93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Andy Pollock and Brent Smoyer--The Nebraska Unicameral and Current Legislative Session
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In this episode we discuss the Unicameral--Nebraska's unique one-house legislature--and the current legislative session with Andy Pollock and Brent Smoyer, attorneys and leaders of the government relations team at Rembolt Ludtke.
Nebraska. It's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring communities, and a spirit that runs deeper than its purple story. It's a story that should be told. Welcome to 93, the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to 93, the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska and its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rimble Plate. Today we're going to talk about the Nebraska Unicameral, Nebraska's one-of-a-kind legislative branch. So we've summoned two experts to tell us exactly what's going on and what's expected to happen during the rest of this current session, the 109th legislature of the Nebraska Unicameral. Joining us today is Andy Pollack, a partner and attorney at Rembaltlati, where he leads the firm's government relations practice. Also joining us is Brent Smoyer, also an attorney and assistant director of government relations at Rembaltlati. Andy, Brent, welcome to 93 the podcast.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Mark. Good to be here.
SPEAKER_02All right, let's just jump right in. Andy, we'll start with you. Give folks your background. Where are you from? Uh from Ogallala, out in Nebraska.
SPEAKER_00O-G-A-L-L-A-L-A. I can do it, uh, do it to jumping jacks if you want me to.
SPEAKER_02And what lake is Ogallala famous for?
SPEAKER_00Lake McConaughey. It's a reservoir on the North Platte River. Ogallala is named after a Lakota Indian tribe, the Ogallala.
SPEAKER_02And what license plate prefix is that? Is that Keith County? It's Keith County. It's 68. Still 68. Brent, where are you from? Originally from Grand Island, Nebraska. License plate prefix? Eight. How did the two of you get involved in government relations? What government or legislative background do you have? I'll go first since I'm an older one, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh but not wiser. No, no claim to Wiser or any other attribute. Uh started out at the Nebraska Public Service Commission as the director there. A couple years before that, I was a lawyer doing work for ATT. They were looking to get into the Nebraska market. Mark, you and I probably sparred about that at some point, did with a number of lawyers here in Nebraska. Uh we represented them as local council, got familiar with the Public Service Commission, and uh helped Frank Landis, the chair at the time, write some legislation that would make sure that cities couldn't uh unduly deny access to rights away. And Frank really liked the work that I did and asked me to join, and he said we'll put you in part of our in charge of our legislative relations. So I did that for seven years.
SPEAKER_02So that kind of sparked your interest in uh government legislative development, things like that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I sat down with at the time. Um we were having some issues with a couple cities out west, uh, central Nebraska, and went to Doug Christensen, his staff. Doug was vice chancellor or chancellor at Kearney for years, but before that he was a senator and he was the chair of the transportation committee. And I went to him and told him what some cities were doing, and he said, draw me up a bill so they can't do that. So first bill, I just happened to unearth it kind of accidentally uh about a week ago, but the first bill I drafted was in 1999. It was telecom related and been doing a lot of that since and had an opportunity with this firm to get into the private lobby.
SPEAKER_02Brent, uh, what's your legislative or government background?
SPEAKER_01Oh boy. Um started out of law school. I was supposed to actually have a job with a uh firm similarly similar to Remboldt in Omaha, but uh recession hit, and 12 of us who were supposed to get hired ended up being four of us, and I was not one of us. Um got in with Senator Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha as his legislative aide, um, was his legal counsel when he was ruled, it was committee chair, um, was uh uh legislative aide for a number of different senators, as well as finishing out my career in the legislature as judiciary committee legal counsel under Laura Ebke. Um got to work with Andy actually when he first got started as a lobbyist. I was just a uh LA and we were both kind of learning the ropes and was uh actually kind of fun watching each other get our sea legs looking back. Um since then, was in uh private lobbying with a professional background screening association and was invited uh a couple years back by Andy to jump in and give Rembolt a hand here in the uh the state capitol.
SPEAKER_02So for some, the term lobbyist has a negative connotation, but really, I mean, uh aren't the scope of services that the two of you and the firm provide far broader than what we'll generally call lobbying?
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. Um, you know, in addition to the actual drafting of legislation with uh which is entirely separate from lobbying, there's just uh a strategic advisory position uh as far as how to approach legislation, how to approach the the capital in general, whether it's regulatory bodies, the executive branch, or the legislature, and really be able to help guide our clients through these uh uh different mazes.
SPEAKER_00I think part of it too is we're here to educate senators. Uh we have clients who have serious business interests that are affected by the law or the need for change in law. And it's a matter of uh educating those senators as to why those legal changes need to be made or why the current law is important or why it shouldn't be changed. So it's to be an educator first and an advocate second. And I think we get a bad rap the lobby uh does because we're always asking for uh something. And if you look at it, we're asking for the senators to take seriously and consider what our clients' positions and interests are, and and there's really nothing wrong with that. It's no different than any typical practice of law where you're representing a client's interest, and usually there's somebody on the other side to make you work hard to get what you want if it's the right thing. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_02So I always tell people when they put down lobbyists to say, you know, it's guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is the right to petition government. I mean, that's a right that we have. Uh you may not like it, but essentially people are saying, I have an interest, I have a position, I want to go advocate for that position, and that's what you guys do, correct?
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right. And especially with a citizen legislature, what happens if you don't have that? You have a bunch of people who don't have much expertise making important decisions on uh matters that are gonna affect all of the state.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell So assume I haven't been to Nebraska before. Can you tell folks what is unique about Nebraska's legislature? Why is it different and unlike any of the other 49 states? Aaron Powell Oh, just a couple minor details.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, and and the fun part is is you know, my previous life with the background screeners, I got to see all 50 states, and it's shocking the massive difference we have. First off, every bill gets a hearing. You don't get to have a committee chair bury a bill like you would in, say, Illinois, where they say, Well, I don't like this bill, we're never going to hear it. Here you have a hearing on every single bill.
SPEAKER_02Approximately how many bills get introduced each session?
SPEAKER_00Even before that, though, unicameral legislature. Well, true, yeah. That one was the obvious one, though. So one house? One house, yes. It's called the legislature. We call them senators as opposed to representatives. Uh but one house with 49 members that represent generally geographical uh portions of the state that are population similar similar.
SPEAKER_02So given that their population is similar per district, are there some districts that are small and some that are just completely ginormous?
SPEAKER_01Uh absolutely. Um you go out to uh Cherry County, where our friend Senator Storer Tanya Tanya Storer is from. Uh that thing is as big as uh well, a couple of states really. I mean, if you have Rhode Island or anything in New England, uh then of course you get in the Omaha or Lincoln area and you get some uh some districts that are literally 18 to 19 blocks wide by however uh two miles long. You know, it's it's it's the geographic difference is is stark and shocking, especially when you look at the maps.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell There's districts that you walk as a candidate, and there's districts where you ride a horse or a donkey.
SPEAKER_02And and and bring a uh a camper with you. Yeah. So uh how about the partisanship? Is it uh partisan, nonpartisan? How's that work?
SPEAKER_01Aaron Powell Well, it is uh officially nonpartisan, but uh each senator does operate uh you know under their party uh auspices and beliefs. Um but uh officially it's registered as non nonpartisan. Um you know, there's often arguments we could spend forever on the philosophy of whether it should be made partisan again or whether we should have a second chamber, things of that nature, which uh always makes for fascinating discussion, especially when you're just sitting at lunch and trying not to talk about work for a little while. Um But uh yeah, it's it's you definitely understand the partisan breakdown ultimately. And of course, every article you read, the the uh reporters always manage to include you know the party affiliation generally. So even though it's nonpartisan. Right. Right.
SPEAKER_02Uh so the speaker, uh what what who is the current speaker and what is the role of the speaker?
SPEAKER_01Current speaker is John Arch, uh out of the Boys Town area of Omaha. Um the role of the speaker is simply to uh well, I guess not simply, it's not simple at all. Uh but you are the referee, uh, you are the parliamentarian guide, you are the um you make the trains run on time, basically. You know, every building gets scheduled. Yes, master of the agenda, not the universe, unfortunately. Um unless you were Mike Flood from back in the day, uh probably the best speaker I ever saw at it anyway. Um and you were you're setting up the agenda, you were making sure things flow and flow well. And of course, as we get, like right now, where we're closer to the end of the session and working on the budget, or about to do to be working on the budget, you now have to make uh some real life and death, not life and death decisions, but uh some real heavy decisions about what priority bills get heard, whether it's a senator priority bill, each senator gets one, or a committee priority bill, each committee gets two. And uh, you know, you have to decide which order you're gonna put in. And with 49 senators with 49 prior priorities, in addition to the committees, um you are getting you're going to burn a few bridges, not necessarily burn them, but you'll certainly uh toast them a little bit, and there will be some hurt feelings here and there. And to be able to manage that is a talent in and of itself, which again, you can uh there's always the the speaker uh uh tournament among lobbyists as far as, hey, who is the best speaker for this or for that? And again, lunchtime conversations where we don't want to talk well. That's a tough one.
SPEAKER_00It's a it's a position of pressure. You got pressure to move stuff forward, and you've got it uh from all sides. You've also got the pressure of trying to, like Brent said, mediate disputes and be a referee. And that's in the last couple of years, that's been pretty darn tough. There's been vitriol and personal politics in a way that is really unfortunate for the state. And it's coming from both the right and the left, and it tends to be the fringes that are the the most vocal, and that really makes things darn hard for the speaker, and uh there's no perfect speaker. Um, but Arch has been pretty good uh done a pretty good job of despite that vitriol getting things done. Um this year's been a different animal, at least so far, until about last week. There's been less emotion, less um vitriol, a lot fewer filibusters. Uh, but we're starting to get into that, creep into that part of the state. So you may have just jinxed us. No, I think I think that's that started before that started last week.
SPEAKER_02So excluding the again, the current members, so you don't need to comment on them. Uh, with only 49 members in this body, there have to be some just interesting or historical or colorful or effective members over the course of time that have served. Can you who are the two or three favorites for each of you as far as historical members of the Nebraska Unicameral that have stood out to you for whatever reason?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh I I guess I'll start. Um I'd probably, and I realize I'm heavily biased here, but I'd say Scott Lautenbah was certainly a um a mover and a shaker of sorts, uh was a creator of what uh Ernie Chambers affectionately dubbed the clack. Um back in the day it was him, Senator John Moranti, Senator Tyson Larson, and a number of the others that rotated in, uh including the originals, um uh Senator Flood and uh Senator Fisher. Uh but he was definitely uh an instigator in a lot of cases. I don't know that uh his legislative accomplishments were were massive, though uh if you enjoy a cigar bar around this state, you could certainly thank him. Um but uh you know he really did make a lot of accomplishments without necessarily having a name on it, and that was the beauty of Scott, is he didn't care whose name was on it. Um so would start there. I definitely think it's easy to say uh Senator Fisher and Senator Flood is the massive impact they are both having uh that they had on the state level and they are now having on the federal level. Uh I think we're very fortunate they've continued their service and uh uh you know hope hope to see them continue many, many more years to come.
SPEAKER_00Andy. Yeah, I'll go back in history too. I'll go a little bit farther back, but I would I was gonna say Flood and Fisher as well. They were both smart, still are smart. They both liked to prepare. They liked going in armed with information, they they wanted to understand what in the heck they were talking about, uh, and they were good at getting things done. And part of the reason they were getting it good good at getting things done was because they knew how to work with other people. And I see you I see that missing more and more these days where there's you know not just intense fights during the legislature, but there's uh, you know, lunch in Valentine and let's figure out how to get this done. And I think we need to do more of that outside of the session. Um the senator that probably sticks out in my memory um the most is Jerome Warner. He was a senator um and either head of uh revenue or appropriations when I was in college and I was involved in student government. My parents knew him, and so I got to know him kind of early in college and then connected with him when I was in student government and in watching him and talking to him, and he was the one who would kind of talk to you about how he did things. And it was all about the good of the state and making sure our budget was balanced and making sure that people were treated fairly. Uh, he wasn't driven by an agenda, he was driven by a passion to serve Nebraska, and and uh we miss those people these days. And I'm not saying it anything critically about who's there, but term limits I would say has changed that dramatically. I don't know how many years he served, but it was a long time, and he established his um just abilities and uh his philosophy through that period of time. We don't we don't have that.
SPEAKER_02So I would have said Jerry Warner as well. Uh my dad went to high school with him in Waverly. They were friends since childhood, and he was the first state senator I met when I was in elementary school, and he was my state senator growing up. And uh because of uh his knowledge and friendship with my dad, he took so I always thought he took special attention to uh greet me to his office, to be very kind to me when I met him in public. And my dad always said, and he's probably right, he said he may be the smartest guy ever to graduate from Waverly High School, including myself and him, my dad. So mildly insulting. That's right.
SPEAKER_00Uh let's talk a little bit about uh I would say one senator right now who I think stands out is Mike Jacobson. Oh absolutely uh level-headed guy. He um is the chair of banking, banking insurance, and he is the vice chair of revenue, two pretty important committees. Um he's well respected, he's level-headed, he gets he he works with others, and he doesn't, you know, don't check the G the D or the R. It's uh who are you who are you and what do you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so uh Senator Jacobson, uh hopefully you're not listening, but this is my story about him. First time I met him was in Elevator in Omaha. We were both checking into a hotel for some big event, and I'm looking at my key card, and it said it's a 919. I said, God, I wonder what floor this is on. He looked at me and goes, son, that'd be the ninth floor. So I was like, Thank you, Senator, uh, for pointing that out. I didn't I didn't think about that. So he he he put me in the right direction. It's good.
SPEAKER_01And I got my fourth senator, by the way. Okay, who's that? Especially as we're facing a bit of a budget issue going in this year, Lavon Heideman. Okay. You want somebody who was able to get stuff accomplished? With with Frish Fisher and that was a pretty great time. That was it was a murderer's row of good senators, frankly. But um but Lavon Heideman was spectacular when it came to tackling the budget without uh with with doing as little damage as possible to what we were trying to accomplish.
SPEAKER_02So we'll talk about the current session. Uh sort of when did it start? What what time is it in January? Second Tuesday in January. And how long does the session run?
SPEAKER_00It's a 90-day session. It's a budget session. They alternate year by year. So an odd number year, 2025, is a budget year. We're putting together a two-year state budget. Um that may be unique for Nebraska, too. We're on a biennium budget. So most of that work is done. The appropriations committee over the last couple of months has had hearing after hearing after hearing on agency budgets. And they'll be tendering their report to the legislature on the 70th day. But this is a 90-day session set to as end June 9th.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's important to note the 90 days is 90 legislative days, not calendar days. Otherwise, otherwise we'd be done by now and on our way to vacation.
SPEAKER_02Right. And on the even years, how many days is the even year? Sixty days. So sixty and ninety-day sessions. You basically have thirty built in for the budget, right? So what has happened so far in this session? Give us some highlights and perhaps one low light or two. Oh boy.
SPEAKER_01Um well the highlights, as Andy pointed out, is there's been a lot more uh collegiality getting through uh getting through the debate so far this year. Um past couple of years, I mean, we even made some national news in terms of some dust-ups over bills uh that certain senators were offended by. And so uh, you know, it it dragged things down a little bit and we didn't get much accomplished. This year, it seems like, at least up to this point, about a week or two ago, as Andy mentioned, we were we were flying. We were flying through some fairly uh substantive, uh at the same time not overly controversial bills. Uh now we're hitting the priorities. That tends to sometimes encompass um controversy, and of course the budget is due out by the 29th of April. Uh uh constitutionally supposed to be out by then. Um hopefully it'll be out earlier so we know how to to work what we're working with. But um yeah, so it's it's been surprising how how uh easy it's been to go uh go through so far this year. But as far as uh a low point, I'm just gonna hold my powder on that one because I'm sure a low point's coming around the corner. But right now I think it's fairly fairly comfortable, at least from my view.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell So what still lies ahead? Again, we've got uh some time left between June and when the session ends. What do they still have to get done and what do you expect to happen?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean the speaker will try and get as many priority bills done as possible, again, committee or individual, uh as well as, of course, you know there's 25 speaker priorities that he says, hey, this is important enough bill, I'll throw my name behind it. Uh we'll see where all those all go, because you can't get them all done before the end of the session. Uh and then of course the budget. The budget is going to be huge. Uh we're facing a deficit of uh what it was 450-some million before, then they readjusted it down, now it's readjusted back up due to some Medicaid issues, and I think we're looking at uh 375 or so million. Don't don't quote me exactly. Um so we're gonna have to find that money, and we're gonna have to make sure that you know government can function, and uh um that's going to be a real wrestling match. I know in terms of a couple of our clients who there's a lot of concern about, say, tourism money, uh things of that nature, that that of uh broadband funding, things of that nature that are going to be uh a real a real fight. And so we want to make sure that nobody's ox gets scored too badly and you know, hopefully uh get through this. But that will no doubt take uh uh the 30 days at least set aside for the budget.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're uh the budget will be tough. It'll be released by the committee. Usually like that committee likes to stand together as much as possible. Uh but there will be pressure once it gets on the floor. There's pressure now to to not cut things. There's a lot on the chopping block. A lot. And yeah, we've got a sizable budget gap to to to uh try to fill it, like Brent mentioned, and a lot of things are out there and everybody's fighting to protect them. And and uh you know that makes things challenging for the lobby, it makes challeng things challenging for the governor, it makes things challenging for the legislature, starting with that appropriations committee. So they've got a lot of work to do on that, but you still hear every week in the press the property ta tax crisis and That didn't help things out because that's money that we can't afford to lose because we've got a budget gap, but we're also just making farmers and ranchers suffer in a way that's unsustainable.
SPEAKER_02So what is the appetite for what are called revenue raisers, also known as taxes? Do you do we anticipate a tax increase?
SPEAKER_00People like the uh they're not looking so much at tax increases, Brent can jump in and correctly, but at eliminating tax exemptions. Which r raises revenue because the exemption is not there. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yeah. And so you have new new tax revenue from an exempt service now, uh legal fees, whatever it might be. Um and you see the same situation play out there as with the budget cuts. Uh every interest group who might be affected by the elimination of a sales tax exemption is going to oppose that exemption for the same reason they got it in place in the first place. I think people um there are some senators in the past and recent who realized we really got to do something about this system of sales taxes. It's it's not it's not logical, it's not sound, it's not based on policy and principle, it's based on basically years of successful lobbying. And somehow it needs to be methodically redone. But uh they failed during the special session because they didn't have a plan. And I don't think we're Brent, you can check me if I'm wrong on this, but I don't think we're hearing any plan right now that has general consensus. And that's one thing we have to have to do.
SPEAKER_02So what with the demographic shift eastward towards Lincoln and Omaha and along the I-80 corridor, uh what's the current sort of rough split of rural versus urban districts and have you seen the impact of that as far as how the legislature operates?
SPEAKER_01Um It depends on the bill. It really depends on the situation. I do think you are, again, you are seeing a massive movement um eastward. I think uh I'm trying to remember, I think it's Senator Holtcroft's district, uh, used to belong to Senator Williams, who was in Gothenburg area and I mean and was shifted over um the last redistricting into Omaha. So you were definitely seeing a trickle of of seats go eastward, which is um, you know, it's unfortunate, right? We we want to see uh growth across the state, and I think um hopefully we can. But uh at this point, um the rural urban split really is still philosophical. I think I think most people are still uh operating based on their either liberal or conservative Republican-Democrat principles overall, but there was a bit of rural urban discussion, and I Mike Jacobson, uh the aforementioned Mike Jacobson, stepped in and he said, look, this is something we're gonna have to really consider, you know, for the future, because it's not always gonna be this split. Someday it is going to be everywhere in a Cherry County huge district where you have you know twelve counties uh uh in place. So uh there's definitely some forward thinking in terms of that split, but I think right now, again, it's mostly a philosophical situation still as far as your overall political philosophy. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Western senators tend to be more conservative, and Eastern Senators probably more diverse and more liberal. Uh but I don't see it really affecting many bills on a on a identifiable basis.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell In the last three or so months, the the state of Nebraska has lost three legendary lobbyists, government relations folks have passed away. Uh how how do you think the loss, again, we we know the loss of folks for uh four, okay, for loss of folks who's real term limits, but we're also losing people who are passing away or longtime lobbyists. What uh what impact is it do you think that has? That institutional knowledge?
SPEAKER_00I think most of those lobbyists had nurtured younger lobbyists under their wings, and I they will be missed. Their personalities will be missed. You think of people like Walt Radcliffe, you think about people like Don Wesley, Gordy Kissle, Gordy Kissle, Herb Chimmick, um, I mean, just great people and not just lobbyists, but leaders in the community, and they're gonna be missed. But they also were smart guys, business guys who have good associates or good partners, and and they will fill those gaps. But the personalities will change. I mean, Walt's absence will change the the lobby. How? Uh, we'll watch and see.
SPEAKER_02What uh committees do each of you prefer, or do you have it like a favorite committee you like uh doing work before or appearing before?
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh, I love them all. Transportation and telecom is probably where I wind up the most, Mark. Now, Brandt's in front of every committee every week, but um I'm more specialized in terms of the nuts and bolts of legislative work on transportation and telecom. We've got a group of nine broadband clients that have been clients of the firm for years. Uh, we do all sorts of uh government work for them, business work, tax-related work, human resources work. Uh they like us and and uh it's a it's a joy to represent them. They've been pretty active at the legislature, and most of their work, of course, comes before the Transportation Telecom Committee. So that's the one that I'm probably most familiar with.
SPEAKER_02Brent, I know you love all the committees as well, but if you had to pick a favorite, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01Oh boy. Um I think at this point it would probably be um business and labor because I've not been in front of them this year, which means I couldn't get in any trouble. Uh they have some bills, right? There's a lot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that that committee actually has been uh a few of the more what I'll call controversial bills uh are coming out of that committee right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're uh you know, thank thankfully, like I said, I didn't have to testify on any of those, so I'll I'll dodge that bullet. But uh also, you know, just love Kathleen Kowf. She's a great uh great senator, a great friend. Um but uh in terms of just you know appearing in front of the committee and having the best uh sort of interactions, I say appropriations, despite their uh reputation for dourness because all they do is stare at numbers all day, they were actually very, very pleasant to uh to speak with uh on a number of different occasions.
SPEAKER_00So I gotta say something about appropriations too. That's a thankless job. And those people deserve uh respect for what they do. It's tough and it's uh it's a more diverse committee this year, um uh both on the right and the left, especially on the left. And uh it'll be interesting. It'll be a challenge for Rob Clements, the chairman of that committee, to pull the committee together and find consensus on a budget that they think they can get across the floor to the legislature and across the governor's desk as well. Um Paul uh Rob is a soft-spoken man, he's a banker from Elmwood. Um he is a well-regarded guy and uh a guy who knows how to keep his calm and try to get people to work together. And I'm confident that we'll see a good budget come out of there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_02So is that not another uh sort of unique feature of the Nebraska legislature? Doesn't the budget have to be balanced? It does, yes.
SPEAKER_01Correct.
SPEAKER_02And I don't think that's true in every state, is it?
SPEAKER_01Not every state, no. Uh I think maybe uh again, going general numbers, but I think about a third of states require that, but uh it's not the most common thing in the world.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell So that committee has to come out with a budget that actually balances it has, yes.
SPEAKER_00That is uh I mean it's that is the one thing each biennium that the legislature has to do under the Constitution is balance the budget.
SPEAKER_02So let me ask you one question we ask every podcast guest, I'm gonna give you each a shot at this. I'm gonna ask you if you had one word, one word that describes this great state in which you were raised, in which you work, and which you currently represent clients before the Nebraska legislature. What what's your one word for the state of Nebraska, Andy?
SPEAKER_00Outdoors. And why is that? Uh we have uh one of the most beautiful states in the in the country from east to west. It's diverse in a way that I think most people even in Nebraska don't realize. Uh that lends itself to a great agricultural opportunity and and land, um both farming and and uh rangeland, uh ranching. Um and uh there's a lot of space, a lot of wide open space here. Most of it's privately owned, so you kind of have to know to how to how to get into it and out of it, but um it's a special place.
SPEAKER_01Brent? I'm gonna go with temperate. I was gonna go tempest, but that has more of a negative uh connotation. I just I just think back to about two weeks ago when we had an 80-degree Tuesday and a blizzard on a Wednesday. Um so definitely uh seeing that change is uh change in the weather, change in the uh uh temperature. Uh but also it applies, I believe, in many ways to uh both the population and uh and the uh uh the legislation, the the government here. Uh you know, I think you're gonna see the winds shift here and there at the time. You'll see a calm, beautiful day go to absolute uh you know uh weather, uh severe weather uh the next day based on the bill, and of course, based on on folks voting. I mean, I know that we had recent discussions about the minimum wage and the uh family or the paid uh sick leave act, uh all that was passed by by our population, by our by our citizens here in Nebraska, and they felt it was appropriate. And you know, if you looked at Nebraska from the outside, some people are like, well, you're a red state, you're not gonna do that. No, I think I think we we change based on what is needed and we're based on what's out there, and I think uh, you know, the weather is a little less changeable, but uh the people are definitely open to discussion and change.
SPEAKER_02Andy, Brent, thanks for joining us and sharing your thoughts about the Nebraska legislature and Nebraska. Folks, if you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or whatever your favorite podcast app is. And please keep listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska. It's great communities, Nebraska's number one industry, agriculture, and the folks who make it happen.
SPEAKER_03Thanks. This has been 93, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludke.
