Public guardianship bill passed

A bill that authorizes certain temporary public guardianships in Douglas County and contains a variety of judicial measures dealing with protection orders, court fees and juvenile court disposition passed the final round of debate June 1.

LB157, introduced by Bennington Sen. Wendy DeBoer, allows for creation of temporary guardianships in a county containing a metropolitan class city to assist individuals who are applying for private or public benefits. Omaha currently is the state’s only metropolitan class city. A temporary guardian may access personal and financial records necessary to apply for benefits.

The bill was amended to contain provisions of 10 other measures including LB82, also introduced by DeBoer, which updates reporting requirements from the director of the state’s Department of Correctional Services.

It also contains provisions of LB315, introduced by Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson, which prohibit providers of medical or other services related to examination of injuries arising from sexual assault, domestic assault or trafficking from referring victims to collection agencies or taking other averse action for failure to pay the debt.

LB157 passed 47-0 and takes effect immediately.