"I know there's never the right time to bring this up, but 24 years is a long time and the amount is very small ," Omaha Senator Scott Lautenbaugh said Tuesday. The day of his bill hearing.

And that small amount he speaks of, is $12,000. Right now state senators make that every year

"Among the 50 states, we're at the bottom, " Lautenbaugh said.

So he proposed to raise senators salaries by $ 20,000. Bringing the new total to $32,000. The spike raised eyebrows

Instead Executive Committee Members opted to advance the bill with the salary capped at $22,500.

It will now be debated on the Unicameral floor.

"Yes, that's exactly where I wanted to get to. It adjusts a price for inflation. It makes perfect sense, " Lautenbaugh said Thursday, after the committee's decision.

Lincoln Senator Tony Fulton says it also makes perfect sense, for public school students to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school. He wants U.S. flags placed in every classroom.

"I feel that most of my peers take their freedoms that are represented by the flag and the pledge for granted. I don't think people think it's cool to show their patriotism anymore," 12-year-old Andrew Shelburn said during Tuesday's hearing on the issue.

"There's something problematic about the whole notion of compulsory patriotism," UNL Professor David Moshman countered.

In another hearing room on Tuesday, insurance companies called a certain proposed coverage problematic.

"We would like to be able to provide an array of insurance coverage that's affordable for our employees and with each potential new mandated benefit that puts at risk our ability to do so," National Federation of Independent Businesses Lobbyist Robert Hallstrom said in a packed hearing room earlier this week.

That benefit - insurance for Intensive Behavioral Therapy. That therapy helps kids learn basic life skills, like reading or getting dressed.

"ABA is a therapy that provides trial training for children with autism and teaches them skills that encompass every area of their life and is a medically prescribed treatment by a doctor or psychologist. Yet, insurance companies are allowed to deny coverage because they say it's not a medical treatment," Autism Family Network of Lincoln President Cathy Martinez said.