Okay, so, since I am a political junkie, and since I figure I better focus a bit on local issues, too:

The Nebraska Legislature has a new website. It’s much cleaner and more professional-looking than the old one. All of the bills that have been introduced so far are available to read on the site. Two bills in particular caught my eye today, both introduced by Sen. (and former NYD President) Danielle Nantkes:

LB 31: To raise the state minimum wage to at least $6.26 an hour by 2010, with further increases tied to the CPI every three years thereafter.

LB 32: To make purchases of college textbooks by full and part-time students exempt from state and local sales tax.

Tying the minimum wage to cost-of-living expenses is what makes the first proposal stand out for me. The state legislature built the cost-of-living increase into the pay raise amendment they offered last May (which the voters rejected). We will hopefully get a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, but a state law requiring an adjustment every three years would be welcome in this state, and make sure that we don’t have to fall behind by a decade again.

The second bill is the kind of common-sense legislation that makes it easier on college students like us, but no one really bothers to come up with. Sometimes it takes someone who isn’t that far removed from being a college grad to understand the difficulties college students face. Textbooks aren’t our biggest expense, but they are expensive, and this would be a welcome relief.
Other proposals that have been introduced:

- A constitutional amendment to make the Nebraska legislature a two-house body, introduced by (who else?) Mike Friend – unfortunately, my senator. George Norris’ legacy for this state was the unicameral, and I prefer it that way, myself. I have a feeling that – if the legislature puts this on the ballot in 2008 – the voters will too.

- A constitutional amendment to raise legislators’ pay to $22,000 a year, introduced by Don Preister.

LB 39 and LB 40 introduced by DiAnna Schimek, calling for various reforms to the initiative petition process.
I may try to do a weekly update here on the unicameral from here on out, unless something really earthshaking happens that warrants a deeper look, like the whole OPS mess.