In his annual State of the State address Wednesday, Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed help for Nebraska’s recovery from last year’s flooding, and promoted a big-ticket plan to lower property taxes.

Leading off his speech one week into the legislative session, Ricketts set the stage, referring to last year’s record-breaking flooding. “As we enter this session, our priorities for 2020 have been shaped by the events and circumstances our state has faced over the last year. As I have said before, I believe 2019 will be remembered as Nebraska’s finest hour,” Ricketts declared, to applause. (To see a video of the complete speech, scroll down).

Ricketts paid tribute to people who lost their lives helping others, and to first responders who rescued people. He then outlined his budget proposals, including $50 million for the state’s share of disaster relief, and another $9 million to help the hardest-hit counties.

But the governor’s highest-cost proposal had to do with a separate, ongoing issue.

“Today I am recommending roughly $500 million in property tax relief over the next three years to help our farmers, ranchers, homeowners and businesses,” he said.

Ricketts’ recommendation squares with a proposal by members of the Legislature’s Revenue Committee, to use state revenues from income and sales taxes to decrease school property taxes. That plan is projected to reduce school property taxes by 13-15 percent over three years. The governor says he and Revenue Committee Chair Lou Ann Linehan have agreed on a framework, but still have to work out details. The plan is made possible by state revenues that are coming in higher than expected. About half the time in recent decades, those revenues have fallen short of projections. But Sen. John Stinner, chair of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, says he expects the plan will be able to continue into the future, based on continued revenue growth.

“I am hopeful that the revenue comes in. It looks like the revenue projections that we are using today is at 4 percent. Our 30-year average is 4.7, so it’s well within historical norms,” Stinner said.

In his speech, Ricketts also mentioned a move aimed at stopping the high rate of turnover among security personnel in the state’s prisons.

“I am recommending $8 million to support and retain quality teammates in the Department of Corrections. This will support the new agreement recently reached with the Corrections officer union. As we implement this agreement, Director (Scott) Frakes and I continue to look at next steps for the agency, and what we need to do to keep our people safe,” he said.

The governor’s budget proposals do not include any money for new prison beds to alleviate overcrowding. Sen. Steve Lathrop, chair of the Judiciary Committee, has proposed spending $52 million to add 300 beds to a community corrections center – a work release facility – in Omaha. Lathrop said after the speech something more needs to be done.

“Do we want to try to build to address the overcrowding, or do we need to do sentencing reform?” Lathrop asked.

Gun Legislation

Also Wednesday, senators considered a proposal by Sen. Tom Brewer to strengthen laws against people possessing stolen guns. Currently, it’s illegal to have a gun that you know or believe was stolen. Brewer says that’s nearly impossible to enforce.

“There is almost no way to get a conviction without a confession. Bad guys trafficking in stolen guns do not make many confessions. LB582 would change the law to allow a conviction of a person who knew or should have known that the gun that they have has been stolen. This means that someone cannot just lie and get away with a serious crime,” Brewer said.

Senators voted 43-0 first round approval of the bill.

Suicide Prevention Legislation

Guns were also the subject of a bill introduced by Sen. John McCollister that he says is aimed at suicide prevention. The bill would expand requirements that currently apply to the purchase of handguns, to the purchase of certain semiautomatic rifles and shotguns as well. It would require law enforcement agencies to wait at least two days before issuing a permit, and give them up to five days, rather than the current three, to act.

Asked about expected opposition from gun rights advocates, McCollister says he’s optimistic.

“I was on the radio last week and I was surprised that I didn’t get more flak. So I’m hopeful for a good reception in the Legislature with this bill,” McCollister said.

Sen. Sue Crawford also introduced another bill aimed at preventing suicides. It would require middle schools, high schools and colleges that issue student IDs to include on those IDs the number for a suicide prevention hotline students could call or text. Crawford says that could make a crucial difference.

“If a lifeline or crisis line is printed right there on their ID card, students may remember this and refer to it for a friend or use it themselves in a time of crisis,” Crawford said.

Permission to Move a Town

And Sen. Lynne Walz introduced a proposal to allow towns affected by catastrophic flooding to annex land in order to move. Winslow, Nebraska, flooded last year, is considering a move to higher ground.

Walz says people have offered to donate land and money, but legal permission to annex land is needed.

“Currently that’s not in statute, so the city of Winslow is not able to capture funds from FEMA unless that is in statute,” Walz said.

Watch Gov. Ricketts' full State of the State speech: