Homeowner bill 'ineligible'

LINCOLN — A proposal from an Omaha state senator to nearly double a property tax break for Nebraska homeowners was eliminated Friday only a couple of hours after it was proposed.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, in a legal opinion distributed just after the lunch hour, ruled that Omaha Sen. Tom White’s proposal — which would limit the state’s current property tax rebate program to Nebraska residents only — fell outside the legal parameters of the special, budget-cutting session of the State Legislature.

White’s idea, which was also defeated during last spring’s regular session of the Legislature, died a quick death in the special session, where he introduced it Friday morning.

“I respect the attorney general’s opinion regarding the narrow nature of Gov. Heineman’s call, and I do not plan to challenge it,” said White, who is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in the 2nd Congressional District.

White has criticized the rebate program, a proposal of Republican Gov. Dave Heineman, because much of it goes to nonresident landowners, including billionaire Ted Turner, the state’s largest, individual landowner.

“This is re-adjusting a bad tax policy so we can more appropriately fund our schools and give homeowners more property tax relief,” White said in introducing the measure.

But the attorney general’s legal opinion stated that most of White’s bill fell outside the “call” of the session — the topics that can be debated during the special session — because it had “little to do” with generating additional funds for the State General Fund.

A main provision of White’s proposal, Legislative Bill 15, would have transferred the $25 million saved by denying property tax rebates to nonresidents to local schools in the form of state aid.

Another senator said he also expects his proposal to eliminate sales tax exemptions for one year to be declared outside the scope of the special session.

State Sen. Rich Pahls of Omaha introduced Legislative Bill 13 on Friday. It would plug most of the state’s budget gap by eliminating sales tax exemptions for one year, about $300 million in savings.

Pahls said he introduced LB 13 because he wants to point out how many things have been exempted from sales taxes. He has offered similar measures during regular legislative sessions.

“We need to take a look at what we have done to ourselves,” Pahls said.

Those two bills were among 16 introduced during the special budget-cutting session before bill introduction ended Friday.

Five of the bills would implement Gov. Dave Heineman’s plan for cutting $336 million out of the state’s $6.94 billion, two-year state budget.

Other bills introduced Friday would:

Ÿ Protect the Brand Inspection and Theft Prevention Fund from being tapped to help with the state’s general fund.

Ÿ Protect three small economic development programs from cuts: the Agricultural Opportunities and Value-Added Partnership program, the Microenterprise Development program and the Building Entrepreneurial Communities program.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com