Cannabis oil, pension reforms advance; senators turn testy

As the Nebraska Legislature closes in on the end of its 2015 session, debate got personal Monday. Meanwhile, lawmakers advanced a bill authorizing a pilot program to use cannabis oil to treat epileptic seizures. And a bill to lower Omaha teacher’s pension benefits, and possibly commit the state to future funding of the system’s funding shortfalls, also advanced.

The testiness started early Monday, in a discussion of the $8.7 billion budget senators passed last week. Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte objected to statements to the effect that the increase was only 3.1 percent, saying that didn’t count spending that’s considered outside the budget, like $25 million for a virtual reality training center on how to treat diseases like Ebola at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Omaha Sen. Heath Mello objected to the way Groene was phrasing his objections, and contrasted it with other senators’ words. "No one on this body throughout the budget debate stood up and personally attacked members, personally attacked the Legislature as an institution, tried to make claims that everything we’re doing is shrouded in secrecy and that Appropriations Committee members are doing whatever they want – it’s such a malign system that allows people to influence this process beyond what every other member in this body gets to do," he said.

Mello referred to an op-ed piece Groene wrote in which he said senators who are not members of the Appropriations Committee are left out of the debate, and the only way to change the tradition is to make sure the next chairman is a proponent of free speech. Groene defended what he wrote. "Senator Mello, the only person I hear attacking anybody is you. In my op-ed I wrote to inform my constituents I talked about the process. If somebody’s skin is thin and the world centers around them, I guess they could take it wrong. But I think the process needs to be fixed," he said.

Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion, a member of the Appropriations Committee, jumped in to explain why he supported this year’s budget, but not the previous one. "Last year I could not support the budget. I was the only one. It came out 8-1. I thought that was entirely too much spending. And I personally thought people pretty much got bought off on the Appropriations Committee with projects in their district and their priorities," he said.

Sen. Tyson Larson of O’Neill said he thought Kintner was referring to him. "I can only assume that he was referring to me in the sense that I received seventeen and a half- I introduced an Appropriations bill – I didn’t receive personally, I’ve never received personal money for anything – but I introduced an Appropriations bill for $17.5 million last year for the parks system and the Appropriations Committee fully funded it," he said.

Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft said her constituents are confused. "What they perceive is happening in our Legislature is a giant legislative swap meet – that there are votes being exchanged for votes. There is no cash under the table, but for the new colleagues that have come in, this is a very dangerous path to follow," she said.

Whatever the danger, lawmakers plowed ahead on a variety of bills. One of them, sponsored by Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford, would authorize the University of Nebraska Medical Center to do a pilot study on using cannabis oil to treat children suffering from epileptic seizures. The bill is much narrower than another proposal by Bellevue Sen. Tommy Garrett that would legalize medical marijuana to treat a variety of ailments. Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, who has been skeptical of moving too quickly on Garrett’s bill, supported Crawford’s. "When a medication like this is already available in other states; when we know patients are giving themselves access to it to use it and self-medicate themselves; opportunities to sit down and set up programs that bring the professionals -- in this case UNMC – into play to use this medication I think is an appropriate way to begin to add to the body of evidence that hopefully will be out there and shows what patients can this help; what dosages can be helpful," he said.

A form of the oil is available in Colorado. Supporters hope is UNMC will be able to obtain a pharmaceutical grade version of it that is working its way through the FDA approval process. The bill got first round advancement on a vote of 33-1.

Lawmakers also took up the issue of reforms to the Omaha school pension system, which has only 74 percent of the money it needs to cover promised benefits. The proposal by Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist would end increases the system currently provides to retirees based on their years of service and increased medical costs. The state investment council would take over decisions on where the Omaha system’s money is invested. And if the state ever decides it needs to appropriate money to shore up the retirement plan for school employees from the rest of Nebraska, which currently has 83 percent of the money it will need, Omaha would get a proportionate payment based on its payroll.

"Basically this provision just ensures that we are tying ‘em together; that if we make a change to one plan, we’re going to make it to both, because at the end of the day, if the Omaha plan goes south, we’re not going to let our biggest school district in the state go bankrupt," Nordquist said.

The bill drew opposition from senators who wondered why anyone outside of Omaha would support the plan. Among them was Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus. "I would be all for this if there were a guarantee from Omaha that if it came up short, they would stand the loss. But that’s not what I’m hearing Sen. Nordquist say. He’s saying ‘Look, state, you’re on the line for the loss regardless, as a practical matter, so just as well eat the loss now. Or at least assume the risk," Schumacher said.

After several hours of debate, senators voted 25-19 for the bill, just enough needed to get it to the second round of debate.