{"id":422,"date":"2020-02-12T15:02:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T21:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/?p=422"},"modified":"2025-02-27T09:24:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T15:24:01","slug":"106b-lb1193","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/2020\/02\/12\/106b-lb1193\/","title":{"rendered":"106B LB1193"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"422\" class=\"elementor elementor-422\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3fdbf9a9 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3fdbf9a9\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_image&quot;:{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;b0abbdd&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_speed&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;%&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:50,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;jet_parallax_layout_image_tablet&quot;:{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;},&quot;jet_parallax_layout_image_mobile&quot;:{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;},&quot;jet_parallax_layout_type&quot;:&quot;scroll&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_direction&quot;:null,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_fx_direction&quot;:null,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_z_index&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_x&quot;:50,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_x_tablet&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_x_mobile&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_y&quot;:50,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_y_tablet&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_y_mobile&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_size&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_size_tablet&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_bg_size_mobile&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_animation_prop&quot;:&quot;transform&quot;,&quot;jet_parallax_layout_on&quot;:[&quot;desktop&quot;,&quot;tablet&quot;]}]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-497833ef\" data-id=\"497833ef\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7db20bad elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7db20bad\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee<\/p><p>Senator Tom Brewer (Chairperson)<\/p><p>Senator Carol Blood<br \/>Senator Matt Hansen<br \/>Senator Mike Hilgers<br \/>Senator Megan Hunt<br \/>Senator Rick Kolowski<br \/>Senator Andrew La Grone<br \/>Senator John Lowe<\/p><p>Good afternoon Senator Brewer and members of the Government, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee:<\/p><p>My name is Kathy Danek, and I am a board member with the Lincoln Board of Education. I am also representing the Nebraska Association of School Boards. I am speaking in opposition to LB1193 because requiring elections to be tied to state or municipal primary or general elections will not best serve our taxpayers, our voters or our students.<\/p><p>First, I would like to speak to the issue of voter participation. For an example this afternoon, I am going to use the election results from the LPS 2014 bond special mail in election that was held on February 11, 2014 because I have the data for voter turn-out for both the special election and the primary.<\/p><p>In the copy of my testimony that you have in front of you, you will see the Lancaster County election results from the special mail-in bond election that was held in February and the primary that occurred later that spring. The special mail-in bond election had a 7.25% greater turnout rate and nearly 7,000 more voters shared their voice.<\/p><p>February 11, 2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lincoln.ne.gov\/cnty\/election\/results\/resul14hick.htm\">https:\/\/www.lincoln.ne.gov\/cnty\/election\/results\/resul14hick.htm<\/a><\/p><ul><li>Voted 58,862<\/li><li>Voter Turnout 36.0%<\/li><\/ul><p>May 13, 2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lincoln.ne.gov\/cnty\/election\/results\/resul14m.htm\">https:\/\/www.lincoln.ne.gov\/cnty\/election\/results\/resul14m.htm<\/a><\/p><ul><li>Voted 52,008<\/li><li>Voter Turnout 28.75%<\/li><\/ul><p>On the back page of the testimony, you will see a chart of all of the spring elections in Lancaster County from 2006. Five of the top eight turn-outs have been special elections, including the Lincoln Bond issue that passed last night with a 34.10% turn-out. It seems clear that special elections not only do not suppress voter turnout, they encourage greater participation than most other spring elections.<\/p><p>Second, I want to share the negative impact of this bill on taxpayers and students related to the timing of the construction season. If a school district holds an election in May, rather than February, it would be unlikely that the school district could have work scheduled and bidding completed in time to maximize the summer construction season.<\/p><p>This has a financial impact on school districts. Just figuring Inflation and other changes in construction that occur in delaying projects up to a year increases what a district spends for the exact same project. In Lincoln, we have found this to be true even when calculating the cost of the special election. For our 2020 bond issue, LPS is expected to save $2-3 million in construction costs by capturing the full 2020 summer construction season because it held a February special election.<\/p><p>Capturing the summer construction season has an impact beyond cost savings. It also has an impact on the learning environment of our students. Initiating construction sooner means that additional capacity can be brought on line sooner and more quickly relieve existing schools\u2019 capacity issues. For instance, the passage of our bond issue last night in a special election will allow our new high schools to be built a year earlier and help relieve our current high schools, which are at 115% of capacity.<\/p><p>To better serve our taxpayers, our voters and students, we oppose LB1193. Thank you for your time this afternoon. I would be happy to try and answer any questions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f273a51 elementor-widget elementor-widget-shortcode\" data-id=\"f273a51\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"shortcode.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-shortcode\"><div id=\"footable_parent_434\"\n         class=\" footable_parent ninja_table_wrapper loading_ninja_table wp_table_data_press_parent semantic_ui \">\n                    <h3 class=\"table_title footable_title\">Lancaster County Election Office: Election Results, Spring Elections 2006-2020<\/h3>\n                        <table data-ninja_table_instance=\"ninja_table_instance_0\" data-footable_id=\"434\" data-filter-delay=\"1000\" aria-label=\"Lancaster County Election Office: Election Results, Spring Elections 2006-2020\"            id=\"footable_434\"\n           data-unique_identifier=\"ninja_table_unique_id_267871972_434\"\n           class=\" foo-table ninja_footable foo_table_434 ninja_table_unique_id_267871972_434 ui table  nt_type_legacy_table selectable striped vertical_centered  footable-paging-right ninja_table_search_disabled ninja_table_pro\">\n                <colgroup>\n                            <col class=\"ninja_column_0 \">\n                            <col class=\"ninja_column_1 \">\n                            <col class=\"ninja_column_2 \">\n                            <col class=\"ninja_column_3 \">\n                    <\/colgroup>\n        <thead>\n<tr class=\"footable-header\">\n                                                                        <th scope=\"col\"  class=\"ninja_column_0 ninja_clmn_nm_turn_out \">Turn-out<\/th><th scope=\"col\"  class=\"ninja_column_1 ninja_clmn_nm_rank \">Rank<\/th><th scope=\"col\"  class=\"ninja_column_2 ninja_clmn_nm_date_and_purpose \">Date and Purpose<\/th><th scope=\"col\"  class=\"ninja_column_3 ninja_clmn_nm_special \">Special<\/th><\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n\n        <tr data-row_id=\"5\" class=\"ninja_table_row_0 nt_row_id_5\">\n            <td>48.70%<\/td><td>1<\/td><td>March 13, 2012 - Norris School District 160 School Bond Election<\/td><td>Y<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"8\" class=\"ninja_table_row_1 nt_row_id_8\">\n            <td>44.70%<\/td><td>2<\/td><td>March 11, 2014 - City of Hickman Sales Tax<\/td><td>Y<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"11\" class=\"ninja_table_row_2 nt_row_id_11\">\n            <td>40.25%<\/td><td>3<\/td><td>May 11, 2010 - Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"14\" class=\"ninja_table_row_3 nt_row_id_14\">\n            <td>36.84%<\/td><td>4<\/td><td>May 7, 2019 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"17\" class=\"ninja_table_row_4 nt_row_id_17\">\n            <td>36.63%<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>February 14, 2006 - Lincoln Public Schools Bond Election<\/td><td>Y<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"20\" class=\"ninja_table_row_5 nt_row_id_20\">\n            <td>36.00%<\/td><td>6<\/td><td>February 11, 2014 - Lincoln Public Schools Bond Election<\/td><td>Y<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"23\" class=\"ninja_table_row_6 nt_row_id_23\">\n            <td>35.58%<\/td><td>7<\/td><td>May 9, 2006 - Statewide Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"26\" class=\"ninja_table_row_7 nt_row_id_26\">\n            <td>34.13%<\/td><td>8<\/td><td>February 11, 2020 -- Lincoln Public Schools Special Election<\/td><td>Y<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"29\" class=\"ninja_table_row_8 nt_row_id_29\">\n            <td>32.10%<\/td><td>9<\/td><td>May 1, 2007 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"32\" class=\"ninja_table_row_9 nt_row_id_32\">\n            <td>31.17%<\/td><td>10<\/td><td>April 9, 2019 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"35\" class=\"ninja_table_row_10 nt_row_id_35\">\n            <td>30.50%<\/td><td>11<\/td><td>May 10, 2016 - Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"38\" class=\"ninja_table_row_11 nt_row_id_38\">\n            <td>30.10%<\/td><td>12<\/td><td>May 5, 2015 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"41\" class=\"ninja_table_row_12 nt_row_id_41\">\n            <td>28.75%<\/td><td>13<\/td><td>May 13, 2014 - Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"44\" class=\"ninja_table_row_13 nt_row_id_44\">\n            <td>26.71%<\/td><td>14<\/td><td>May 15, 2012 - Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"47\" class=\"ninja_table_row_14 nt_row_id_47\">\n            <td>26.12%<\/td><td>15<\/td><td>May 13, 2008 - Presidential Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"50\" class=\"ninja_table_row_15 nt_row_id_50\">\n            <td>25.01%<\/td><td>16<\/td><td>May 15, 2018 - Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"53\" class=\"ninja_table_row_16 nt_row_id_53\">\n            <td>23.80%<\/td><td>17<\/td><td>April 7, 2015 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"56\" class=\"ninja_table_row_17 nt_row_id_56\">\n            <td>23.30%<\/td><td>18<\/td><td>May 2, 2017 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"59\" class=\"ninja_table_row_18 nt_row_id_59\">\n            <td>22.96%<\/td><td>19<\/td><td>May 7, 2013 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"62\" class=\"ninja_table_row_19 nt_row_id_62\">\n            <td>21.42%<\/td><td>20<\/td><td>May 3, 2011 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"65\" class=\"ninja_table_row_20 nt_row_id_65\">\n            <td>19.19%<\/td><td>21<\/td><td>May 5, 2009 - Lincoln City General Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"68\" class=\"ninja_table_row_21 nt_row_id_68\">\n            <td>18.26%<\/td><td>22<\/td><td>April 7, 2007 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"71\" class=\"ninja_table_row_22 nt_row_id_71\">\n            <td>18.03%<\/td><td>23<\/td><td>April 4, 2017 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"74\" class=\"ninja_table_row_23 nt_row_id_74\">\n            <td>13.73%<\/td><td>24<\/td><td>April 5, 2011 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"77\" class=\"ninja_table_row_24 nt_row_id_77\">\n            <td>13.35%<\/td><td>25<\/td><td>April 9, 2013 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n            <tr data-row_id=\"80\" class=\"ninja_table_row_25 nt_row_id_80\">\n            <td>13.00%<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>April 7, 2009 - Lincoln City Primary Election<\/td><td>N<\/td>        <\/tr>\n    <\/tbody><!--ninja_tobody_rendering_done-->\n    <\/table>\n    \n    \n    \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4be290b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4be290b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ne.gov\/329\/Election-Results\">https:\/\/www.lancaster.ne.gov\/329\/Election-Results<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Testimony on LB1193 regarding &#8220;Change election provisions for certain bond issue, tax levy, and property tax limitation questions&#8221; by Lincoln Board of Education member, Kathy Danek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,1],"tags":[32,17,38],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimony","category-uncategorized","tag-106b","tag-kathy-danek","tag-lb1193"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4133,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/4133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/civic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}