MUD district elections passed

Lawmakers passed a bill March 24 that authorizes district elections for the metropolitan utilities district (MUD) board of directors.

LB1014, introduced by Omaha Sen. John Murante, authorizes the MUD board of directors to divide the district’s territory into seven election subdivisions.

The board has until Feb. 1, 2016, to establish districts composed of substantially equal population and compact and contiguous territory and will assign each member a numbered subdivision for the remainder of their current term of office.

Assignments will be made so as to stagger elections to the new districts until 2023. The board must redistrict following each federal decennial census.

The bill passed on a 47-0 vote.