The EPIC Hearing / Call to Action

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who submitted online comments and joined us in person to testify!

This morning, Nebraskans from across the state traveled to share their eager support for EPIC Option. We were glad to have two of our NAGO admins testify in person, Patti Barnt from Sydney, NE, and Allie French from Prague, NE.

The Testimony

We were pleased to see far more support today than opposition for EPIC Option. Maybe it was the long day yesterday for LB1, while some have speculated that the opposition has simply written off EPIC Option. Either way, fortunately, only two lobbyists showed up in opposition this morning.

Online submissions also heavily favored EPIC Option:

LB16:  Support 70 – Opposition 8 – Neutral 2
LR4CA: Support 54 – Opposition 3 – Neutral 1
LR5CA: Support 41 – Opposition 2 – Neutral 1

The supporting testimony came predominantly from farmers and retirees, as well as small business owners, property owners, renters, pastors, and young parents.

Additional article(s) discussing the testimony provided:

https://share.newsbreak.com/7zxbuus1

The Outcome

The question now is, what are we looking at moving forward? Will the Revenue Committee give EPIC Option the chance to be discussed on the floor?

The Revenue Committee has until Monday to decide whether to vote EPIC Option and other legislation forward for floor debate. However, it is important to remember that in special session, even if a committee IPP’s (indefinitely postponed) a bill, it only takes 25 votes to “pull motion” it to the floor.  That’s normally 30 during regular session.

The committee has a huge decision to make. On Tuesday, the Revenue Committee heard several hours of opposition to LB1 (the Governor’s tax plan), much of whom opposed EPIC Option in years past. Wednesday, the committee heard several hours of testimony in support of EPIC Option. It will be quite telling if the senators representing the Revenue Committee vote to advance the governor’s plan and choose to hold back EPIC Option.

Do our representatives respond to the will of the people or the lobbyists and special interest groups? We have our suspicions, but only time will tell.

The Call to Action

Emails and phone calls to the Revenue Committee need to continue through the weekend, encouraging the senators to advance LB16, LR4CA, and LR5CA (the EPIC Option plan).

EMAIL the Revenue Committee Members:

Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, Chairperson – llinehan@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Brad von Gillern, Vice Chairperson – bvongillern@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Joni Albrecht – jalbrecht@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Eliot Bostar – ebostar@leg.ne.gov
Sen. George Dungan – gdungan@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Kathleen Kauth – kkauth@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Fred Meyer – fmeyer@leg.ne.gov
Sen. Dave Murman – dmurman@leg.ne.gov

In the event that the Revenue Committee does not vote to advance EPIC Option, we need to be encouraging ALL of our Republican Senators to vote favorably for pulling EPIC Option from committee.

ALSO EMAIL the Republican Senators:

Raguilar@leg.ne.gov,
Jalbrecht@leg.ne.gov,
Jarch@leg.ne.gov,
Carmendariz@leg.ne.gov,
Bballard@leg.ne.gov,
Cbosn@leg.ne.gov,
Bbostelman@leg.ne.gov,
Tbrandt@leg.ne.gov,
Tbrewer@leg.ne.gov,
Rclements@leg.ne.gov,
Bdekay@leg.ne.gov,
Mdorn@leg.ne.gov,
Rdover@leg.ne.gov,
Serdman@leg.ne.gov,
Shalloran@leg.ne.gov,
Bhansen@leg.ne.gov,
Bhardin@leg.ne.gov,
Rholdcroft@leg.ne.gov,
Jhughes@leg.ne.gov,
Mjacobson@leg.ne.gov,
Llinehan@leg.ne.gov,
Llippincott@leg.ne.gov,
Jlowe@leg.ne.gov,
Kkauth@leg.ne.gov,
Mmcdonnell@leg.ne.gov,
Fmeyer@leg.ne.gov,
Mmoser@leg.ne.gov,
Dmurman@leg.ne.gov,
Mriepe@leg.ne.gov,
Rsanders@leg.ne.gov,
Jslama@leg.ne.gov,
Bvongillern@leg.ne.gov

Talking Points:

We have shared many talking points for supporting EPIC Option over the years as well as the past week. Please feel free to review those resources.

When it comes to garnering support to advance LB16, LR4CA, and LR5CA to the floor, we don’t need to debate the details of the legislation (though you’re more than welcome if you feel convicted to do so!) Instead we have 3 reasonable arguments for advancing the legislation regardless of whether the senator supports or opposes EPIC Option.

• EPIC Option had far more support, with little opposition, during the public hearing as well as for online testimony. Does a bill with few to no opponents get buried to hear a bill with hundreds of opponents.  Do the hearing numbers even matter? Will the Revenue Committee disregard the 2nd House’s input?
• Give both sides the opportunity and resources to debate this issue to the fullest extent. There are so many potential solutions if given the chance! They don’t need to be a yes vote, yet, but they can’t say they support Individual Liberty and not give EPIC Option its day on the floor.
• Senator Erdman has been working on EPIC Option and Property taxes for years and is terming out following the end of this special session. During the last session, bills from Linehan, Albrecht, Brewer, and even one for Wayne were advanced with a supporting notion that they were deserving due to and after many years of devotion to the issue.

The Direction of the Special Session

All in all, 81 bills and 24 constitutional amendments have been introduced, and about half have had public hearings. Public hearings will continue through Saturday!

The introduced legislation can be viewed here.

The scheduled hearings can be viewed here for Thursday through Saturday.

We want to encourage our members to work through these last three days of hearings and submit comments online. Keep in mind that even the most ridiculous bills and amendments have a chance if they receive no opposition. That is how we nearly ended up with the passage of the syringe bill. It might take some time, but our freedoms depend on our actions!