The National Day of Prayer was observed in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday. Among the many significant concerns for our state and country, we are experiencing critical drought conditions across most of Nebraska. Hopefully by the time you read this update, we will all have received a good rain.

Major legislation was considered in debate this week. The first was LB 705, the Education Committee priority bill, into which 22 other bills were amended. The underlying bill would distribute over $24 million in state lottery funds to various education sources, including college access and opportunity grants. The lottery portion of this bill was due to sunset at the end of the year, and needed to be extended. Amended bills covered a range of educational needs from addressing the growing teacher shortage to increasing mental health resources and equipping educators accordingly.

Still other amendments dealt with paraprofessionals, creating pathways for more people to get their teaching credentials and eliminating the Praxis Test. Grants to help retain teachers were included. Studies have shown if someone stays in education for so many years in the profession, they are more likely to make that their career. The LB 705 education package met with little opposition overall and was passed to the next round by a vote of 40 to 0.

The biennial budget for Fiscal Years 23-24 and 24-25 was distributed to the full Legislature early Tuesday. A briefing for all senators was held on Wednesday. The entire report runs 267 pages and can be accessed from the home page of the Unicameral at www.nebraskalegislature.gov or by following the link HERE.

As we have noted in updates in the past, the task of the Appropriations Committee (the only five-day committee) is to review all state agency budgets and programs, the Governor’s proposal, and requests for funding in senator’s bills. From these pieces, we assemble a complete budget package for the full Legislature to consider.

In his proposed budget, Governor Pillen recommended a 1.3% growth rate. The difference between the Appropriations Committee budget package, which has average growth of 2.3% for the two years of the budget, and the Governor’s plan, was an increase in Medicaid provider rates. As a Committee, we increased these rates with $80 million from the general fund for hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. That will garner about $122 million in matching federal funding for Medicaid, resulting in around $202 million in the next two years to bolster this important sector of healthcare.

LB 814 is the mainline budget bill, which is introduced by the Speaker at the request of the Governor. It runs from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025, totalling about $5.35 billion of General Funds appropriations for each year of the two year budget. This measure includes the budget proposals for all State operations and aid programs. The amendment, AM915, becomes the bill and contains the Appropriations Committee’s budget recommendation and the provisions of LB 817, which is the appropriations bill for capital construction projects, and several other bills.

LB 818 is the Appropriations Committee’s funding and cash transfers for a variety of projects and programs including (not the entire list): the Cash Reserve Fund, Cultural Preservation, Vocational and Life Skills Programming, Agricultural Products Research, Charitable Gaming, State Parks, Economic Recovery, Water Recreation, Panhandle Improvement, Surface Water Irrigation, Environmental Trust, the Critical Infrastructure Facilities and the Interlocal Cooperation Act for the purpose of funding a portion of the cost of a wastewater system.

LB 818 also includes the Perkins County Canal Project Fund, and credits fees collected for water
delivery to the fund and allows the money in the fund to be used to “identify the optimal route and
purchase land for and develop, construct, manage, and operate the Perkins County Canal”.

Additional sections of the bill deal with the Health Care Cash Fund, Medicaid and the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund. It creates the Capitol Preservation, Restoration, and Enhancement Endowment Fund and the Education Future Fund. The Site and Building Development Act was amended to allow for riverfront improvement projects, housing, employment, or programming for youth exiting foster care; and cities that have partnered with the U.S. Department of Defense for upgrades to ground based nuclear deterrence.

Also in LB 818, the Shovel-Ready Capital Recovery and Investment Act was amended and the Economic Recovery Act and use of the Economic Contingency Fund were addressed. The Department of Health and Human Services will be required to submit a state plan concerning assistance for needy families, child advocacy centers, domestic violence services; and grants to nonprofits that provide food assistance. New programs include the Economic Development Cash Fund,the Lead Service Line Cash Fund, the Panhandle Improvement Project Cash Fund and the Youth Outdoor Education Innovation Fund.

If you have actually read this far, you can see from the exhausting list why the Appropriations Committee has just one job – develop the state budget. We consider each individual request, agency and program and take multiple votes before we advance the finished budget. This also explains why ten days of the session are devoted to budget debate and passage, why the Governor has line item veto powers and why passing the budget is the one constitutional requirement of the Legislature each biennium.

As we debate these issues, you are always welcome to contact me at mdorn@leg.ne.gov or call 402-471-2620. I appreciate your communication.

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