By Paul Hammel Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Local school districts could choose to allow security personnel or other designated employees to carry firearms to enhance security under a proposal introduced Wednesday.
“I don’t want children to die,” said Gordon Sen. Tom Brewer, who introduced LB 1339 along with 28 other senators.
Brewer said the measure would provide local control to allow school districts to decide whether they want armed security in their school buildings.
Districts would have to adopt a written policy on arming school personnel under the proposal, and any training requirements would be up to them, Brewer said.
Wednesday was the final day for bill introduction by state senators (the governor can file bills past the deadline), with 591 new bills introduced this year, along with 11 proposed constitutional amendments.
DEI ban
Among other measures introduced on Wednesday, State Sen. Dave Murman and 14 other senators introduced LB 1330, which would ban state colleges and universities from requiring diversity, equity and inclusion training for employees and from using DEI in hiring or spending money on DEI offices.
The bill aligns with the anti-DEI bills being introduced by conservative senators across the country.
Inspectors general
A 72-page bill introduced by Speaker of the Legislature Sen. John Arch and eight other senators is designed to restore the powers of legislatively created “inspectors general” to probe cases of abuse and deaths within state prisons and the child welfare system.
The inspectors general offices have been blocked from visiting state institutions and accessing state records since a non-binding legal opinion was issued in August by Attorney General Mike Hilgers that questioned whether their work violated the separation of powers.
Under LB 1321, the Legislature’s Judiciary and Health and Human Services Committees, as well as the Executive Board, could issue subpoenas if information wasn’t supplied to the IGs.
The Exec Board hired outside legal counsel to review Hilgers’ legal opinion, which led to the drafting of the bill.
Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad has also drafted a measure to restore the powers of the IGs, and Omaha Sen. Wendy DeBoer introduced a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday to address the issue.
In addition, the Nebraska Department of Corrections announced Tuesday that it is seeking to hire a “chief inspector” to inspect prisons and improve grievance processes. That inspector, however, would apparently not pursue cases of abuse and neglect, or probe whether prisons were following state policies, as the IG for Corrections now does.
One proposal in Arch’s bill would remove the ability of the IG of Child Welfare to obtain records from the judicial branch, which would resolve a dispute with the judiciary.
A statement Wednesday from the Office of Public Counsel, which oversees the IGs, said that LB 1321 would make it clear that the work of the officials “is squarely constitutional.”
“We look forward to continuing to doing our jobs on behalf of the Legislature so there is meaningful transparency and accountability for the critical government agencies providing services to children, families, and the correctional system,” said the statement.
Employees’ moving expenses
Employers would get a tax break on the moving expenses of new employees under LB 1400, introduced on behalf of the governor by Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln.
Such new employees would have to earn more than $70,000 a year to qualify for the credit, which could not exceed $5,000.
The bill is designed to help address the state’s workforce shortage.
Homeless encampments
LB 1357 from Omaha Sen. Mike McDonnell would make it a misdemeanor crime for someone to camp on government property that is posted as not designated as a campground.
McDonnell said the proposal, crafted with the help of Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson, is aimed at addressing homeless encampments and protecting nearby property.