LINCOLN — From child care to tourism to banking, housing, and wildlife, advocates of various Nebraska industries spoke in opposition Tuesday of Gov. Jim Pillen’s budget bills. Sixteen people voiced objections to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, while Pillen’s state budget administrator Neil Sullivan defended recommendations aimed in part at addressing a projected $432 million state shortfall over the next two years.

Mark McHargue of the Nebraska Farm Bureau spoke in a “neutral” capacity, saying he was not making a blanket endorsement but was in full support of the governor’s effort to put more state funds toward property tax relief. People who wrote in opposition to Legislative Bills 260 through 264, all introduced on Pillen’s behalf by Speaker John Arch of La Vista, totaled 135. Three wrote in support of the proposals that were the topic of a combined public hearing at the State Capitol.

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