LINCOLN- Under two bills introduced by Sen. Justin Wayne, the state would be allowed to take over the management and financing of county kails and county attorneys' offices across the state. A fiscal note released Wednesday estimates that it would cost the Nebraska Department of Corrections roughly $186 million to manage the county jails, while an additional $100 million be shifted off the local property tax rolls if the county attorneys become state-funded "district attorneys" instead.

Wayne, who chairs the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, said the shifts make sense because the state controls who goes to jail anyway via its sentencing laws. "We create the laws, we create the punishment, we should pay for it," Wayne told the Judiciary Committee, "It's a clear unfunded mandate on counties."

The bills faced opposition from the Nebraska County Attorneys Association and the Nebraska Association of County Officials, who argue that such a shift would dilute local control and accountability if an appointed attorney, rather than an elected county attorney, handles local prosecutions. "It's a cost shift," said Michelle Weber, a lobbyist for the County Attorneys Association, "It will not cost less."

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