LB131 LB131
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LEGISLATIVE BILL 131
Approved by the Governor May 25, 2021
Introduced by Hunt, 8; Hansen, M., 26.
A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to government; to amend sections 18-1915 and
71-6405, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, and sections 14-137,
15-404, 16-404, 16-6,100, 17-405.01, 17-614, 18-132, 18-2103, 18-2119,
23-172, 71-6403, and 71-6406, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
2020; to adopt the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act;
to create a fund; to change provisions relating to the enactment of
municipal ordinances; to change a public building construction bond authorization provision; to provide for detachment of real property from a city or village as prescribed; to change provisions relating to county,
city, and village plumbing codes; to change provisions of the Community Development Law relating to blighted areas and redevelopment contracts; to change provisions relating to state, county, city, and village building codes; to eliminate provisions relating to disconnection of real property from certain cities and villages; to harmonize provisions; to provide a duty for the Revisor of Statutes; to provide operative dates; to repeal the original sections; to outright repeal sections 16-129 and 17-414,
Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020; and to declare an emergency.
Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
Section 1. Sections 1 to 8 of this act shall be known and may be cited as
the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act.
Sec. 2. The purpose of the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act is to assist municipalities which own and operate a natural gas plant or natural gas system in addressing extraordinary costs due to extreme weather events.
Sec. 3. For purposes of the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act:
(1) Extraordinary costs means expenses that exceed the usual, average, or budgeted costs related to procuring and delivering natural gas, including the purchase of spot or incremental natural gas, costs related to propane injection, and pipeline charges beyond the scope of normal and customary charges;
(2) Extreme weather event means a weather event occurring on or after January 1, 2021, including, but not limited to, snow, rain, drought, flood,
storm, extreme heat, or extreme cold, that generates extraordinary costs related to such event; and
(3) Municipality means any city of the first class, city of the second class, or village which owns or operates a natural gas plant or natural gas system.
Sec. 4. A municipality may apply to the State Treasurer for a grant under the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act to cover up to eighty percent of the extraordinary costs incurred by such municipality as a result of
an extreme weather event. Applications shall be submitted on a form prescribed by the State Treasurer. Each application shall include the amount of grant funds requested, the date or dates of the extreme weather event, and documentation of the extraordinary costs incurred as a result of such extreme weather event. The State Treasurer shall consider applications in the order in
which they are received and may approve applications within the limits of
available appropriations. The State Treasurer shall not be required to verify the information provided in the application.
Sec. 5. The Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Fund is
created. The fund shall be used by the State Treasurer to make grants to
municipalities under the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act and to defray any administrative expenses incurred by the State Treasurer in
carrying out the act. The fund shall consist of appropriations made by the Legislature, transfers authorized by the Legislature, and any federal funds which may become available for the purposes of the act. Any money in the fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.
Sec. 6. On or before December 31 of each year, the State Treasurer shall electronically submit a report to the Urban Affairs Committee of the Legislature documenting the grants approved under the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act during the calendar year.
Sec. 7. The State Treasurer may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act.
Sec. 8. The Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Act terminates on June 30, 2023. The State Treasurer shall transfer any unobligated money remaining in the Municipal Natural Gas System Emergency Assistance Fund on such date to the General Fund.
Sec. 9. Section 14-137, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020, is amended to read:
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14-137 The enacting clause of all ordinances in a city of the metropolitan class shall be as follows: Be it ordained by the city council of the city of ........... . All ordinances of the city shall be passed pursuant to such rules and regulations as the city council may prescribe. Upon the passage of
all ordinances the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the record of the city council, and a majority of the votes of all the members of the city council shall be necessary to their passage. No ordinance shall be passed within a week after its introduction, except the general appropriation ordinances for salaries and wages. Ordinances of a general or permanent nature shall be read by title on three different days unless three-fourths of the city council vote to suspend this requirement, except that such requirement shall not be
suspended (1) for any ordinance for the annexation of territory or the redrawing of boundaries for city council election districts or wards or (2) as otherwise provided by law.
Sec. 10. Section 15-404, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020, is amended to read:
15-404 All ordinances, resolutions, or orders for the appropriation or
payment of money in a city of the primary class shall require for passage or
adoption the concurrence of a majority of the members elected to the city council. Ordinances of a general or permanent nature shall be read by title on
three different days unless the city council votes to suspend this requirement by a two-thirds vote of the members, except that such requirement shall not be
suspended (1) for any ordinance for the annexation of territory or the redrawing of boundaries for city council election districts or wards or (2) as otherwise provided by law. No ordinance shall contain a subject which is not clearly expressed in its title. No ordinance or section thereof shall be
revised or amended unless the new ordinance contains the entire ordinance or
section as revised or amended and the ordinance or section so amended shall be
repealed.
Sec. 11. Section 16-404, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020, is amended to read:
16-404 (1) All ordinances and resolutions or orders for the appropriation or payment of money in a city of the first class shall require for their passage or adoption the concurrence of a majority of all members elected to the city council. The mayor may vote on any such matter when his or her vote will provide the additional vote required to create a number of votes equal to a majority of the number of members elected to the city council, and the mayor shall, for the purpose of such vote, be deemed to be a member of the city council.
(2) Ordinances of a general or permanent nature in a city of the first class shall be read by title on three different days unless three-fourths of
the city council members vote to suspend this requirement, except that in a city having a commission plan of government such requirement may be suspended by a three-fifths majority vote. Regardless of the form of government, such requirement shall not be suspended (a) for any ordinance for the annexation of
territory or the redrawing of boundaries for city council election districts or
wards or (b) as otherwise provided by law. In case such requirement is
suspended, the ordinances shall be read by title or number and then moved for final passage. Three-fourths of the city council members may require a reading of any such ordinance in full before enactment under either procedure set out in this section, except that in a city having a commission plan of government,
such reading may be required by a three-fifths majority vote.
(3) Ordinances in a city of the first class shall contain no subject which is not clearly expressed in the title, and, except as provided in section
19-915, no ordinance or section thereof shall be revised or amended unless the new ordinance contains the entire ordinance or section as revised or amended and the ordinance or section so amended is repealed, except that:
(a) For an ordinance revising all the ordinances of a city of the first class, the only title necessary shall be An ordinance of the city of .........., revising all the ordinances of the city. Under such title all the ordinances may be revised in sections and chapters or otherwise, may be
corrected, added to, and any part suppressed, and may be repealed with or
without a saving clause as to the whole or any part without other title; and
(b) For an ordinance used solely to revise ordinances or code sections or
to enact new ordinances or code sections in order to adopt statutory changes made by the Legislature which are specific and mandatory and bring the ordinances or code sections into conformance with state law, the title need only state that the ordinance revises those ordinances or code sections affected by or enacts ordinances or code sections generated by legislative changes. Under such title, all such ordinances or code sections may be revised,
repealed, or enacted in sections and chapters or otherwise by a single ordinance without other title.
Sec. 12. Section 16-6,100, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020,
is amended to read:
16-6,100 The mayor and city council of a city of the first class shall have the power to borrow money and pledge the property and credit of the city upon its negotiable bonds or otherwise for the purpose of acquiring, by purchasing or constructing, including site acquisition, or aiding in the acquiring of a city hall, jail, auditorium, buildings for the fire department,
and other public buildings, including the acquisition of buildings authorized to be acquired by Chapter 72, article 14, and including acquisition of
buildings to be leased in whole or in part by the city to any other political or governmental subdivision of the State of Nebraska authorized by law to lease
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such buildings. No such bonds shall be issued until after the same have been authorized by a majority vote of the electors of the city voting on the proposition of their issuance at an election called for the submission of such proposition and of which election notice of the time and place thereof shall have been given by publication in a legal newspaper in or of general circulation in the city three successive weeks prior thereto. If the buildings building to be acquired are is to be used by the State of Nebraska or its agency or agencies under a lease authorized by Chapter 72, article 14, or the buildings are building is to be leased by any other political or governmental subdivision of the State of Nebraska or other governmental agencies and if the combined area of the buildings building to be leased by the state or its agency or agencies and the political or governmental subdivision of the State of
Nebraska is more than fifty percent of the area of the buildings building and if the cost of acquisition does not exceed five two million dollars, no such vote of the electors will be required.
Sec. 13. Section 17-405.01, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020,
is amended to read:
17-405.01 (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section and section 17-407, the mayor and city council of any city of the second class or the chairperson and members of the village board of trustees may by ordinance, except as provided in sections 13-1111 to 13-1118, at any time, include within the corporate limits of such city or village any contiguous or adjacent lands, lots, tracts, streets, or highways as are urban or suburban in character, and in such direction as may be deemed proper. Such grant of power shall not be construed as conferring power to extend the limits of any city of the second class or village over any agricultural lands which are rural in character.
(2) The mayor and city council of any city of the second class or the chairperson and members of the village board of trustees may, by ordinance,
annex any lands, lots, tracts, streets, or highways which constitute a redevelopment project area so designated by the city or village or its community redevelopment authority in accordance with the provisions of the Community Development Law when such annexation is for the purpose of
implementing a lawfully adopted redevelopment plan containing a provision dividing ad valorem taxes as provided in subsection (1) of section 18-2147 and which will involve the construction or development of an agricultural processing facility, notwithstanding that such lands, lots, tracts, streets, or highways are not contiguous or adjacent or are not urban or suburban in
character. Such annexation shall comply with all other provisions of law relating to annexation generally for cities of the second class and villages.
The city or village shall not, in consequence of the annexation under this subsection of any noncontiguous land, exercise the authority granted to it by
law to extend its extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction beyond its corporate boundaries for purposes of planning, zoning, or subdivision development without the agreement of any other city, village, or county currently exercising zoning jurisdiction over the area surrounding the annexed redevelopment project area.
The annexation of any noncontiguous land undertaken pursuant to this subsection shall not result in any change in the service area of any electric utility without the express agreement of the electric utility serving the annexed noncontiguous area at the time of annexation, except that at such time following the annexation of the noncontiguous area as the city or village lawfully annexes sufficient intervening territory so as to directly connect the noncontiguous area to the main body of the city or village, such noncontiguous area shall, solely for the purposes of section 70-1008, be treated as if it had been annexed by the city or village on the date upon which the connecting intervening territory had been formally annexed. For purposes of this subsection, agricultural processing facility means a plant or establishment where value is added to agricultural commodities through processing,
fabrication, or other means and where eighty percent or more of the direct sales from the facility are to other than the ultimate consumer of the processed commodities. A facility shall not qualify as an agricultural processing facility unless its construction or development involves the investment of more than one million dollars derived from nongovernmental sources.
(3) The mayor and two-thirds of the city council of any city of the second class or the chairperson and two-thirds of the members of the village board of
trustees may, by ordinance, annex any lands, lots, tracts, streets, or highways when such annexation is for the purpose of relocating part or all of such city or village due to catastrophic flooding, notwithstanding that such lands, lots,
tracts, streets, or highways are not contiguous or adjacent or are not urban or
suburban in character. Such annexation shall comply with all other provisions of law relating to annexation generally for cities of the second class and villages. The city or village shall not, in consequence of the annexation under this subsection of any noncontiguous land, exercise the authority granted to it by law to extend its extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction beyond its corporate boundaries for purposes of planning, zoning, or subdivision development without the agreement of any other city, village, or county currently exercising zoning jurisdiction over the area surrounding the annexed area. The annexation of any noncontiguous land undertaken pursuant to this subsection shall not result in
any change in the service area of any electric utility without the express agreement of the electric utility serving the annexed noncontiguous area at the time of annexation, except that at such time following the annexation of the noncontiguous area as the city or village lawfully annexes sufficient
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intervening territory so as to directly connect the noncontiguous area to the main body of the city or village, such noncontiguous area shall, solely for the purposes of section 70-1008, be treated as if it had been annexed by the city or village on the date upon which the connecting intervening territory had been formally annexed. If, within five years following an annexation undertaken pursuant to this subsection, part or all of the city or village has not been relocated to the annexed area, the city or village shall initiate detachment disconnection of such annexed area pursuant to subsection (2) of section 15 of this act 17-414. For purposes of this subsection, catastrophic flooding means a flooding event that (a) results in total property damage within the city or
village which exceeds forty-five percent of the total assessed value of the improvements within the city or village and (b) is declared to be a major disaster by the President of the United States or the Governor.
Sec. 14. Section 17-614, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2020, is amended to read:
17-614 (1) All ordinances and resolutions or orders for the appropriation or payment of money shall require for their passage or adoption the concurrence of a majority of all members elected to the city council in a city of the second class or village board of trustees. The mayor of a city of the second class may vote when his or her vote would provide the additional vote required to attain the number of votes equal to a majority of the number of members elected to the city council, and the mayor shall, for the purpose of such vote,
be deemed t