will have an opportunity to visit with their senator about how legislation will affect health care in their community at the Legislative Luncheon. Registration is $30 per person. To register online for Advocacy Day, click here. The registration deadline has been extended to Friday, February 29.

Legislature passes smoking ban

Sen. Joel Johnson of Kearney was able to head off further attempts to amend his smoking ban bill on Feb. 22. Lawmakers passed LB 395, which bans smoking in indoor public places statewide beginning June 1, 2009.

The ban allows the following exemptions:

• private residences, unless being used as child care facilities;
• guest rooms and suites that are rented and designated as smoking;
• areas used for research on the health effects of smoking; and
• retail stores selling only tobacco and products directly related to tobacco.

The bill specifies that products directly related to tobacco do not include alcohol, coffee, soft drinks, candy, groceries or gasoline. Violators of the law will be charged with a Class V misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class IV misdemeanor for the second and subsequent offenses. Read the full article.

— Nebraska Unicameral Update Online, February 22, 2008.

Child abuse disclosure rules amended, advanced

Senators gave second-round approval Feb. 20 to a bill that would expand the state’s ability to release information in child abuse and neglect cases.

LB 782, introduced by Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard at the request of the governor, would permit the Nebraska HHS director of Children and Family Services or the department’s CEO to release information in child abuse cases under limited circumstances. Among the situations when disclosure would be allowed are those involving the death or near death of a child, when a child is missing from an HHS placement or when information related to a case has already been made public by sources outside of HHS. Read the full article.

— Nebraska Unicameral Update Online, February 20, 2008.

Family advocates decry safe haven bill

OMAHA, Neb. — Hospitals and child-care agencies said Nebraska's new safe haven law allows a child of any age to be left, among other problems with the bill. Gov. Dave Heineman signed the safe haven law last week, which allows parents to drop off unwanted children at safe places. Most safe haven laws apply only to newborns and infants, but in Nebraska, all children will be covered in the bill. The state would then take custody of the children.

Architects of the law, including state Sen. Pete Pirsch, said it protects the greatest number of children possible.  "Our overriding concern was to get the baby in a safe place," Pirsch said. In a Feb. 8 letter from the Nebraska Hospital Association to Heineman, President Laura Redoutey argued against the bill. "In an effort to protect children from harm, the Legislature may have created opportunities for greater harm," Redoutey wrote.

Pirsch said the bill achieves its goal to protect children no matter the age or who the child is with. Read the full article.

— KETV, February 19, 2008.

Forecasting board revises revenue projections downward

The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board downgraded state revenue estimates by $126 million for the current fiscal biennium during its Feb. 22 meeting. The forecasting board meets at least twice annually to review revenue projections. The projections are significant because they impact the state's overall budget status. The state is generally required to adopt a budget that is within revenue projections.

To develop their projections, the forecasting board looks at various economic models and information provided by the Legislative Fiscal Office and the state Department of Revenue. The board then adopts projections for each fiscal year in four categories of revenue: sales and use tax, individual income tax, corporate income tax and miscellaneous taxes. The totals from those four categories are the basis for the total revenue projection for each fiscal year.

The board voted to set revenue projections for the current fiscal year at $3.407 billion, a reduction of $51 million or 1.47 percent from their October 2007 projection. For FY 2008-09, the board set revenue projections at $3.514 billion, a reduction of $75 million or 2.13 percent.

Senators will consider proposed adjustments to the biennial budget prior to the end of the current legislative session. Based on the Appropriations Committee's preliminary budget report, current general fund spending levels would be $3.306 billion in the current fiscal year and $3.546 billion in FY2008-09. The next forecasting board meeting is slated for Oct. 31.

— Nebraska Unicameral Update Online, February 22, 2008.

Lawmakers unlikely to change seat belt law

Drivers who don’t wear seat belts won’t have to worry about being pulled over for their decisions anytime soon. A legislative committee didn’t advance a bill, LB 812, Tuesday that would have let police stop drivers for not wearing seat belts. Though the bill from Senator Lowen Kruse of Omaha isn’t completely dead, chances are slim it will be debated by the full Legislature. Currently, drivers can be ticketed for not wearing seat belts, but only after they have been pulled over for other, so-called primary offenses such as speeding.

— Associated Press, February 20, 2008.

Bill aims to shield emergency responders

(Omaha World-Herald) – An Omaha state senator doesn't want first responders to become the victims when they help or ticket drivers on the side of the highway. For the second year, Sen. Gwen Howard is pushing a bill that would require traffic to move over to the far lane when possible when passing emergency crews, state troopers, motorist assist vehicles or tow trucks on highways and the Interstates. A hearing on the resurrected measure will be held Feb. 26. Under LB 786, violators would be fined up to a $100 for a first offense and would be charged with a misdemeanor for second and subsequent offenses. The misdemeanor carries a fine of up to $500 and the possibility of up to seven days in jail. AAA Nebraska supports the bill, since AAA offers towing services to stranded drivers and helps sponsor a program in which volunteers in specially marked vans provide assistance to motorists.

— Nebraska Chamber of Commerce Daily Update, February 19, 2008.

Bill proposes help for brain-injured war veterans

LINCOLN — State Sen. Tom White of Omaha figures it's only a matter of time before a traumatic brain injury sends a Nebraskan home from the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan and straight into a bureaucratic wall. That wall is the apparent refusal by TriCare, the military health insurance program, to cover cognitive rehabilitation services for injured veterans.

In response, White has turned to the Nebraska Legislature to help those veterans. "My hope is you will correct what I believe is one of the more shameful oversights" of the federal government, White told the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee at a hearing Wednesday.

White introduced Legislative Bill 1169, which would create a state assistance program for brain-injured veterans who need help regaining mental and social skills. The proposed program would provide coverage similar to what is allowed under state Medicaid. Legislative fiscal staff estimated the rehabilitation could last an average of 120 days and cost as much as $70,440 per person at Quality Living, the only provider of such services in Nebraska.

— Martha Stoddard, Omaha World Herald, February 21, 2008.

 

For more information about health-related legislative bills or resolutions, contact: Bruce Rieker, vice president, advocacy at (402) 742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org.

NHA Rotunda Review is published by the Nebraska Hospital Association, 3255 Salt Creek Circle, Lincoln, NE 68504. Phone (402) 742-8140, Fax (402) 742-8191. Visit our Web site at http://www.nhanet.org. Christy Rasmussen, editor, at 402/742-8151, or email, crasmussen@nhanet.org.

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