LINCOLN – Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen says he has no plans to call the Legislature back into special session this year to consider additional property tax relief after a slimmed-down proposal won final passage Tuesday.

Rather than push lawmakers for more changes to Lincoln later this year, as the governor discussed during negotiations on the bill, he would wait until the start of the next regular session in January, he said.

Pillen rejected criticism from some senators who said he should not have called them into a special session on July 25 if he did not have enough votes for his proposals. He said he understood that his plans need more support.

“I think we know where we stand,” Pillen said during a break in a pardon board meeting. “We just all need to come together and plan to work with the new board after the first of the year.”

Ask voters for help

His focus now is on appealing to Nebraska voters in the November election. He said he wants people to send more conservatives to parliament.

Pillen’s political operation has spent months asking donors to financially support his campaign and political action committees so he can support more legislative candidates of his choosing.

Some Republican campaign teams have complained that he has made it difficult to raise money for candidates and campaigns because quite a few top donors have been instructed to channel their political donations through him.

A first step forward

Pillen told the Examiner he views Bill 34 and the progress senators made this summer as a “first step forward.”

The law accelerates an existing income tax credit for property taxes paid by bringing forward the amount of money from the credit and applying it in advance to citizens’ property tax bills.

“It’s obviously a step in the right direction – 55 or 45 percent of Nebraskans will benefit from a 20 percent property tax cut and they won’t need an accountant to do it,” Pillen said.

The governor said he also welcomed the new spending caps for local governments in LB 34, calling them an important step to control local spending, which he said led to an increase in property taxes.

“That’s the key,” he said.

The caps provide exemptions for public safety spending, which accounts for the majority of local spending, but limit spending on roads and potholes, as well as parks and libraries.

He says more caps are needed

Pillen said yes when asked directly whether he still wants more comprehensive state funding for K-12 education and stricter caps on K-12 education spending in the next legislative session.

Both must happen to reduce property taxes, he said.

“That’s a critical part of it,” he said. “I think it’s fundamental that we work to make sure that the state is funding K-12 education and not property taxpayers.”

Supporters of public education and local governments say capping spending at the local level poses a threat to the quality of education and public services because governments are unable to keep up with demands.

Opponents of the caps instead fought for a change to Pillen’s original plan to expand the state sales tax to cover more items, including some related to agriculture.

The Nebraska State Education Association and others have said they know Pillen will not give in and are ready to remind Nebraskans of the value of local control.