LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature has completed action on all carryover bills and will now turn its attention to priority legislation as the session continues, according to State Sen. Paul Strommen of District 47.

Speaker of the Legislature John Arch announced the milestone this week, marking a transition to priority bills, which are designed to focus debate and move key measures forward. The deadline to request Speaker priority bill designation is Feb. 17. Each legislative session allows for 25 Speaker priority bills.

In addition, each senator may designate one priority bill, and each committee may select two. The deadline for senator and committee priority bill designations is Feb. 19.

Strommen said 63 bills have now advanced to General File, an early stage of debate in the legislative process. Several bills introduced by Strommen are scheduled for upcoming hearings, including LB 1230 before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 4, LB 1229 before the Appropriations Committee on Feb. 9, and LB 1231, which is assigned to the Appropriations Committee for a Feb. 12 hearing.

The Appropriations Committee is also reviewing preliminary budget recommendations, with public hearings set to begin Monday, Feb. 2. A briefing on the Preliminary Budget Report will be held Tuesday morning prior to floor session.

Strommen said he also met with constituents and community leaders during the week, including Sidney Regional Medical Center CEO Jason Petik to discuss rural health care, participants in the NE LEAD 44 Program, and members of the Box Butte County Chamber of Commerce during their Lincoln Legislative Trip.