Pillen's State of State leaves plenty of questions

Even before Gov. Jim Pillen took the mic delivering his second State of the State Address, several Democratic lawmakers took various swipes at the Republican Administration.

[View our full video report above]

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh: “What are we doing in this state. We can't afford $300,000 to feed children this summer."

State Sen. Terrell McKinney: "The 'Department of Exclusion and Dropping the Ball' is doing what they've always done, not carrying about my community."  

After his speech, Pillen brushed the criticism aside.

Today he was set on pushing his already announced call for a massive tax change.

Gov. Jim Pillen, Nebraska (R):  We must lower our overall tax burden, widen our tax base, and end the era of special interest tax breaks. Tax policy must benefit our state as a whole, not whoever has the best lobbyist. Nebraskans’ property tax bill will be cut by 40 percent this year.”

Joe Jordan, NCN: “Property taxes go hand in hand with any Nebraska Governor’s State of the State Address. But this one comes with, well let’s call it a bit of a surprise.” 

You see while Pillen is backing off his initial plan for a 2-cent sales tax hike to pay for some of that property tax cut, he is proposing a one-cent increase to 6-and-a half cents one of the highest in the nation.

And although he didn’t mention it specifically in his speech, he’s hearing from both the left and the right.

On the right, State Sen. Steve Erdman, the western Nebraska Republican leading a statewide petition drive to completely upend the state’s tax system. The so-called EPIC tax going far further than Pillen’s. It would eliminate property taxes, income taxes and corporate taxes with a so-called consumption tax, taxing almost all goods and services, other than food.

State Sen. Steve Erdman, Bayard (R): “This is a fair, transparent, and open tax system that people will be able to understand and will pay that rather than trying to avoid it. It’s time for us to replace those who collect and spend our tax dollars being in first place and put in place those who pay the taxes.”

On the left, Open Sky, a progressive think tank worries about a tax shift to more “regressive taxes” straining “hardworking Nebraskans and their families.”

Bellevue Democrat State Sen. Carol Blood telling Nebraska Examiner, “The solution for less property taxes isn’t more taxes.”

Gov. Pillen: “Nebraska has become a Mecca for women’s athletics.”

And with that proclamation the Governor launched into another highly controversial battle over transgender youth.

Gov Pillen: “I don’t want my granddaughter to bear the fundamental unfairness of competing against a boy. And I certainly don’t want her to suffer the indignity of showering next to a boy. And that goes both ways, our boys shouldn’t be sharing showers with girls.”

Pillen urging lawmakers to pass the controversial Sports and Spaces Act, but at least one conservative Republican tells me he’s a no vote.

State Sen. Merv Riepe, Ralston (R): “I’m not here to judge, I have enough of my own faults.”