Sen. Wendy DeBoer proposes combining Agriculture and Natural Resources committees and creating a Technology & Telecommunications panel

At a Nebraska Legislature Rules Committee hearing, Sen. Wendy DeBoer introduced two proposed rule changes that would combine the Agriculture and Natural Resources committees into a single three‑day committee and split the Transportation & Telecommunications committee into separate Transportation and Technology & Telecommunications committees.

DeBoer, who said the proposals follow recommendations from the LR 174 select committee, told members the change is institutional rather than a statement of policy priorities. “Quantity does not always equal importance,” she said, arguing that lower bill counts for some committees justify reallocating days and staff resources.

The proposals were framed around workload data DeBoer presented to the committee. She said one‑day committees in long sessions averaged about 4.43 bills per day while the Agriculture Committee averaged 1.61; Natural Resources similarly carried far fewer matters. DeBoer said the projected bill load for a combined Agriculture & Natural Resources committee would be about 1.69 bills per day in a long session (1.91 in a short session), figures she used to support consolidation.

DeBoer also urged the separation of transportation and telecommunications because, she said, most bills filed in recent years fit clearly into one of those subject buckets rather than both. She told the committee that telecommunications and many emerging technology issues are highly regulated at the federal level and that committee members need counsel and staff with specialized expertise. “If you want a committee counsel that is going to be focused on those issues, they're gonna have to spend some time doing that,” she said.

Committee members asked whether combining Agriculture with Natural Resources would reduce agriculture’s ability to secure committee priorities. A committee member raised concerns that agriculture stakeholders might “lose our two priorities.” DeBoer responded that the speaker's historic practice of allowing multiple bills in a committee package and the use of committee‑priority packages would allow agricultural priorities to be preserved. Sen. John Arch suggested the merged committee could create separate priority packages—comparing the approach to how banking and insurance handle priorities—and noted there is room to accommodate multiple priority bills given current referral numbers.

Kathleen Kauth, a senator who said she has been working in parallel with DeBoer, testified in support of the change. Kauth pointed to the volume of bills relating to artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies and told the committee that states and legislatures need focused staff expertise to evaluate them. “We don't even know what we don't know about the technology that is coming our way,” she said, urging a dedicated committee to avoid falling behind on fast‑moving issues.

The hearing record, as read into the committee, included historical context (several past LRs and select committee reviews dating to 1937 and notable adjustments in 1989) and multiple data points on bill loads. DeBoer thanked an aide, Brian Murray, for producing the binder materials and calculations she used in her presentation.

The committee did not record or take a vote on either rule change during the portion of the hearing in the transcript. Chair Lauren Lippincott closed discussion on rule change number 1 and moved on to the second change; DeBoer indicated she would try to stay for closing remarks.

What happens next: The proposals were introduced and discussed at this Rules Committee hearing; the transcript contains no formal vote or final disposition for either rule change.