Krusin' the Capitol
By Nebraska State Senator Lowen Kruse
2005
Week 17
April 29, 2005
Hi
New phrase on the floor: "elitist stupidity."
Words are complex and thereby fun. "Elitist" I assume would refer to someone
with unusual credentials: political, academic, or possibly fancy famous.
Such persons have as much right as anyone to be stupid and some would have
special talents for it if they are isolated by their gifts or parochial by their
interests.
"Stupidity" does not usually mean dumb. More likely, we are referring to
someone who is quite bright but just does not get it. My question is: why
attach "elitist" unless you are inclined to pull down prominent persons? A valid
point would be that the brightest should not be assumed to have 100% wisdom.
An invalid point would be to cut down the field of leaders to (my) common level.
The best speech of the week: by Senator Kopplin of Gretna. Gail is a
retired superintendent of schools, quiet in voice and manners, with broad experience
and great wisdom. He surprises you, which I like. Recently he poetically
described the pleasures of fishing, from a colorful dawn with gentle quiet time,
to the blending of color, mist and personal reflection at the end of the day.
This week, the subject on the floor was how to regulate sales of common cold
remedies which can be used to cook meth. Several spoke of and we all feel the
horrors of this scourge which is ruining families, filling our jails,
permanently changing personalities through the destruction of parts of the brain and
robbing young persons of their futures. The proposal includes a log at all
drug counters to register every person who buys pseudoephedrine over the counter
(prescriptions are not included). We each feel like we have to do something,
even if it is only a partial answer.
Senator Kopplin said in effect that he had decided he would not agree to any
government registry that was not essential. We have done that too many times,
taking DNA samples from persons who are not suspects but who will be if they
do not submit to the sample, sharing our identity in places where it is not
respected, compromising our sense of freedom by quietly fitting in with the
crowd in order to get along. If the bill has a log he will not vote for it, even
though we are anxious.
My, that brought a flood of thoughts. I remember a military officer coming
to my home in the McCarthy years, to check on my sermons. He was more nervous
than I but I can assure you his visit was chilling to a pastor who felt 100%
loyal to his country. I remember openly protesting the nuclear weapons
buildup, when we had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 20 times over. The
World-Herald caustically described us as unpatriotic and seeking to hurt our
country. I remember the anxiety of protesting the curbing of freedom by
government edicts in the 80's. To be complete, I also remember my congregation in
each of these situations standing with me, unflinching. I decided I will vote
against registering on a log at the drugstore. No one is free. That would be
chaos. However, there is a line in demanding conformance to the community
and we must continuously define it.
The big news of the week came after we adjourned. The Forecast Board decided
we will be plus $80 million over the three-year revenue projection.
Remember, that is $80 per taxpayer, so don't get too party-happy. It is plus $40 for
the current year, plus $20 for the year starting in July, and plus $20 for the
year following. I am quoted all over the place today since I was the only
senator in sight when the reporters were rushing out of the session, and was
still in the office when the radio reporters were calling in. We had adjourned
at noon and I was clearing back work until an evening appointment with Ruth.
Back to the skinny on all this. Reports get confusing unless you have the
cash framework in mind. If you do not like to think about cash and budgets,
skip to the end and have a good day. For those who want to know what the press
is talking about, I will put it very simply.
The tricky language comes from three pots of cash we use to handle cash flow
and emergencies. 1. General Fund balance, which is like your check book
balance. 2. Cash Reserve, which is like your savings account balance. 3.
Minimum Reserve, which is money that is in the budget as cash.
Cash Reserve: at the end of June each year we are required to transfer to
reserve any revenue which was above expectation. The $40 million noted above is
an automatic transfer and we will try not to spend it. I would like our
reserve to be $500 million, which is two month's expense. The $40 will put it at
$200 m., which is a nice gain.
Minimum Reserve: we must over-budget for our two year budget, by 3%. So one
budget item is simply cash. For the coming year, that figure is $90 million.
We can spend it after the budget cycle begins, so you may see reports such
as we are $20 million under reserve when we have $70 million remaining in the
budget as reserve cash.
So, the new budget. Our proposal is $300 million for the coming year. That
sets us up to have $22 m. "surplus" in two years. With an extra $20 m. per
year in the forecast, our figures will change to $62 million above expenses by
the end of June, 2007. Not too long ago we had a status sheet with a minus
$162 million, so you can understand the smiles.
With some extra cash dangling from the ceiling there will be all sorts of
amendments to reach for that. Our budget committee turned back over $300 million
in solid requests, so that is not surprising. We on the committee will try
to hold the line on budget. A big piece, which we did not consider because it
is a reduction of income rather than an expense, is tax incentives for new and
expanding business. We return sales taxes, for example, that were an
increase because of a designated new business. Without the new business we would not
have more tax, so it is not an actual cost. However, the reduced income does
eventually impact the budget so we have to be careful. There is also a big
tax reduction in the proposals -- to stop collecting sales tax on business
equipment. It helps business and boosts economic development, but would cost us
$24 million over the next two years.
There is the new number crunch. You can see that without the additional $40
million put in by our forecasters the tax incentive interests are quite
limited. Now we will see how nervous the legislature is on scanning the future.
Peering into the future.
Lowen
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