LINCOLN- Dozens of groups on Tuesday pitched their ideas for how Nebraska should spend the more than $1 billion it is slated to receive from the federal government’s most recent COVID-19 relief package.
Representatives of business, higher education, nonprofits, agriculture, health care and other organizations offered their wish lists to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. They spoke to challenges that the pandemic either created or intensified, like workforce shortages, and access to basic needs such as food, housing, child care, broadband and behavioral health support.
As testifiers pitched their priorities, they used words like “transformative” and “once-in-a-lifetime” to describe the potential that lies in the state’s trough of money from the American Rescue Plan Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year.
Nebraska was allocated a little over $1 billion in federal relief funds, split into two equal payments. It has so far received one payment of $520 million, according to Sen. John Stinner of Gering, who chairs the Appropriations Committee. The state has until the end of 2024 to earmark the money and until the end of 2026 to spend it. Nebraska was also allocated another $128 million in funding for capital projects under the American Rescue Plan.
Agriculture groups brought a proposal totaling $607 million, including $100 million for broadband. Overall, Ken Herz, past president of the Nebraska Cattlemen, highlighted the ag leaders’ aims to boost rural economic development and supply chain resiliency.
Jeremy Nordquist with Nebraska Medicine, who spoke for a long list of health care providers, proposed keeping some of the funding in reserves to meet potential needs related to the pandemic. Among the other needs he listed were mental health support and retention incentives for health care workers.
“Our organizations believe we need to make key investments in Nebraska’s health care system to resoundingly defeat COVID, rebuild our health care workforce, and come out of the pandemic with a stronger health care system that is better-equipped to meet the physical and behavioral health needs of all Nebraskans,” he said.
Jason Hayes of the Nebraska State Education Association, for example, brought a simple proposal: A one-time $1,000 bonus payment to every K-12 public school teacher and education support employee to encourage staff recruitment and retention. Erin Feichtinger of the Omaha nonprofit Together spoke about housing needs identified by nonprofits. Their recommendations, she said, included increasing the availability of affordable housing and investing $40 million in homelessness prevention programs.
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