LINCOLN- Senator Blood highlighted an opportunity for the state to seek its $91 million share of federal Inflation Reduction Act funds set aside to make homes as energy efficient as possible. She presented the idea to the Appropriations committee at Monday's hearing saying, "This is an opportunity for us to use tax dollars that are already allocated for us. We’ll give it up to other states if we don’t use it."

The idea was met with major support as people lined up to testify, including 72 letters of support being sent in. The bill at hand is LB560. It simply requires the state to “seek all funds made available” through the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA. Senator Blood did highlight that the bill would not be necessary if the Governor's office actively moved to obtain these types of funds.

Time is of the essence, Blood said, because state have a March 31 deadline to file a “notice of intent” to seek the IRA funds. Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman questioned whether LB 560 could be advanced by the committee and passed in time to have an impact, given the March 31 deadline and the slow pace of floor debate in the Legislature this year.

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