Dear Editor, The 107th Nebraska Legislature convened on January 6 in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. As elected representatives, we believe that it is important that the state’s elected legislators are on the field during this time to represent our constituents.

Last week was the final week to introduce new legislation. A total of 684 bills were introduced. I have introduced a total of 9 bills this year. LB’s 190, 191, 215, 336, 393, 616, 617, 618, and 668. Three of those bills are to past as shell bills. Those shell bills are LB’s 393, 617, and 618.

On Thursday, January 14th I delivered my annual “State of the State” address to the Nebraska Legislature. Even after back-to-back years of major challenges—historic floods in 2019 and a pandemic in 2020—I am pleased to report that the state of the state is strong. The work of Nebraskans everywhere has helped to meet these challenges with grit, tenacity, and determination.

So you thought things would simply be fixed because the calendar flipped, eh? I kid...sort of. The calendar wasn’t the source of our problems and now that 2021 is delivering a new batch, I think we all understand that wishing and hoping everything gets bet-ter and easier isn’t going to suffice.

America is grappling a difficult legacy. Our society was built by the blood and sweat of slaves, on land previously occupied by Native Americans. When we won independence, only white male property owners were fully enfranchised. Enslaved peoples were not fully counted under the constitution. Married women had no legal identity.

It has been a very busy week here at the Legislature. My office holds many responsibilities that require my attention and input on. One of the issues on the forefront is the continuing presence of Covid and the fact that many things need to be tweaked this year to try and accommodate safety concerns and social distancing.

Over the past six weeks, Nebraskans have been rallying to bring U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) to our state. This tremendous support for the military is common practice in our state. Nebraskans honor our servicemen and women, and our residents take great pride in hosting strategic missions that protect our nation.

It has been a long and difficult year for so many of us, but none more so than those who live in senior care facilities and nursing homes. They’ve been locked down for months on end, away from almost all of their family and friends, sometimes even away from their fellow residents. I am not complaining about the protocol, but we can all acknowledge how difficult that is.

The legislative on January 6th. It was nice to see colleagues that I’ve worked with before as well as getting to know session kicked off some of the new or returning mem-bers. On the first day there are some procedures we must go through, such as the swearing in of newly elected members, adopting temporary rules, electing permanent officers, and the elections for leadership positions. I am pleased to announce that I was elected to Chair of the Executive Board. It is the second highest position held in the legislature and I am excited to take on this new challenge. Most of the elections were fairly uneventful. There were 3 contested elections for standing committee chairpersons. Business and Labor was between Senator Matt Hansen and Senator Ben Hansen. Senator Matt Hansen was the previous chair but was ousted by Senator Ben Hansen by one vote. The Education Committee was another close race between Senator Mike Groene, the previous chair, and Senator Lynne Walz. After there was a tie in the first round of voting someone must have switched their vote in the second round and the new chair of the committee is now Senator Lynne Walz. The last contested race was for Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, the seat was open since I did not run again. Senator Bruce Bostelman topped Senator Tim Gragert. I look forward to working with all of the new and previous chairs.

We wrapped up the two weeks of our children being home from school for the holidays this week. It was enjoyable having them around during the day, but as they say: when you love someone, you’re still ready to see them go. Well, it’s something like that.