LINCOLN- On Thursday Seventeen state senators sent a letter to Ricketts Wednesday about his plans for distributing $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act funding. The letter suggested, among other things, a public comment period on how the money should be used. Asked about that Thursday, Ricketts said it’s already happened. He gave the example of part of the funds that will be used to help small businesses.

Ricketts said he has no plans to seek additional public input, but that transparancy would be provided through a coming state website, as well as the hired accounting firm Deloitte Touche to oversee and track the spending. But State Sen. Kate Bolz, one of the signers of the letter, said Nebraska should follow the example of Montana, which had a public process in which over a thousand people commented.

The letter from the senators also suggested designating an ombudsman to whom people could appeal funding decisions. Ricketts suggested that’s not necessary.

“With regard to an ombudsman I'd certainly just say hey, if you've got an issue with any of these things, please just reach out to my office, and we'll deal with it that way,” he said.

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