Information on LB404

Dear Brothers and Sisters: The hearing on our 2 person crew bill occurred on January 31st at the Capitol. I want to thank the 8 members who came from McCook, LR Troy Merritt from Local #286, LR Reuben Reisig of Local #257, and Local Chairman Ron Trauernicht Local #305 for attending the hearing and many for providing testimony. That's right we had 8 folks from McCook, Brother Troy and family from North Platte, Brother Reuben with wife, and a single person from Lincoln. We owe a debt of gratitude to Senator Groene for introducing the bill for us this year. In addition I was able to get letters of support introduced by the Professional Firefighters Association, NARVE a Railroad retiree group, and the Nebraska Association of County Officials. Other presenters were the Volunteer Firefighters and the BLE. I appreciate all of the help we received from these folks. I thought a fantastic letter of support came from Congressman Don Bacon who not only sent a letter of support to the Nebraska committee, but he also cosponsored our Federal Safe Freight Act that calls for a certified conductor and engineer. I thought we made a solid presentation. This morning at an 8:00 AM meeting with the Transportation Committee Chair, Sen Friesen, he informed me that the committee had voted in Executive session to indefinitely postpone the bill. This is effect killing the bill. The committee failed the general public in not passing this Public Safety bill. If the Legislature will not let our 2 person crew out of committee and on to the floor, then we need to do something else to enact this law. That something else is a petition drive. This is expensive but if we get enough signatures then the issue goes on the ballot for the voters to decide. Please send me your thoughts on this. The cost would be several $100,000. Please call if you want to discuss it or anything else. I will be driving to Kansas City tomorrow to meet with General President Sellers and others from our 5 state region. Fraternally yours, Bob Borgeson --