January 6, 2023

2023 SESSION, 108TH LEGISLATURE

108th Legislature Convenes

The 108th session of the Nebraska Legislature convened on Wednesday, January 4, at 10:00 a.m., with the initial day of the session featuring the election of committee chairs and appointment of individual members to legislative committees. Sen. John Arch (Omaha) was elected to the position of Speaker of the Legislature. The following new committee chairs were also elected by their colleagues:
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• Agriculture - Sen. Steve Halloran (Hastings)
  
• Appropriations - Sen. Rob Clements (Elmwood)
  
• Banking, Commerce & Insurance - Sen. Julie Slama (Sterling)
  
• Business & Labor - Sen. Merv Riepe (Ralston)
  
• Education - Sen. Dave Murman (Glenvil)
  
• Executive Board - Sen. Tom Briese (Albion)
  
• General Affairs - Sen. John Lowe (Kearney)
  
• Government, Military & Veteran Affairs - Sen. Tom Brewer (Gordon)
  
• Health & Human Services - Sen. Ben Hansen (Blair)
  
• Judiciary - Sen. Justin Wayne (Omaha)
  
• Natural Resources - Sen. Bruce Bostelman (Brainard)
  
• Nebraska Retirement Systems - Sen. Mike McDonnell (Omaha)
  
• Revenue - Sen. Lou Ann Linehan (Elkhorn)
  
• Rules - Sen. Joni Albrecht (Thurston)
  
• Transportation - Sen. Suzanne Geist (Lincoln)
  
• Urban Affairs - Sen. Terrell McKinney (Omaha)

Special congratulations to NBA member Sen. Rob Clements (Appropriations) who was elected to serve as Appropriations Committee chair.

Since a majority of the banking industry legislation will be referred to the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee, appointment of members to this committee was of great interest to the NBA. Along with the election of Sen. Slama as Chair of the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee, the following members were appointed to serve on the committee:

• Sen. Ray Aguilar (Grand Island)
  
• Sen. Beau Ballard (Lincoln)
  
• Sen. Eliot Bostar (Lincoln)
  
• Sen. George Dungan (Lincoln)
  
• Sen. Mike Jacobson (North Platte)
  
• Sen. Kathleen Kauth (Omaha)
  
• Sen. Brad von Gillern (Elkhorn)
  

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We certainly look forward to working with Chairperson Slama and the committee on bills of interest to the banking industry.

There are 17 new senators this year: 15 newly elected senators during the November General Election and two senators who were appointed by Gov. Ricketts last year who were not required to stand for election. The newly elected and appointed senators are as follows:

• Sen. Brad von Gillern (District 4, Elkhorn)
  
• Sen. Merv Riepe (District 12, Ralston)
  
• Sen. Christy Armendariz (District 18, Omaha)
  
• Sen. Robert Dover (District 19, Norfolk)
  
• Sen. John Fredrickson (District 20, Omaha)
  
• Sen. Beau Ballard (District 21, Lincoln)
  
• Sen. Jana Hughes (District 24, Seward)
  
• Sen. George Dungan (District 26, Lincoln)
  
• Sen. Jane Raybould (District 28, Lincoln)
  
• Sen. Kathleen Kauth (District 31, Omaha)
  
• Sen. Loren Lippincott (District 34, Central City)
  
• Sen. Rick Holdcroft (District 36, Bellevue)
  
• Sen. Barry DeKay (District 40, Niobrara)
  
• Sen. Mike Jacobson (District 42, North Platte)
  
• Sen. Teresa Ibach (District 44, Sumner)
  
• Sen. Danielle Conrad (District 46, Lincoln)
  
• Sen. Brian Hardin (District 48, Gering)

The first 10 working days of the session will be devoted to new bill introductions. During the first two days of bill introductions, a total of 145 bills and seven proposed Constitutional Amendments were dropped into the hopper. Committee hearings are tentatively scheduled to commence on Monday, January 23. It is anticipated that the following major issues will dominate the session: the state budget, property and income tax relief, and revisions to the school funding formula.
 
The NBA will be promoting an ambitious affirmative legislative agenda with a number of bills to be introduced on behalf of the Association. These bills will cover a range of subjects, including: (1) UCC Article 12-Security Interest in Digital Assets; (2) Assignment of Life Insurance Policy-Notice of Lapse; (3) Trust Deeds-Location of Sale; (4) Small Estate Affidavit-Endorsement of Checks; and (5) Repeal Annual Reporting of Executive Officers’ Outside Indebtedness.
 
It is anticipated that each of the bills on the NBA Affirmative Legislative agenda will be introduced during the first full week of the session, and we will provide more specific information on each of these bills at that time.

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