The Nebraska Legislature returns to session Wednesday, with 17 new lawmakers.
Senator Heath Mello of Omaha expects lawmakers to have a busy legislative session. Mello says his priorities are budget reform, addressing transportation methods such as Uber and Lyft, and taking up issues related to Omaha’s combined sewer overflow project.
He expects prison reform to dominate the session. Mello says lawmakers need to reform the corrections system and restore public trust.
"And so a number of Senators who are involved in the Council of State Governments Justice Re-investment Working Group, we will be working on a piece of legislation that will help the state start to address our overcrowded prisons, that will be able to provide alternative pathways for nonviolent offenders but still ensure that violent offenders are kept in prison and serve their sentence."
A Legislative committee held a series of hearings during the fall on sentencing miscalculations that led to the early release of hundreds of Nebraska inmates. Mello says he’s keeping an open mind about Nebraska’s good-time law, and feels the issue has become too political. He says there are opportunities for changes.
Mello says he’s optimistic the new Legislature will have a good working relationship. Governor-elect Pete Ricketts will be sworn-in Thursday.