Rick Beard

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More than anything, in order to implement solution based policy through the will of the voters, we need to remove corporate and PAC money from our elections and from funneling to our state lawmakers. There is a direct pathway to this solution through "The Montana Plan I-94" legislation. We will sign a Constitutional Ballot Amendment with 10% of voter signatures (as opposed to a 7% signature Ballot Initiative), vote on it in November 2028, and eliminate much of the paid resistance to our voted in laws and policies. ​

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Cannabis legalization with taxation is how we bring Nebraska out of the red and into the green. With Nebraska's cannabis money going to surrounding states, our legislature keeps us a black market state without regulation, testing, or taxation. This doesn't give anyone medicinal benefits or access to medical grade, regulated, whole plant cannabis. Here's some things my proposed legislation would provide........

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PROPERTY TAX RELIEF- My plan creates $300,000,000+ annually in new revenue for the state. This can fix all our budget problems and lower your property taxes forever in 2-3 years.

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NEW JOBS AND SALARIES- Full access cannabis legalization with an industrial hemp business would create roughly 15,000 new jobs for Nebraskans with a $400 million in yearly salaries.

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PRISON AND JAIL REFORM- We need to quit arresting and jailing people for cannabis. Our current cannabis policy preys on Nebraskans to keep jails and prisons populated. Over half (53%) of the drug arrests in Nebraska are for cannabis when we know actual drug problems come from meth, fentanyl, and prescription opiates. Minor cannabis arrests can add up to significant sentences and penalties. Our law enforcement needs to focus on the problem drugs and not on cannabis users.

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The will of the voters.... Our current governor and legislature repetitively deny the vote of the same people that put them in office. As a third party governor, I feel the unicameral will accomplish more and actually function as intended by encouraging the republicans and democrats to work together instead of against each other. It’s simple. I will uphold the will of the vote, even if I don’t agree with it. I am not red or blue and am the only candidate that's never taken a dollar from any political party or private interest group. I will listen to you, not a bag of money. I'm excited about the $105,000 governor's salary with health insurance when other candidates are deeply connected to million$ in special interest party funding.

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Our property taxes are out of control with no relief in sight. If we estimate future Nebraska cannabis sales, calculating population differences to Colorado, Nebraska could generate $300,000,000 in yearly state cannabis revenue and receive around $93,000,000 in tax revenue. We'll fix the roads and fund our schools to stop these higher-than-Cali property taxes. Other politicians always talk about bringing new industry to Nebraska, we will actually do it. Our state is in a serious financial crisis and can not afford to dismiss businesses that create massive new revenue for Nebraska.

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Our elected representatives repetitively dismantle voter approved legislative efforts that negatively affect the Good Life. Voters passed Initiative 437 and 438 in 2024 with a 71% vote to legalize medical cannabis and create a regulatory framework for licenses. The state senate killed it by refusing to pass LB677. They signed "emergency rules" prohibiting raw cannabis flower, smoking, vaping, and gummies....only permitting processed pills and tinctures. Did you know that!!? We need to fire the Medical Cannabis Commission and revoke their changes to our voter approved legislation. Then we can start a functioning system.

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We need an air horn and a VETO stamp to protect our votes from getting changed to policy we didn't vote for. They want to lower the minimum wage of our 14-16 year old child workforce from $15 an hour to $13.50......Wow......Can 14 year-olds vote for or negotiate their employee rights?? They killed initiative 436, our voter approved sick leave increases for young workers, seasonal, and temporary workers, while removing their rights to sue for employer violations. It's unbelievable. They block our medical cannabis, dilute our voter approved minimum wage increases, and drastically delay our Medicaid expansion.

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CROP AND BUSINESS OPTIONS FOR FARMERS- In these uncertain times, it's good to have options. We grew a lot of industrial hemp in Nebraska for WWII. A strong industrial hemp business would boost agricultural opportunity in our state. Building materials, human food, animal feed, textiles, biodegradable plastics, and biofuels are a few products we could manufacture from hemp and export.

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ROAD REPAIR- We drive on rubble. It wrecks our cars and it's embarrassing when we have out of state guests. Some of this new revenue is going to fix the roads.

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AFFORDABLE ACCESSIBLE MEDICINE FOR VETERANS AND EPILEPTICS- Let's get real here. Servicemen and women laid it on the line for us and got physically and psychologically injured and they can't have cannabis? That's BS. So is keeping medicinal grade, whole plant cannabis from our epileptic citizens who's seizures could be greatly reduced or eliminated with medical weed. This cruel and inhumane oppression has to end for us to evolve as a state and a community.

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A RESPECT FOR THE VOTERS AND VOTER UNITY- In these days of political divisiveness where leaders pit people and parties against each other, we need to remember that 71% of us voted for this. That's a higher margin than any other state in the country, and that shows how Nebraskans are more united than they would like us to think. I truly feel a non-politician, third party, pro-voter, anti-special interest governor would force our legislature to work for us and not for special interest groups.