Dozens of new laws go into effect Friday

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By NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press

Parents will be able to drop unwanted kids off at hospitals, pot smokers and fast drivers will get stiffer fines, uniform tests for students will make it easier to compare school districts, and goats will have to watch where they eat.

Those scenarios reflect some of the dozens of laws passed by the Nebraska Legislature this spring. They go into effect Friday.

Some of the highlights:

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(LJS file)

(LJS file)

* Parents who don’t want their children will be able to drop them off at hospitals without fear of being charged with a crime under the so-called safe-haven law (LB157).

The state will take custody of the children, and parents who change their minds would have to go through a state process to get back their offspring. Nebraska is the last state in the country to adopt a safe-haven law meant to prevent child deaths.

There is no age limit in the law, so that means children as old as 18 could be dropped off without penalty. At 19, children are considered adults.

Under the current law, a parent who abandons a child can be charged with child neglect or abandonment, both misdemeanors, or child abuse, a felony.

* Holding street races will be costlier with a new category of speeding fines for those traveling 36 mph over the speed limit or faster. Fines in the new, high-speed tier will be $300.

Currently, all infractions of 21 mph and more over the speed limit are punishable by $200 fines.

Without the law (LB621), someone going 150 mph in a 65 mph zone could be fined the same as someone driving 86.

Lawmakers thought the change was needed in an age of high-performance motorcycles and movies such as “The Fast and the Furious,” which they said encourage people to speed.

* Statewide tests for students will replace Nebraska’s piecemeal testing system that makes comparison of school districts nearly impossible.

The law (LB1157) will require uniform tests in reading, math and science in many elementary and high school grades.

Nebraska’s current system of assessments lets school districts create their own tests to measure achievement for the federal No Child Left Behind Act and for state purposes.

* The goat gravy train is about to end.

The famously undiscriminating eaters have become more popular in the country as a form of weed control. But their tendency to chew on everything in sight sometimes makes them guilty of property damage. Under a new law (LB925) they’ve been grouped with cows, horses and pigs as animals that can be considered stray livestock, allowing aggrieved property owners to collect damages.

* A law (LB39) meant to rein in a petition process that critics say has spiraled out of control with paid circulators goes into effect, but it won’t have an impact until next year.

It puts new age, residency and payment restrictions on people who try to get Nebraskans to sign petitions that would place proposed laws on ballots. Circulators will have to be Nebraska residents and at least age 18. It will also be illegal for petition circulators to be paid on a per-signature basis.

Petitions targeting the November ballot have already been turned in.

* Desperate homeowners will get what lawmakers said was needed protection from so-called foreclosure consultants. Some of the consultants reportedly have encouraged people who get foreclosure notices to sign over their homes.

Under the law (LB123), owners who signed over their homes would have the right to rescind such agreements.

Consultants would be barred from asking homeowners for titles.

* A first offense for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana will cost $300 instead of $100. The fine for a second offense will also spike to $400 from $200.

And the penalty for possessing more than an ounce but less than a pound will increase to a maxim of three months in jail from a maximum of seven days, under the new law (LB844).

* The Nebraska State Patrol will no longer have the power to get personal information — including phone, medical and bank records — without court oversight.

But county attorneys and the state Attorney General’s Office will have more access to personal information without court orders, under the new law (LB952).

A legal opinion last year has allowed the State Patrol get records without court orders.

County attorneys and the Attorney General’s Office can already get some records using the so-called administrative subpoenas, and the new law will let them get the subpoenas for more types of criminal cases.

* Young people will be able to try hunting for as much as a year before having to get a full-fledged license.

Under the new law (LB690), people ages 12 through 29 who want to hunt but have not completed the proper coursework can apply for a certificate, at a cost of $5.

With the certificate, people can hunt with the proper permit or stamp if they are accompanied by a licensed hunter age 19 or older.

* Towns with at least 1,000 residents will have to add fluoride to their drinking water unless they vote to opt out or have enough natural fluoride in the water.

Some cities have already opted out of a law passed in the 1970s requiring fluoride. They will have to vote again to remain exempt.

The goal of the measure (LB245) is reduce tooth decay.

* No more weekend fun horse-tripping and steer-tailing will be allowed in the state.

In horse-tripping, a cowboy lassos the front or back feet of a running horse. In steer-tailing, a mounted cowboy grabs a running steer’s tail. Then the cowboy wraps the tail around his leg or stirrup and pulls the steer to the ground.

The law (LB764) also outlaws the rodeo event with ponies, donkeys, mules and llamas.