LINCOLN- During debate on Nebraska's biennial budget proposal, north Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne compared living in that region to a "war zone," leading the body to approve an amendment that would appropriate funds from the budget to a pilot program intended to study the need for preventing PTSD among children "through the reduction of community gun violence." On a 28-3 vote, the body approved a two-year, $10 million addition to the budget to provide for this program.

Besides that, however, the budget saw only small changes. Proposed by the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, the budget for the next two years, if approved, would call for just over $11 billion in spending, with an average spending hike of 2.3% per year. A few highlights within the new budget include $366 million for a new state prison, $574 million for the long-awaited Perkins County Canal, and around $715 million for income tax cuts.

Critics of the proposal, namely state Sens. Danielle Conrad and Machaela Cavanaugh, argued that the budget, if implemented, would be "stealing" money from cash funds held by state agencies rather than be utilizing state tax funds, as is typical. "This budget is about playing politics at its worst," said Conrad during debate over the proposal, "It's full of gamesmanship, it is full of gimmicks, and it's full of tricks." The personal income tax cuts contained within the proposal would, according to the Lincoln-based think tank OpenSky Policy Insitute, benefit only 20% of wage earners.

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