Lippincott ready to hit ground running

Senator-elect Loren Lippincott is ready to get his feet on the ground and make changes in the Nebraska legislative system. 
Now that the dust has settled around his election, the Central City resident had time to reflect on what it feels like to have been selected as the District 34 representative.
“There are about 17 new state senators and we have had ‘new-guy’ orientation, which took place the week following the election,” Lippincott began. “It was a great opportunity to get to know the individuals and also just get an exposure to state government and some of the things that we need to know administratively as to what we need to do.”
And there is a lot of learning to do, he agreed. 
“What I have discovered in the campaigning, and certainly after the election, is how much I don’t know and how much I need to learn,” he reflected. “That has been very shocking, because there are just so many different things to learn. Government has its tentacles in so many different things and so it’s imperative for us to learn about all these different topics and to try to get up to speed on it.”
That “new guy training” began the Sunday following the election and lasted through Friday of that same week.
“The clerk of the legislature, he led the training from Sunday until Thursday and then Thursday afternoon we went to Nebraska City and the entire legislature met together down there for an annual meeting that they have,” Lippincott said, “just to talk about some legislation and goals that the legislature has.”
The first part of the new senator’s orientation had a lot to do with how the legislative body operates. For example, Wednesday’s lesson featured mock-committee hearings. 
“There would be approximately eight of us in a committee room and we had pretend legislation that we talked about,” he explained. “And we just went through the rules as to how that operates.”
Thursday’s training started bright and early on the floor of the legislature in Lincoln. 
“We sat down in the seats, and then again, we went through some of the legislation that we had talked about the day before in the committee hearings,” he said. “So we just went through the mechanics of how you make motions, how you get point of order, and so it was just an exercise in parliamentary procedure as to how the legislature works. It was very helpful.”
With 14 committees in the Nebraska legislature, most senators get two committees.
“I’m hoping to get on the appropriations committee,” Lippincott said. “That committee is a little different in that it meets every single day of the week. So normally people that are on the appropriation committee are just on the one committee and it does entail a lot of work and long hours and such.”
An advantage to this, he added, is that it would give him a broad scope of the overall workings of state government.
“The legislature in particular is the purse strings of the state government,” he said. “So approximately 80 to 90 percent of all legislation is going to pass through the appropriation committee before it goes onto the floor.”
On top of having plans, Lippincott reported he also has his staff in place. Each legislator has the opportunity to bring in two individuals, and eventually another if they serve as a committee chairman. 
Lippincott announced that his legislative assistant will be Trinity Chappelear, who is currently working for exiting Gov. Pete Ricketts, and his administrative assistant is Haile McAnally, the current reigning Mrs. Nebraska.

The issues
Another thing Lippincott reported he has in place are a few of his top priorities for his time in legislature. 
One of his first stated priorities is the right to life.
“Humans born and unborn should have their lives protected,” he reflected in an earlier email. “Since Roe was rightfully overturned, states return to the law they had before Roe took effect in January 1973. Nebraska now has prohibition on abortions after 20 weeks. We match 10 percent of nations around the world in our abortion laws, nations like North Korea and China.” 
Also on the list for Lippincott is school choice. 
“Regarding school choice, presently Nebraska and North Dakota are the only two states in the nation that do not have some form of state sanctioned school choice,” he explained in that same email. “There are many forms of school choice -- tax credits, education savings accounts, vouchers -- just to name a few. Competition keeps costs low and quality high for all. Monopolies do not.”
Increased spending does not translate into better education for children, he added.  
“I realize there are arguments made stating public schools have to host all students regardless of ability, however, even that argument has two sides,” he said. “Bottom line, we must get the costs of education down and insure our school agers focus on the ‘three Rs’ and not the divisive and offensive issues sweeping through the education world.”
Finally, during his interview, Lippincott paid special attention to his dedication to the protection of the Second Amendment. He explained that within said amendment, Nebraska falls under (currently) an “open carry” state. This means, as long as a weapon is not concealed in any way, the owner does not need a special license and training.
“(There are also) states that have what’s called ‘constitutional carry,’ which would no longer require going through training, spending 200 bucks and getting a permission slip from the state,” he explained. “And you would say the argument would be people wouldn’t be going through training and will have more gun incidences. But the truth is the states that have constitutional carry, their gun accidents and gun incidences actually have gone down. I think constitutional carry is a good idea.”
During this last legislative session, Sen. Tom Brewer carried legislation regarding making Nebraska a constitutional carry state forward. The bill fell short by two votes. 
“And I think that overall, this next legislative body will be a little bit more conservative, so I think there’s a good chance that that can carry,” he said. 
Lippincott also briefly discussed his interest in and support for “stand your ground” legislation. 
“I always encourage people… to be engaged, learn about the issues, contact your representatives and make your ideas known,” Lippincott concluded. “Nebraska is a Unicameral. We only have one legislative body -- the state senate. And the one benefit that it has is that every legislative piece that comes before the legislature goes before a committee and it’s open to public hearing. That means the public can voice their opinions on every piece of legislation.”
This means that Nebraska’s figurative second body is the public, he explained. 
“So I would encourage people to get involved to try to stay up to speed on things,” he said.