LINCOLN- The Nebraska Legislature's Transportation and Telecommunications Committee advanced a handful of bills on Monday that would officially establish the Nebraska Broadband Office with the goal of providing reliable broadband services to all state residents by 2028. The Committee advanced LB683, a bill of particular import, which was drafted in response to Gov. Pillen's executive order calling for the creation of the office.

LB683, as well as several other bills tied to the Broadband Office, will be the Committee's priority bills going forward. Currently, the state's broadband services fall under the purview of the Public Service Commission, but will soon be moved to the State Department of Transportation. Gov. Pillen will be tasked with selecting the office's director, who would then serve in the governor's cabinet.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh was the sole dissenting vote in the committee, saying that the set of bills would take away too much power from the elected legislative body and give it to the governor. Sen. Wendy DeBoer echoed a similar sentiment, saying that Gov. Pillen's executive orders have complicated efforts to expand broadband. "There's a mess because of the executive order," said DeBoer.

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