Judiciary omnibus bill amended, advanced to final round

A Judiciary Committee package containing several proposals related to sentencing, court fees and rural legal access was amended and advanced to final reading April 1.

Under LB935, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Carolyn Bosn, a political subdivision could recover attorney fees and court costs if it must defend against a claim that a court finds to be frivolous or primarily intended to harass the subdivision or its public officials.

As amended on general file, LB935 includes several additional proposals, including LB1199, introduced by Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner. The measure would expand eligibility for the state Legal Education for Public Service and Rural Practice Loan Repayment Assistance Act by providing $10,000 in additional funding and increasing the county population threshold from 15,000 to 75,000 to qualify as a “designated legal profession shortage area.”

During select file debate, Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad offered an amendment to create a priority system for the rural attorney loan repayment program under the act. The amendment would prioritize funding first to attorneys practicing in counties with no other practicing attorneys, then to those in counties with fewer than three practicing attorneys and finally those in counties with fewer than 75,000 residents.

Conrad said the amendment would target areas of the state with the most severe attorney shortages while preserving existing benefits.

“I would just hate to see a meaningful award be diminished or diluted as we cast the net wider with not really a lot more money,” Conrad said.

Bosn then offered an amendment to the Conrad amendment to clarify that the new priority system would apply only to awards made after July 1. It also would specify that the provisions would not affect awards previously made to recipients on or before June 20.

Senators voted 34-0 to adopt Bosn’s amendment before adopting Conrad’s 35-0.

Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha also offered an amendment, adopted 37-0, that would modify sentencing rules by preserving the presumption of probation for Class IV felonies, while adding an exception. Under the amendment, defendants would lose the presumption if they were originally charged with a more serious felony and later pleaded down to a Class IV offense.

Cavanaugh said the change aims to maintain leniency for lower-level offenses while preventing more serious offenders from automatically qualifying for probation.

Omaha Sen. Ashlei Spivey also offered an amendment to the measure targeting provisions related to Bellevue Sen. Rick Holdcroft’s LB1228, included in the omnibus package.

Introduced at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, LB1228 would establish a new docket fee for civil cases and traffic misdemeanors or infractions in district and county courts and create a $10 case-management system software fee.

New court fee revenue would be directed primarily to the state’s General Fund, while a portion would be deposited into a court-specific cash fund to support maintaining and upgrading court technology systems.

Under Spivey’s amendment, those fees instead would be directed to a dedicated court cash fund and could not be used for other purposes and certain fees, including the proposed traffic-related fee, would be reduced.

Spivey said relying on increased fees to balance the state budget is regressive, disproportionately impacts low-income individuals and risks diverting revenue to purposes unrelated to supporting the judiciary.

Bosn opposed the amendment, saying directing fee revenue to a dedicated court fund could risk underfunding the courts if the fees do not generate as much revenue as expected.

Syracuse Sen. Bob Hallstrom also opposed the amendment. It is not unprecedented for court fees to be directed to the General Fund, he said, and the current approach would avoid unintentionally cutting court funding if projected fee revenue falls short.

The Spivey amendment failed 13-30.

As amended on general file, LB935 also includes provisions of the following bills:
● LB789, introduced by Bosn, which would prevent defendants from benefiting if they intentionally make a witness unavailable, allowing a witness’s prior statements to be admitted in court;
● LB876, sponsored by Hallstrom, which would establish a statewide 72-hour no-contact period to take effect automatically when a person is arrested for certain domestic or sexual assault offenses;
● LB978, introduced by Whitman Sen. Tanya Storer, which would allow individuals depicted in or exposed to obscene material, child sexual abuse material or content promoting child sexual exploitation to sue entities that intentionally distribute such content on publicly available websites;
● LB1020, sponsored by Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, which would criminalize unauthorized use of tracking devices, establish penalties for swatting incidents and restrict drone use in designated airspace without proper approval; and
● LB1139, introduced by Hallstrom, which would modify how child and spousal support liens are applied by limiting them to periods of missed payments and requiring their automatic removal once obligations are satisfied.

Senators voted 33-12 to advance LB935 to final reading.