Senators to hold public forums on taxes, special session in Omaha, Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - As a special session approaches, 11 Nebraska State Senators will be seeking input from the state’s two biggest cities.

A pair of public forums have been scheduled — one in Omaha and one in Lincoln.

The former will take place at UNO’s Thompson Alumni Center from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, with the other being held at the Wick Alumni Center in Lincoln from 5-7 p.m. next Monday, July 22. Lawmakers planning to attend each forum include Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh, John Cavanaugh, Carol Blood, Mike McDonnell, and Terrell McKinney, among others.

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The goal of the meetings — which the senators are calling “listening sessions” — is to provide residents of the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas an opportunity to their thoughts on the current state of property taxes in Nebraska and tell senators what they’d like to see come out of the upcoming special session.

The move comes after Gov. Jim Pillen spent the summer traversing the state, stopping in 26 different communities to gather input from mostly rural Nebraskans regarding property taxes and what needs to be done to lower them. But the governor said last week that he purposely avoided scheduling public forums in Lincoln and Omaha because he spends most of his time there anyway.

Senators moved past the tax reform bill without a vote in the final days of the legislative session in April. Now, with just nine days until they are called back to the Capitol continue the same debate, some have expressed frustration regarding Gov. Pillen’s plan, or lack thereof, when it comes to taxes, including Sen. Julie Slama, criticized the governor on social media last week.