Category: Announcements
NEBRASKANS FOR PEACE
On February 1, 1970, when Nebraskans for Peace first filed its articles of incorporation with the Nebraska Secretary of State, no one could have predicted that this fledgling anti-war group would one day become the oldest statewide Peace & Justice organization in the entire country.
An even ‘redder’ state then than we are today, set smack in the heart of middle America, Nebraska was the last place anyone would have expected a ‘peace organization’ to emerge and then endure.
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Nebraskans for Peace
On top of the 300-plus bills that carried over from last year’s legislative session, Nebraska state senators have introduced another 400 bills for 2010. With state tax receipts continuing to fall short of projections however (and another round of budget cuts looming), any of this legislation that requires new money will be pretty much dead on arrival in this short, 60-working-day session of the Unicameral. Given this economic reality, here’s a brief overview of some of the bills NFP will be supporting. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it provides a sampling of the kind of legislative priorities NFP will be advocating for in the next three months.
A dozen new bills dealing with renewable energy were introduced, but two that could dramatically reshape the energy landscape in Nebraska are LB 1048, the Natural Resources Committee’s ‘Big Wind’ bill that grew out of Sen. Ken Haar’s legislation from last year, and Sen. Heath Mello’s LB 1098. The Natural Resources Committee bill would help create the legal and infrastructural conditions necessary for large-scale wind development projects in the state that could ultimately make Nebraska an exporter of clean renewable energy to the rest of the nation. Sen. Mello’s bill, alternatively, would authorize Nebraska municipalities to establish “sustainable energy financing districts” to loan homeowners and local businesses the funds for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to their properties. To make this program broadly accessible, the loans would be assessed against the property and paid back in the form of property taxes. The energy savings from the improvements, though, would largely offset the property tax increase, allowing everyone the opportunity to adopt a ‘greener’ lifestyle—and thereby reduce our dependence on foreign oil and domestic coal.
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PAUL OLSON NFP PRESIDENT
What NFP Got Done in 2009
This has been a pretty good year for NFP. Obviously the national climate has been a little more favorable to peacemakers since the last election, and the Nebraska political climate may be a bit more so too. People are even becoming complacent again. If popularity was determined solely by the number of bumper stickers seen in Lincoln, you’d think that NFP was the most popular organization in the state. Unfortunately that’s not the case. We still have an uphill battle to persuade Nebraskans of the folly of our common resort to violence and war, and we are continuing to have a tough go of it in the area of finances — to do what we need to do and pay our excellent staff a living wage.
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RUTH THONE
Representatives of Nebraska’s peace and justice organizations gathered this past August to honor Fran Kaye, Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Great Plains Institute, as the “Peacemaker of the Year.”
Upwards to half a hundred people turned out for the “Alternatives to the Military” (ATM) annual pot luck supper and salute at Christ United Methodist Church.
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