This update on Lincoln’s cottage food ordinance is provided courtesy of the Institute for Justice, which represents Cindy Harper, a cottage food producer who lives in Lincoln. The city of Lincoln has amended the cottage food ordinance that last year prompted a lawsuit by the Institute for Justice (IJ) and home baker Cindy Harper, in...
Nebraska state senators in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee have held their hearing on Sen. Tom Briese’s LB263. The bill provides for universal recognition, a pro-growth policy recognizing out-of-state occupational licenses based on the training or testing requirements a licensed applicant has already completed. It does not delicense any profession; rather, it eliminates...
On Wednesday, Nebraska’s neighbors to the north passed HB1077, a bill to provide universal recognition for occupational licensing. That bill, introduced at the request of Gov. Kristi Noem, is just waiting for her signature. The bill was passed in both houses by near-unanimous votes and will represent the third of Nebraska’s neighbors (Iowa and Missouri...
The number of states introducing (and advancing) legislation that would grant universal recognition to licensed workers from out of state seems to be growing almost daily. In addition to Nebraska’s LB263, which was heard in the Government Committee almost two weeks ago, there are at least seven states that are moving what I would call...
Nebraskans with safe and warm homes got a reminder this week of just how fortunate they are, as communities across the state and region experienced near-record low temperatures. A new video by the Institute for Justice tells the stories of Americans who are in danger of becoming homeless, all because the housing they can afford,...
In December, Nebraska’s state unemployment rate remained the country’s lowest at a preliminary rate of 3%, matching neighboring South Dakota for the top spot, according to figures released by the Nebraska Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Non-farm employment increased by 5,394 for the month, which the Labor Department called...
Senators have introduced hundreds of bills in the new legislative session. We discuss 21 of them that we’re supporting to remove barriers for Nebraskans in 2021. Resources mentioned in this episode: The Platte Institute’s Take Action Page Find Your Senator Wyoming Legislature considers universal recognition of occupational licenses Bills discussed in this episode (listed by...
Occupational licensing reform has been one of the hot topics in state legislatures throughout the country for the last five years or so. What started out as an effort to chip away on excessive or no-longer-needed occupational regulation has turned into a state-by-state, nationwide effort to reform the way that we think about licensing jobs....
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Pete Ricketts outlined his priorities for the next two years during the 107th Nebraska Legislature. He started by proposing only a 1.5% growth rate to the state’s budget while highlighting areas including property tax relief, making Nebraska more welcoming to veterans and the military, job licensing reform, public...
Lincoln-area state Sen. Matt Hansen has introduced a remarkable bill, and it’s only one sentence long (which we don’t see enough). LB169 starts with the words: “The following sections are outright repealed…” The sections of statute that would be repealed refer to the registration, or occupational licensing, of locksmiths. Locksmiths were among the occupations reviewed as...
While some regulation will always be necessary, Nebraska needs to make sure its regulations are not unintentionally inhibiting economic prosperity or harming the potential to create jobs and allow businesses to expand. As of August of 2020, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University had inventoried 44 states’ regulatory restrictions. Compared with the 43 other...
December 15 was the statutory deadline for committee submission of final reports of reviews in compliance with the Occupational Board Reform Act (LB299, 2018). Although two committee reports have yet to be uploaded on the Legislature’s website, it appears that the change in the scheduling of the legislative session (as a result of COVID) and...
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has released state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures for the third quarter of 2020, with the welcome news that every state experienced a return to growth. Nebraska registered an annualized 33.2% GDP growth rate. The country as a whole saw a similar percentage increase, at 33.4%. GDP is a...
Economists with the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Federal Reserve suggest that at year-end, there are still challenges ahead for small businesses in the Cornhusker State. The analysis points out the strength of Nebraska’s COVID recovery thus far: relatively low employment throughout the year, with even the increased numbers that were seen in April,...