Urban affairs omnibus bill passed

An omnibus municipal governance measure passed May 20.

LB131, introduced by Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, adds “or as otherwise provided by law” to the list of reasons a municipality can waive reading an ordinance three times before its adoption.

The measure was amended to add provisions of seven other bills:
• LB99, introduced by Fremont Sen. Lynne Walz, which exempts areas designated as extremely blighted from the maximum percentage of a city or village that may be designated blighted under the Community Development Law;
• LB161, introduced by the Urban Affairs Committee, which makes several technical changes to the Building Construction Act;
• LB162, also introduced by the committee, which establishes uniform procedures to detach territory from a municipality’s corporate limits;
• LB218, introduced by Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne, which adopts the 2018 Uniform Plumbing Code as the state’s default code;
• LB549, also introduced by Wayne, which allows municipalities that operate a natural gas plant or natural gas system to apply to the state for emergency grant funding to cover up to 80 percent of extraordinary costs associated with an extreme weather event and provide a one-time, $10 million general fund transfer to fund the grants;
• LB556, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Matt Hansen, which clarifies that municipalities may add requirements to a redevelopment contract to comply with their comprehensive redevelopment plan, affordable housing action plan or other goals established by the municipality; and
• LB647, introduced by Norfolk Sen. Michael Flood, which allows first class cities to increase their bonding threshold from $2 million to $5 million when constructing or buying a public building without a vote of the people.

Senators passed LB131 on a vote of 40-7.