LINCOLN- State Sen. Danielle Conrad's LB696, which was presented to the Legislature's Executive Board, would allow for more legislative oversight into how state legal settlements funds are collected and spent. Currently, the state's settlement "cash fund" sits at a hefty $28.1 million, but Conrad stated that she wanted the Legislature to decide how those funds are utilized.

"I see this proposal as a classic good-government measure," Conrad told the Executive Board. The funds, Conrad went on to state, should be directed toward the "harm" that prompted the lawsuits in the first place, not used to pay the salaries of lawyers and other staff. However, Attorney General Mike Hilgers told lawmakers that Conrad's bill was largely unnecessary.

Hilgers told the Board that his office has the right to use cash funds for the public good and that the money has been used to meet the needs of state personnel and Nebraska's customer protection division. Over the past few years, the state has joined in and won several lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, retailers, social media corporations, and, more recently, President Biden's student debt relief plan and the federal "Water of the United States" rule.

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