Landmark Legislation

SIDNEY – The bill to pass what officials have coined as “landmark legislation” took another step forward in Nebraska’s legislature March 10. District 47 Sen. Ken Schilz reported Thursday that LB1048 had been voted out of committee and placed on general file for debate on the floor.

“LB1048 is the product of an interim study,” Schilz wrote in an e-mail update. “This legislation, if passed, would constitute the largest revision of our electrical generation laws since the 1930s when public power was first instituted in the state of Nebraska. It should be a historic debate on the floor.”

The history of the bill begins at the creation of a technical committee and an advisory committee to study the opportunities that private wind could bring to Nebraska while protecting its public power system.

“During the drafting of the amendment, which was to replace the original bill that was introduced as a placeholder, two briefings were held,” Schilz said. “The testimony was based off of the draft that the drafting committee was working on.”

The first briefing allowed public power entities and developers to speak with the Natural Resources Committee. In the second briefing, the committee heard from landowners that included Wind Energy Associations and the Center for Rural Affairs for Job Incentives, a tower safety specialist, Nebraska Farm Bureau and the Nebraska wind and wildlife working group.

The five-hour hearing for the bill was Feb. 24 in which the committee heard from many of the same interests from the briefings, as well as the general public, Schilz said.

“Now that the bill has been voted out of committee, it will be up to the entire Legislature to discuss from here on out,” he said.

According to the bill’s statement of intent, it is to “encourage and allow opportunities for private developers to develop, own and operate renewable energy facilities for the export of wind energy from the state, while at the same time preserving the benefits Nebraskans receive as a result of the state’s unique public power system.”

“I have had many restless nights trying to figure out whether the bill will bring the development to our state and especially rural Nebraska,” Schilz said previously. “The opportunities are real. There are literally billions of dollars of investment that are in the balance.”

To contact Sen. Schilz, write to State Capitol, District 47, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, call 402-471-2616 or e-mail at kschilz@leg.ne.gov.