Fusing bills together may be the way forward after filibusters slow Nebraska Legislature

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – With limited time left in the session, some of Nebraska’s senators are trying to get their bills passed by combining them with other proposals.

One of those was a package of 16 bills from the Health and Human Services Committee that were combined into LB 227.

The main of the bill, introduced by Sen. Ben Hansen, would be to reimburse hospitals for patients who haven’t been able to move to nursing homes or long-term care facilities because of a slowdown in patient discharges.

“Basically, what we’re seeing in the state of Nebraska is a lot of patients who are stuck in hospitals, who have gotten the acute care they need and now they’re looking to move on to more long-term care or post-acute care, but there’s no room for them,” Hansen said. “And it’s on the expense of the hospitals to pay for all this.”

SEE ALSO: In health care limbo: Hundreds of Nebraska hospital patients waiting to be transferred

Hansen said another proposal in the bill would help patients get the prescriptions they need by cutting red tape.

He said the overall goal of all these proposals is to make health care a little more affordable “the right way,” by reducing government rules and regulations.

After a unanimous vote on Monday, the bill moved forward to the second round of debate. Although the bill was not controversial, filibusters have delayed votes on most bills this session.

“Normally this bill should take maybe like an hour, but because of the makeup of the session, it took eight hours,” he said.

Hansen said that’s why the HHS Committee combined the 16 proposals into what he called a “Christmas tree” bill, comparing the main bill to a tree and the add-ons to ornaments.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who’s been the main force behind filibuster efforts this year, declined an interview on Monday.

But last week during debate, she said she would not be working together with anyone as long as the bill banning gender-affirming health care for minors exists.

She said other senators have not actually compromised on any bills and have been negotiating with her in bad faith.

SEE ALSO: Bill banning gender-affirming care for Nebraska minors advances to final round

Hansen said there are a lot of bills that he and other senators would like to get debated and passed this year but can’t because of time constraints.

“I think there’s certain senators who are looking to hold up the session because they’re upset or angry about certain bills that are hitting the floor,” he said.

But he said any senator who wants to filibuster has the right to do so.

“She’s using the rules, just like we would use the rules to change it in our favor,” Hansen said.

He said we’ll likely see more of these combined bills in the next few weeks, as senators try to get their proposals added onto some of the less controversial legislation.

“The one thing we’ll have to watch for I think is on select file, the second round of debate,” he said. “These are gonna be like the belle of the ball. You’re gonna see a lot of people wanting to attach their bills to these on select file, so that’ll be pretty interesting.”