{"id":38573,"date":"2025-04-24T10:08:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T16:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=38573"},"modified":"2025-05-15T14:38:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T20:38:58","slug":"drone-bill-amended-to-become-omnibus-administrative-measure-advanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=38573","title":{"rendered":"Drone bill amended to become omnibus administrative measure, advanced"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bill that would outline criteria for state drone purchases was amended to include the provisions of four additional bills and given first-round approval April 23.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Bob Andersen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB660, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Bob Andersen, would create the Secure Drone Purchasing Act. Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, state agencies or other entities using state funds could purchase only drones that do not present a threat to the state and are:
\n\u2022 cleared by the U.S. Department of Defense Blue UAS program;
\n\u2022 compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024; and
\n\u2022 designed, maintained modified or operated in a manner incapable of transmitting data to unauthorized persons.<\/p>\n

The bill would require the state Department of Transportation\u2019s Division of Aeronautics to create and maintain a list of secure drones that meet the above criteria and are authorized for purchase before Jan. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

The division also could consult with cybersecurity experts to ensure the integrity and security of data collected by aerial systems used in Nebraska. This list of authorized drones must be available on the division\u2019s website and updated at least every six months.<\/p>\n

Andersen said the measure would ensure that the tools that law enforcement use to protect Nebraskans don\u2019t become \u201cback doors for surveillance or data theft by foreign or hostile actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee amendment, adopted 33-0, would add the provisions of four additional bills heard by the committee this session.<\/p>\n

Andersen, committee vice chairperson, said the amendment was the result of a great deal of work and compromise by all of the bill introducers and stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll elements of this committee package are designed to make our government more secure, more efficient and more accessible to Nebraskans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Provisions of LB29, sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad, would require a review every five years of all existing and pending rules and regulations under the state\u2019s Administrative Procedures Act.<\/p>\n

The provisions would require each agency head to designate an individual to be responsible for the review. A report would be submitted to the Clerk of the Legislature detailing the necessity of each new rule or regulation, its cost and benefits, processes for measuring effectiveness and whether a new rule or regulation was necessitated by state law, federal mandate or court decision.<\/p>\n

Rulemaking would be suspended pending review unless a new rule or regulation is time sensitive, necessary for public health or safety or subject to state or federal legal deadlines.<\/p>\n

Conrad said Nebraska\u2019s regulatory code can be confusing and expensive for residents and companies to navigate and that her proposal would alleviate some of those regulatory burdens.<\/p>\n

The amended provisions of LB445, introduced by Elkhorn Sen. R. Brad von Gillern, would create the State Building Construction Alternatives Act. The provisions would allow the State Building Division of the Department of Administrative Services to utilize a design-build contract or a construction manager-general contractor contract for state buildings.<\/p>\n

Von Gillern said most state projects still would use the traditional design-build method.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [amendment] provides for an approval process through DAS in which a requesting agency must demonstrate that one of these alternative contracting methods is justified,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The provisions outline the guidelines for such contracts and the selection process and would:
\n\u2022 increase the construction project threshold requiring a professional consultant from $50,000 to $75,000 and allow for adjustments every four years;
\n\u2022 alter the requirement of a report on availability of state-owned property to be \u201cupon request\u201d instead of annual; and
\n\u2022 provide waivers to a current requirement that 1% of all appropriations for new construction of public-facing state buildings be designated for works of art.<\/p>\n

LB662, sponsored by Andersen, would create a new section of law relating to the state\u2019s receipt of federal funds. The amended provisions would require state agencies receiving appropriations from the Legislature to prepare a federal funding inventory every even-numbered year and submit a report to the director of the Department of Administrative Services.<\/p>\n

Among other provisions, the inventory would include:
\n\u2022 the agency\u2019s total expenditure of federal funds during the prior fiscal year;
\n\u2022 the total amount of federal funds appropriated to the agency by the Legislature;
\n\u2022 the percentage of the agency\u2019s total budget that the expenditures represent;
\n\u2022 any requirements for a state match and a copy of any related agreements;
\n\u2022 a contingency plan if federal funds were to be reduced by 10% or more; and
\n\u2022 a detailed description of actions taken to obtain federal funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about more than just numbers, it\u2019s about ensuring that state leaders and Nebraska taxpayers understand the full scope of our reliance on federal resources,\u201d Andersen said.<\/p>\n

Finally, the provisions of LB664, introduced by Whitman Sen. Tanya Storer, would make a number of changes to the Administrative Procedures Act. The provisions would require that agencies considering a new rule or regulation under the act accept comments or written materials from any person by electronic or mail submission.<\/p>\n

The provisions also would change the venue rules regarding where an individual may file a challenge to the validity of a rule or regulation. In addition to the District Court for Lancaster County, venue also would be proper in the petitioner\u2019s county of residence or where their principal place of business or agency headquarters are located.<\/p>\n

Storer said the measure would provide greater access to the legal system to rural businesses wishing to contest administrative actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it is difficult at best to challenge rules and regulations that have been misapplied or violate the law entirely,\u201d she said. \u201cThese court venue restrictions place an undue burden on small businesses that cannot afford costly travel and prohibitive legal fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

After adopting a technical amendment offered by Conrad on a 33-0 vote, lawmakers advanced LB660 to select file 38-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bill that would outline criteria for state drone purchases was amended to include the provisions of four additional bills and given first-round approval April 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[313],"class_list":["post-38573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-military-and-veterans-affairs","tag-sen-bob-andersen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/UpdateBlogPhoto-4.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38573"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39005,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38573\/revisions\/39005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}