Governor Pillen has put out a press release stating his goals for the upcoming legislative session.

And while some are very worthy like finding a way to lower property taxes and creating a better way to fund our schools, I have to wonder if other ideas on his agenda are really the biggest problems the state is facing.

He wants to pass a law that would make student athletes participate in sports according to their gender at birth. Now let’s be honest. Is this really a big problem in Nebraska? Are there really that many transgender girls in the state that want to play volleyball, basketball, golf, or any of the other girl’s sport? And how many transgender boys really want to play football?

If the state wants to make high school sports more equitable maybe they should do something about how the schools are able to recruit kids from other schools to put together championship teams. Yes, all the players on the field may be of the same gender when they are born, but they aren’t all from the same neighborhood. Is having a transgender woman on your swim team much different than how schools like state champion football team Millard South recruit such a dominant team? They beat schools like Millard West 56-0, Millard North 63-21, Kearney 52-3, and Papillion La Vista South, 56-19. Millard North, Kearney, and Papillion LaVista South were all good enough to make the state championship playoffs, yet they still got spanked by Millard South.

As a former Benson Bunny my team gave up halfway through the season because they couldn’t even field a team. Shouldn’t every high school be allowed to be competitive? And if the rules say you can recruit whoever you want to be on your team why leave out the very few transgender athletes in the state?

My point being can we get away from the emotional social issues this session and focus on the important stuff?

Governor Pillen, I support your goal of lowering property taxes this session. Will you present a more workable plan to achieve that goal? Will you listen to all ideas on how to lower property taxes? Or will you fly by the seat of your pants like you did during the special session?

Another issue on the Governor’s agenda is making Nebraska a winner-take-all state regarding electoral votes. I have written numerous columns on why this is a bad idea, and I’m sure I’ll write more as the idea progresses this session. But this state has been winner-take-all numerous times. That is when the Republicans have run better candidates. Governor Pillen, work to get your party to change, instead of getting Nebraska voting laws to change.

In talking with a state government insider, I was told that although the governor will have a filibuster-proof majority in the Unicameral this year, some of the new incoming Republican state senators are more moderate than the ones they’re replacing. Let’s hope their more moderate views permeate the session and the state doesn’t get bogged down in party politics.

As the song goes… There is no place like Nebraska, and our Unicameral is one of the things that make us so different. Our NONPARTISAN Unicameral. Or at least what is supposed to be our nonpartisan Unicameral.

A good idea is a good idea and no one party nor one person has the market cornered on good ideas. Even though my ego would like me to think all my ideas are brilliant, I know they aren’t. And even the brilliant ones I do have can be improved on by someone with a different point of view.

We’re still a few weeks away from the start of the next session of the Unicameral. Let’s hope our state senators will spend their time focusing on good ideas and not party politics.

I’m thankful that some men and women are willing to put their lives on hold to spend months in Lincoln for little pay to try to make things better for Nebraskans. After all, a state senator only makes $12,000.00 a year.

Governor Pillen has put out what he hopes to accomplish this session. Now that he’s got a year under his belt it will be interesting to see if he’ll be more effective than he was last year. Let’s hope this session focuses more on the truly important things and not just the clickbait social issues they have in the past.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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