NEBRASKANS EXCITED, SOME WORRIED AS PILLEN SAYS HE CAN FINALLY END WAITLIST FOR DISABILITY SERVICES

LINCOLN- For decades, Nebraskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities have had to wait for services like job coaching, training workshops, group homes, independent living support, and respite care. Just last month, over 2,700 Nebraskans were on what many describe as this 'wait list' for services.

That made advocates excited, but also confused and skeptical, when Gov. Pillen suddenly announced last month that he was going to eliminate the waiting list to "better support" Nebraskans with disabilities, minus any concrete details. State officials this week began a series of discussions with communities, providers, and families to outline Pillen's proposed changes.

Despite some who are skeptical, Tony Green, the director of DHHS' Division of Developmental Disabilities, said officials, including Pillen, intentionally left details out so they could be worked on later. He said the idea is to develop those details through the discussions. "The new approach to serving families as they need support will fundamentally change the way we do business," said Green.

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AWARDS TO GO TO URBAN AND RURAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS

LINCOLN- A small northeastern Nebraska town and an area nonprofit are this year's winners of the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund award, an annual prize presented by the Nebraska Commission on Housing and Homelessness, which was established in 2018 to recognize organizations and projects that have worked to create quality affordable housing using previous Trust funding.

The 2024 winner are the Village of Clearwater and NeighborWorks Home Solutions. Clearwater was awarded $221,000 through the Trust in 2021, and worked with Stearns Construction to build a now-sold duplex. In Omaha, NeighborWorks had received a $338,800 grant in 2020 that allowed them to build two new homes in North Omaha.

"Communities throughout Nebraska are coming up with creative solutions to develop affordable housing," said K.C. Belitz, director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, "DED is grateful to support man projects that are putting quality housing within reach of Nebraska's families." The Trust is administered by the DED and is one of the state's key resources for affordable housing development.

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AARP NEBRASKA CELEBRATES NEW FAMILY CAREGIVER TAX CREDIT FOR 'UNSUNG HEROES'

LINCOLN- AARP Nebraska is celebrating the newly passed LB937, which included Sen. Eliot Bostar's Caregiver Tax Credit Act, for helping to cover family caregivers' costs as they care for and support eligible family members. The nonrefundable credits, which would begin January 1st, would be equal to 50% of eligible expenditures related to a family member's care or support of their loved ones.

"Caregiving is a critically important public health issue that affects the quality of life more millions of individuals nationally and thousands across Nebraska," Bostar said in a statement. To qualify, a caregiver must have an adjusted gross income of less than $50,000, and must care for a relative who requires assistance with at least two activities of daily living, as certified by a health care provider.

AARP Nebraska said the state has approximately 179,000 family caregivers, an experience they say is "stressful, isolating, and has a real financial cost." The cost, they said, averages roughly $7,200 per household per year. "When lawmakers agree on an issue regardless of political affiliation, the message is clear," said Todd Stubbendieck, state director of AARP Nebraska, "AARP is proud of the Nebraska Legislature for recognizing this critical need to help our state's unsung heroes."

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$62 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT EXPECTED TO USHER IN NEW ERA OF SOLAR POWER USE ACROSS NEBRASKA

LINCOLN- On Monday, it was announced that the Lyons-based Center for Rural Affairs would receive a $62 million federal grant to help make solar energy more accessible and affordable to a wider slice of Nebraskans. The "Solar for All" grant is meant to help the Center install power systems for more than 9,000 historically disadvantaged Nebraska households that stand to save roughly 20% in monthly utility costs.

The funds are also designed to create jobs, reduce pollution, and increase the amount of deployed solar energy in the state by more than 60%, according to Brian Depew, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs. "It's exciting," he said, "We are just at the vanguard of solar in Nebraska, and this can be part of building our solar industry in a way that goes beyond the folks we'll be able to serve through this project."

Coinciding with Earth Day, the Biden Administration announced the Center for Rural Affairs as one of 60 awardees set to share $7 billion worth of Solar for All grants. The federal Environmental Protection Agency described the Nebraska project as the state's first to ensure that low-income and disadvantaged households in the state have equitable access to solar power.

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NEBRASKA ECONOMIC INDICATOR DROPS IN MARCH AFTER RECORD FEBRUARY JUMP

LINCOLN- A University of Nebraska-Lincoln economic index fell sharply during March, but its author, Eric Thompson, is still forecasting growth in the summer months. The Nebraska Leading Economic Indicator's 1.31% decline in March came on the heels of a record jump in February, which Thompson said still indicates "there will be rapid economic growth in Nebraska during mid-2024."

The indicator is designed to predict economic activity six months into the future, and last month's rise was revised to 3.97%, up from an earlier reading of 3.48%. Thompson said that the March decline was due to a drop in manufacturing hours worked and building permits authorized, two factors that were strong in February.

On a positive note, Thompson also pointed out that business expectations remained strong in March, with respondents to the March Survey of Nebraska Business reporting plans to increase sales and employment over the next six months.

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STUDY RANKS NEBRASKA AMONG TOP 10 STATES FOR RISKY HOUSING

LINCOLN- The Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit, national watchdog group, released its first state-by-state "risk index" aimed at informing policymakers about problems that can arise from imbalanced investment by private equity groups. In its analysis, the group looked at four distinct categories: jobs, health care, pension, and housing. These were scored and utilized to determine private equity risk.

Nebraska's cumulative score was 42 out of 100, placing the state in the medium-risk category and among the bottom 15 states for overall threat. "It should raise the hairs on the backs of necks," said Matt Parr, a spokesman for the group, "That means there is a lot of risk in the housing market in Nebraska, for renters and especially for those wanting to purchase homes."

Between 2018 and 2022, the study found, medium, large, and mega investors bought 10% of Nebraska homes. More remarkable, the group added, was the fact that the share of homes purchases by those investors jumped 60% in that timeframe. According to Omaha Habitat for Humanity CEO Amanda Brewer, that required her organization to come up with a "workaround" to help clients compete for editing for-sale homes.

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PILLEN VETOES LB25 BY SENATOR WAYNE WHICH SOUGHT TO INCREASE LIABILITY ON SCHOOL DISTRICTS, CITIES, COUNTIES

LINCOLN- On Wednesday, Gov. Jim Pillen vetoed a proposal that would have allowed lawsuits to be enacted against school districts or other political subdivisions if they failed to act on suspected claims of child sexual assault or abuse. The governor said the bill, Sen. Wayne's LB25, was "overly broad" and would "substantially erode" sovereign immunity protections for political subdivisions.

Pillen, echoing opponents of the proposal, also added that the bill would have increased taxpayer costs, including property taxes. "We must hold perpetrators accountable and protect children from abuse by enforcing the criminal laws that exist and by targeting the wrongdoer," Pillen wrote in his veto letter, "Taxpayers should not bear this burden."

Lawmakers had originally passed the bill on a 28-17 vote on the final day of the 2024 session, but will be unable to override it since they adjourned sine die. Wayne described the veto as a "travesty of justice," and argued that Pillen had chosen "the shadow of bureaucracy over justice for children."

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NEBRASKANS RUNNING FOR STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION DIFFER ON LIBRARY CONTENT, SCHOOL CHOICE

LINCOLN- During the upcoming May primary election, Nebraskans will have the chance to narrow the choices in two highly contested races for the Nebraska State Board of Education. The election will be the first step in the transformation of the eight-member board, since no incumbents indicated that they would seek reelection.

In the District 2 race, which encompasses Sarpy and four other counties in southeast Nebraska, Karen Morgan, Maggie Douglas, and Linda Vermooten are running. Douglas and Morgan are Democrats, while Vermooten is the sole Republican in the race. Vermooten said one of her top priorities is to make schools more transparent for parents.

In District 4, Stacy Matula, LeDonna White Griffin, and Liz Renner are all running. Renner, a Democrat, said she was disappointed in the recent legislative decision to use taxpayer dollars to fund private schools in Nebraska. "I think it's a misuse of public dollars and public trust," she said. Both races are expected to be very contentious in both the May primary and the November general election.

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STATE AUDITOR ALLEGES SMALL-TOWN CLERK EMBEZZLED THOUSANDS WHILE VILLAGE BOARD WAS 'ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH'

LINCOLN- On Tuesday, Nebraska State Auditor MikeFoley released a letter that his office had sent to officials representing the Village of Carroll, outlining how Clerk-Treasurer Jamie Muhs allegedly manipulated the town's accounting system for personal benefit. According to Foley, the matter has been turned over to the Wayne County Attorney's Office, the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, and the State Patrol.

As Carroll's clerk and treasurer for a decade, Muhs, who resigned last May, had complete oversight of the village's financial and utility billing process. That, according to the auditor, included the power to issue payments for village expenses and to claim credits on utility customer accounts for payments received.

According to the auditor's probe, which reviewed three years of records, the village's potential losses in that timeframe totaled roughly $40,000. Alleged in the audit report was that Muhs had fixed the village's books to show that she had paid $2,668 of her own utility bills. The auditor also took "strong exception" to the clerk's ability to secure 32 separate reimbursement payments for office supplies that totaled $8,957, as no documentation exists to show that she had purchased these.

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RICKETTS FUNDS COMPETING ABORTION BAN PETITION EFFORT

LINCOLN- U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts appears to be bankrolling a conservative ballot effort to enshrine a roughly 13-week abortion ban in the state constitution. Ricketts gave $500,000 to the effort, and was the only named donor in the first campaign finance report that the group Protect Women and Children filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

Ricketts has, in the past, supported other efforts to put conservative measures on the ballot, including the 2015 effort to restore Nebraska's death penalty, an endeavor largely funded by the Ricketts family. "Nebraska's commonsense abortion limits reflect our state's strong culture of life," Ricketts said in a statement, "I support the Protect Women and Children ballot initiative because it protects Nebraska values and is a contrast to the extreme initiative the abortion lobby is pushing."

Andi Curry Grubb of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska, speaking on behalf of Protect Our Rights, said in response that "decisions about pregnancy and abortion belong to Nebraskans, not politicians." The competing ballot initiative sought by Protect Our Rights would make abortion legal up until the time of fetal viability, when a fetus can live outside the womb. That is typically at 22-24 weeks.

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HOMEOWNERS NEAR NEW PRISON SITE IMPLORE CITY TO RETHINK LAND-SWAP AGREEMENT

LINCOLN- Taylor and Corey Vasey, both Lincoln Public School teachers, bought their dream home two years ago in a rural area on the northeast edge of Lincoln. For the past two years, the Vaseys told the Lincoln City Council, they've been renovating and making improvements to what they believe could be their forever home.

However, in August, a friend of the Vaseys showed them a map that state and city officials had agreed upon for a new prison, and their driveway was shown on the map. "Everything we've sacrificed, saved, and worked hard to accomplish is now devastated by this location," Taylor Vasey told the Lincoln City Council, "Our view from our bedroom windows will no longer be open land and sky."

On Monday, the Vaseys asked the City Council to reconsider a land-swap agreement made with the state to build a prison just east of the city's landfill. The City Council held the hearing over five proposals that still must be approved for the swap to occur. These include zoning, annexation, and other administrative changes, all of which were unanimously approved by the Lancaster County Planning Commission. Finally, Council members must also approve the land-swap with the state.

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LINCOLN SEN. ANNA WISHART REFLECTS ON 'BEST CHAPTER OF HER LIFE' AS SHE, AND 14 COLLEAGUES DEPART LEGISALTURE

LINCOLN- After eight years as a lawmaker, Sen. Anna Wishart, who represents legislative district 27 in Lincoln, will soon leave her post due to term limits. Wishart is the only Lincoln-area lawmaker representing a slice of the city who will be unable to return to the Capitol in 2025. She said she doesn't plan to return to the body after four or eight years, as some other lawmakers have done, like Sen. Danielle Conrad and former Sen. Ernie Chambers.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee for eight years, Wishart said she was most proud of helping to secure $180 million to develop a second source of drinking water for Lincoln and for successfully advocating for extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers. "Anna is a champion for her constituents, her district, the city of Lincoln, the state of Nebraska," said Sen. Eliot Bostar.

Wishart also became a leading force behind the movement to legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska, and prioritized the issue as a lawmaker. Although she'll leave the Legislature without successfully completing that endeavor, she said she will still work to advance a petition drive to place the issue on the 2024 ballot.

Along with Wishart, 15 senators are departing the legislature this year due to term limits or not seeking another term. Of the departing, 10 are registered Republicans, and five are Democrats in the officially, non-partisan Legislature, where 33 of its current 49 members belong to the GOP. The 2024 elections will determine if Republicans retain a filibuster-proof majority. Members of this group navigated the state through COVID-19, as well as the contentious 2023 session.

Those who are term-limited include Senators Joni Albrecht, Carol Blood, Bruce Bostelman, Tom Brewer, Steve Erdman, Steve Halloran, Lou Ann Linehan, John Lowe, Mike McDonnell, Tony Vargas, Lynne Walz, Justin Wayne, and Anna Wishart. Those opting out of running for reelection include Senator Julie Slama and newly appointed Senator Fred Meyer.

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NEBRASKA CASINOS SEE RECORD REVENUE IN MARCH, WHICH MEANS RECORD GAMING TAXES

LINCOLN- The state's casinos had a record haul in March, with the Lincoln and Grand Island operations posting their best months ever.

WarHorse Casino in Lincoln brought in nearly $5.5 million in revenue last month, its best performance in its roughly 18 months of operation. The vast majority of that, nearly $5.2 million, came from slot machines, but the sportsbook also had a strong month.

WarHorse brought in more than $325,600 in sports betting revenue — second only to the more than $383,000 it generated in January, a month that featured a full slate of NFL playoff contests and New Year's Day bowl games. The Grand Island Casino and Resort also had a record month, bringing in nearly $3.7 million in revenue. The casino saw a strong performance in all of its gaming categories, except for sports betting, which lost money for the third month in a row.

Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., the parent company of WarHorse Gaming and the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, said that at this point, the sports wagering numbers pale when compared to other gaming totals. The caveat to that is if and when mobile better becomes a reality, which will cause that small piece of the casino's bottom line to grow as much as tenfold.

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NEBRASKA GIVEN MORE TIME TO REACH SETTLEMENT WITH ALTEN AS CLEANUP EFFORTS CONTINUE

MEAD- A Saunders County District Court judge agreed last week to give the state of Nebraska more time to reach a settlement with a defunct ethanol plant that is the subject of a major environmental cleanup. Judge Christina Marroquin issued a stay of proceedings in Nebraska's lawsuit against AltEn, which will allow the remediation effort of the biofuel refinery near Mead to continue uninterrupted in the coming months.

The 97-page complaint faulted AltEn, which used pesticide-coated seeds to produce ethanol, for improperly disposing of the tens of thousands of tons of solid waste and millions of gallons of liquids contaminated with agricultural chemicals it created. Attorneys for both the state and AltEn asked Marroquin to stay the proceedings while "confidential settlement discussions" regarding the lawsuit and other legal matters facing the former ethanol plant continued.

"The parties agree a stay would be in the interests of justice and will not harm the parties given the mutual desire to engage in confidential settlement discussions with the goal of a global resolution," the request for a stay indicated. Marroquin agreed to delay the case until Dec. 1, and set the status hearing for Dec. 2 in Saunders County District Court.

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HEALTH CARE PROPOSALS TOP NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS' SPENDING IN 2024

LINCOLN- Spending for health care proposals will top the charts for spending in 2024 as Nebraska lawmakers finished the 2024 legislative session this week. Lawmakers set aside $755 million in state funds either from Nebraska’s main pocketbook or various cash funds and reserves. The state could receive about $1.5 billion in federal funds, most for health care programs.

This comes out to $2.2 billion in state and federal spending, over 95% of which is allocated toward health care programs, while raising $672 million in state funds. Proposals ranged from tapping into a larger federal pool of funds for Medicaid support for hospitals and partnering with an Iowa-based nonprofit for prescription drug donations to exempting National Guard income from state income taxation.

The largest proposal passed and already signed into law is State Sen. Mike Jacobson’s LB1087, the Hospital Quality Assurance and Access Assessment Act, which calls to create a fee on Nebraska hospitals based on their quarterly net patient revenue that would, in turn, unlock federal funds that most states already have access to. The second costliest was LB130 which increases a quality assurance assessment imposed on licensed nursing facilities.

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NEW DATA SHOWS THOUSANDS OF GRADS LEAVING NEBRASKA

LINCOLN- According to new data, young people with a college education are fleeing the state in the thousands. "Brain drain has long been an issue in Nebraska," said interim NU president Chris Kabourek of the situation. In an attempt to keep young, newly graduated people here, the University of Nebraska launched the President's Scholarship.

This new scholarship, which includes full tuition, room and board, general fees, books, and a $5,000 yearly stipend, is valued at nearly $150,000 per student. "It's a really freeing thought," said Lillias McKillip, a senior at Lincoln Southeast High, of the scholarship, "It allows me to go into the next four years and get a degree that'll set me up for success without worrying about the cost of college."

According to the report from Nebraska's Coordinating Commission on Postsecondary Education, the state is "losing graduates at about 3,000-plus per year." Between 2013 and 2022, the number of people in Nebraska with a Bachelor's Degree dropped by around 31,000, according to the report. "It's a concern," said Paul Von Behren, chair of the commission, "We've invested a lot in their education and we'd like to have them remain and contribute."

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SOME FINANCIAL CLOUDS ON NEBRASKA'S HORIZON, SAYS CREIGHTON ECONOMIST

OMAHA- Despite some indicators that prompted optimism about the state's economy, not all economists agree that good times lie ahead. The latest monthly Mid-American Business Conditions Index, conducted by Creighton economist Ernie Goss, showed that 68% of supply managers surveyed in March expect an economic recession this year.

Specifically, those supply managers anticipate orders being delayed or going unfulfilled, a slowdown in overall sales, and general uncertainty in the market. "It's going to get tougher before it gets better," argued one of the managers surveyed. According to Goss, factors such as inflation, high interest rates, and debt concerns point to such an economic downturn.

On top of that, according to Creighton's Rural Mainstreet Index, Nebraska's agricultural economy has taken a hit. Compared to previous years, Nebraska's 2023 agricultural exports declined, totaling $870 million, a 35% decrease over 2022. Goss expects those ag numbers to remain largely flat this year.

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NEBRASKANS, NOT STATE, WILL GET MORE CHILD SUPPORT UNDER RECENTLY PASSED BILL

LINCOLN- Last week, LB233, introduced by Sen. John Cavanaugh, passed on a 46-0 vote. The bill will allow more child support that otherwise would have gone to the federal government or several state programs to be placed directly in the hands of struggling parents. Over the past decade, the state has collected $15.7 million in child support due to people in its welfare system, called Aid to Dependent Children.

Right now, a single parent who qualifies for the Aid to Dependent Children assistance is eligible to receive a maximum of $464 per month if they have one child. However, should they receive this assistance, they will not get some or all of their owed child support money. That lost money, usually around $240 per month, can significantly affect a family's budget, said Diane Amdor of Nebraska Appleseed.

Sen. Cavanaugh's bill originally would've allowed all due child support to go to families, but that was predicted to cost the state $1 million annually. As amended the final bill will allow parents enrolled in Aid to Dependent Children to receive $100 of child support for one child or $200 for two or more children. According to a spokeswoman from Gov. Pillen's office, this ensures that Nebraska won't have to reimburse the federal government for its share of collections.

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UNPACKING 2024: HOW NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS AVOIDED THE DYSFUNCTION OF 2023 SESSION

LINCOLN- After the rancor of last year's legislative session, Sen. Danille Conrad's prediction that things would be better in 2024 was dismissed as wishful thinking. However, as this session wraps up, Conrad says she was right, as the Legislature was able to increase productivity and reduce animosity significantly. Conrad described the sessions as one of the "most significant turnaround stories in American politics."

Hyperbole or not, the improved legislative climate in 2024 was tangible, and stemmed from the strategic scheduling of bills, intentional efforts to improve cross-party relationships, and behind-the-scenes efforts to improve the way measures were heard and debated. Speaker of the Legislature John Arch said he purposefully saved the most contentious bills for the end of the session, including Sen. Kauth's LB575, which, had it passed, would have limited access for transgender K-12 students to sports teams and bathrooms based on their sex assigned at birth.

Arch said his intent this year was to have the Legislature pass noncontentious measures early in the session to help senators develop and remember some "muscle memory" for how constructive debate should be handled. Sen. Wendy DeBoer pointed out that, despite several filibusters this year, many ended short because opposing lawmakers reached a compromise. That, she argued, is how the Legislature os supposed to operate.

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FELON VOTING RIGHTS RESTORATION PROPOSAL FROM WAYNE BECOMES LAW BUT FACES POSSIBLE LEGAL CHALLENGES

LINCOLN- On Thursday, after deciding not to sign it last Wednesday, Gov. Pillen announced that he would allow Sen. Wayne's LB20, which immediately restores voting rights to Nebraskans convicted of a felony once they've completed their sentence, to become law. In a letter to the Legislature, Pillen said that Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Secretary of State Bob Evnen "identified significant potential constitutional infirmities regarding the bill."

"Although there are potential constitutional issues with LB20 and related provisions of existing law," wrote Pillen, "I will allow LB20 and LB20A to become law with neither my signature nor my endorsement of LB20's constitutional validity." The Nebraska Constitution allows bills to become law without the governor's signature five days after they are passed by the Legislature, so long as lawmakers are still in session. Pillen encouraged Hilgers and Evnen to "promptly" take the appropriate steps to address any potential issues.

Barring any legal hoops, LB20 will take effect this summer, just in time for the November election. Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler said the last time a governor allowed a bill to become law without signing it was in 2001, when former Gov. Mike Johanns didn't sign a bill because it pertained to a legislative employment benefit decision. Wayne said he is not concerned with the constitutionality of the proposal. "If it is a court challenge, I have all faith that the Supreme Court will hold this to be constitutional," he said.

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