Note: This Research Note is the first in a planned series of notes by Platte’s summer interns. Despite sharing a border, Iowa and Nebraska diverge on many legislative topics, especially the regulatory review process. Iowa has been noted to have “one of the best-designed review structures in the country,” according to the Institute for Policy...
LB1092, the Adopt the Online Age Verification Liability Act, is currently being considered by the Legislature. This would require age verification for potentially harmful content to anyone under 18. The definition of harmful is taken from Miller v. California. 413 U.S. 15 (1973). The law reads, “A commercial entity shall not knowingly and intentionally publish...
LB43 introduced by Sen. Rita Sanders–an important bill supported by the Platte Institute, and made the vehicle for several Government Committee priority bills– passed Final Reading in the Legislature today. As introduced, LB43 directs hearing officers and judges, when interpreting state statutes or regulations contested under the Administrative Procedures Act, not to defer to a...
The Platte Institute has been one of the leaders in advancing the cause of occupational licensing reform since 2017. It took a leap year, February 29, for Nebraska to see the latest reform efforts, with the passage on Final Reading of LB16. Today’s passage represents the fifth year that some version of this bill has...
The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups. —Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson (1946) For over half a century, policymakers have addressed...
The concept of ‘creative destruction’, coined by economist Joseph Schumpeter, where innovative market changes lead to the downfall of older, less efficient business models, aptly describes the transformative impact of technology on holiday shopping. While shopping habits during the rest of the year guided the market trends, consumers’ habits during the holiday seasons significantly influenced...
The Cato Institute’s recent release of its new “Freedom in the 50 States” index should provide Nebraska policymakers with some good information to consider as they head into the 2024 legislative session. Cato is a national policy think tank focusing on individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. The bottom line in the index: Nebraska’s...
As any high school civics teacher tries to impress upon distracted teenagers, the federal and state legislative branches pass laws, and the executive branch is responsible for carrying them out. But to facilitate the implementation of laws, administrative rules are created to provide guidance related to the law after it is codified. In Nebraska, the...
The Platte Institute has focused significantly on workforce licensing reform for the last seven years. From making it easier for natural hair braiders to practice their craft to requiring reviews of every license required by the state to work on a five-year cycle, we’ve seen some successes in our efforts to make it easier for...
The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter. Today on Nebraskanomics, I’m joined by Matt Wynn, the executive director of The Flatwater Free Press. Tune into our conversation to learn about government payroll reporting and more government transparency projects in Nebraska. You can also listen...
This year marks the fourth consecutive legislative session that the Nebraska Legislature has heard and considered significant workforce licensing reform. The Platte Institute was engaged actively in that topic as early as 2016. LB16 was introduced by Senator Tom Briese and contains two main elements: universal recognition of licenses from out-of-state and a “fair chance”...
As Nebraskans, we’re proud to say our state is the place for the Good Life. Over the years, Nebraska’s had its fair share of controversial mottoes and even license plates. But through it all, the concept of the “Good Life” has been considered about as good as it gets when it comes to capturing what...
As we prepare for the new legislative session, Nebraska’s facing a substantially changed landscape in the Unicameral. There are 16 new state senators, which is nearly one in every three legislative seats. In addition, our governor’s office is transitioning and a wave of retirements is occurring for legislative employees responsible for the important behind the...
We are happy to share with you our 2022 Cottage Food Holiday Guide. The guide contains the offerings and contact information for over 80 Nebraska cottage food producers. These producers are a fraction of the over 1000 individuals who are now registered to operate cottage food businesses in Nebraska thanks to LB304. In 2019, the...