GOVERNOR PILLEN DELIVERS 2025 STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS

LINCOLN- In his vision for Nebraska's next two budget years, Gov. Jim Pillen focused primarily on reducing government spending, with less of an emphasis on new property tax relief than he's had in prior years. 

Pillen gave his third State of the State speech as Nebraska's governor Wednesday morning, in which he detailed his priorities for 2025, and unveiled his plan for the state's biennial budget, which will start July 1, 2025, and span until June 30, 2027. "Many important issues will consume our focus throughout this legislative session," Pillen said. "I pledge to you that we will be your partner throughout it all."

The governor's budget plan calls for a 0.5% reduction in state spending over two years, which is expected to help close the projected $432 million budget shortfall and leave Nebraska with roughly $62 million left over. Absent from his plan is a direct approach for additional property tax relief, which his staff anticipates will cost between $235 million to $245 million per year to sustain. 

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IN DEPTH: GOVERNOR PILLEN'S BUDGET PROPOSAL

LINCOLN- Gov. Jim Pillen focused primarily on reducing government spending, with less of an emphasis on new property tax relief than he's had in prior years. 

He said his budget includes shrinking state spending by half a percent over the next biennium. The budget leaves $755 million in the cash reserve and calls for $100 million in cuts to about $5.3 billion in general fund appropriations in 2025-26 and $5.4 billion in 2026-2027.

It solves a $432 million budget shortfall and still provides for $672 million in additional property tax relief, which the governor addressed in his speech.

The proposed budget includes legislation to reverse 20 incentive expansions that reduce state revenue and some examples are the Nebraska Advantage Rural Development Expansion Act; Good Life Transformational Projects; Sports Complex Financing; Large Public Stadium Financing; and Shortline Rail Credits.

For Gov. Pillen's Budget in Brief Report, click HERE

For Gov. Pillen's Executive Budget Presentation, click HERE

NAVY DESTROYER NAMED AFTER BOB KERREY

LINCOLN — First a bridge and now a Navy destroyer has been named after former Nebraska governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey.This week, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that the Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyer has been named the USS Robert Kerrey (DDG 146).

Kerrey, a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War who received the Medal of Honor, previously lent his name to a pedestrian bridge spanning the Missouri River between Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa. In a Navy press release, Kerrey said he was grateful for the honor. “My sincere thanks to President Biden, Secretary of the Navy Del Toro, and the United States Navy that gave me the opportunity to serve my country for three of the best years of my life,” Kerrey said. Del Toro said that the naming recognized his actions in Vietnam “and his continued service to this country well beyond his Naval service.”

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NEBRASKA'S NEXT STATE POET IS A JEWEL, FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO FILL ROLE

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s next state poet is a fixture around poetry slams and political events in the state’s largest city, having spoken beside mayors and members of Congress. But Jewel Rodgers of Omaha stepped on to a larger stage Monday, when Gov. Jim Pillen named her state poet and charged her with inspiring a new generation of Nebraska readers and writers.

Rodgers is the first Black Nebraskan to hold the five-year renewable post, which requires nominees to compete with finalists from across the state and be screened by the Nebraska Arts Council. Rodgers took a deep breath when asked what it means to be poet laureate of Nebraska. She credited others in her past who saw possibilities “she didn’t even know to be thinking about.” “For me … being the first African American woman to hold this position … is to show folks what’s possible, to instill a vision in them that they may not have had for themselves,” she said.

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NEBRASKA CATTLE PRODUCERS BATTLE FREEZING TEMPERATURES TO KEEP HERDS SAFE IN ARCTIC BLAST

GRAND ISLAND- The first big blast of winter weather arrives in Nebraska where cattle producers battle the elements to protect the herd. “Constantly chopping ice,” Adriane Stoltenberg said. An arctic blast brings wind chills of 20 below to the Stoltenberg farm.

Water is a major consideration according to Extension Educator Troy Walz. “If they're not consuming enough water they're not going to eat as much and if they're not eating as much they're not getting the energy that they need so we really need to be vigilant with cold temperatures like this,” he said. Walz said for every degree under 19 there’s a one percent increase in energy needs.

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NEBRASKA HOSPITAL LEADERS OUTLINE ISSUES FOR FUTURE OF RURAL HEALTHCARE

LINCOLN- The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) and the Nebraska Rural Health Association (NeRHA) unveiled the 2025-26 Roadmap to Strong Rural Health Care to help improve rural healthcare in the state on Tuesday. NHA President Jeremy Nordquist says Nebraska hospitals currently struggle with lagging reimbursement rates, higher labor costs, and aggressive practices from large insurance companies and big pharma.

According to a recent survey of NHA’s membership, many of Nebraska’s rural hospitals operated at a loss in the last quarter. The average operating margin for 2024 was 1.4%, well below a sustainable margin. “These tough financial conditions have forced over 20% of our hospitals to reduce or eliminate services in the last the years,” Nordquist said.

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STATE CHAMBER PRESIDENT BRYAN SLONE ANNOUNCES PLANS STEP DOWN

LINCOLN- Bryan Slone publicly announced today he intends to step down as President/CEO of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry following the 109th Legislative Session in June of 2025. A search committee has begun a search process to identify his successor and has started accepting applications.

During his tenure, the NE Chamber has continued to serve as the “Voice of Business” in legislative and regulatory matters and policy-making processes. Slone noted that his time at the NE Chamber has been a “great personal privilege due to the incredible support of the membership, the very talented staff members on the chamber team, and the many unique opportunities for the organization to make a difference for Nebraska’s businesses and economic competitiveness.”

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RECLASSIFICATION OF SMALL NEBRASKA SCHOOL DISTRICTS OPENS DOOR TO ARMING SELECT STAFF

LINCOLN — A new state law could lead to greater efficiency in setting rules, regulations and safety standards for some of Nebraska’s smallest school districts. Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher reclassified or shifted roughly 80% of the state’s 245 school districts to new, smaller levels at the beginning of the year.

State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, the sponsor of Legislative Bill 1329 from 2024, said his legislation could lead to more efficiency in creating laws or regulations that include the districts with fewer than 5,000 total residents. “I’m just trying to make a more efficient way of addressing the needs of different sized districts and different demographics,” Murman told the Nebraska Examiner.

One of the immediate effects of the law gives school boards of smaller districts the option to authorize select school security personnel to carry firearms on school grounds.

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NEBRASKA NOW HAS 18TH-HIGHEST MINIMUM WAGE; ADVOCATES WANT TO ENSURE IT KEEPS RISING

OMAHA - The new year brings a new minimum wage to Nebraska, and supporters of the higher wage don’t want lawmakers tampering with the law that boosted it. The state now has the 18th-highest minimum wage after the increase effective Jan. 1. That’s according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks minimum wages in the 50 states.

The new minimum wage of $13.50 an hour is the result of a successful 2022 ballot initiative that authorized a series of annual increases. Initiative 433 was an effort of Raise the Wage Nebraska, supported financially by labor unions and various progressive organizations. The measure passed with more than 58% of voters in favor.

The minimum wage will remain at $13.50 an hour through December 31, 2025. In 2026, it will rise to $15. In successive years, the wage will increase based on the cost of living. Sue Martin, president and secretary-treasurer of the Nebraska State AFL-CIO, commented on the boost. “These consistent, predictable increases toward $15 since 2023, along with the annual cost of living increases that will begin in 2027, will ensure that hardworking Nebraska workers don’t fall behind,” she said.

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GOV. JIM PILLEN TALKS ABOUT HIS INJURIES, RECOVERY AND GETTING BACK TO WORK

LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a former University of Nebraska defensive back, knew about getting hit hard long before he played for Hall of Fame football coach Tom Osborne. He got bruising lessons at home, on family land near Columbus, where big brother, Clete, an all-Big 8 linebacker, pummeled him long before the Pillen boys played against Big 8 offenses.

But the governor said the pain of backyard tussles was “nothing” compared to what he felt after a few slow-motion seconds on Dec. 22, when his son-in-law’s horse and his got spooked. “I’ve never experienced anything close,” said Pillen, who broke seven ribs, two of them twice, along with a collapsed lung, a lacerated spleen, a bruised kidney and a fractured vertebra.

Pillen discussed his injuries during that horse ride, his recovery at hospitals in Columbus and Omaha and getting back to work in a sit-down interview with the Nebraska Examiner on Friday. He laughed and teared up in a high-backed chair in the living room of the Governor’s Mansion, where he has stayed since being released from the Nebraska Medical Center a week earlier.

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NEBRASKA LAWMAKER WHO CHAMPIONED GOOD LIFE DISTRICTS LAW CRITICIZES ROLLOUT

GRETNA- When State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan proposed legislation to create good life districts two years ago, she envisioned the result would be a Nebraska tourist magnet akin to Kansas City’s Legends retail complex or Minnesota’s Mall of America. Inspiring her, she said, was businessman Rod Yates’ dream to build a sports-retail-entertainment mecca around the existing Nebraska Crossing shopping center he owns in Gretna, between the state’s two largest cities, Omaha and Lincoln.

However, two key drivers of the Good Life Act say they are disappointed in how the law and subsequent updates are playing out. Yates’ plan appears deadlocked with the Gretna City Council, and Linehan now fears that she let language slip by that could allow Gretna and a handful of Nebraska cities to use the state incentive in ways she didn’t intend — boosting projects that are less spectacular than one-of-a-kind.

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BILL INTRODUCED TO PLUG ‘MISSING YEAR’ OF NEBRASKA PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

LINCOLN — Lawmakers have formally introduced a “fix” to Nebraska’s summer special session changes to a key property tax relief program, which closed off some tax relief for Nebraskans.

State Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering introduced Legislative Bill 81 on Thursday, a promise he and five other lawmakers made in October. The legislation would allow all Nebraskans to claim a credit on any property taxes paid in 2024 when they file their tax returns this spring, in the middle of the 90-day legislative session. The aim is to make whole the people who missed out on claiming an income tax credit for property taxes assessed in December 2023.

LB 81 would offer a one-time extension for the income tax credit program established in 2020 and designed to offset K-12 school taxes, which comprise most local property taxes.

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FIRST DAY OF 2025 NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE UNDERSCORES CONSERVATIVE STRONGHOLD

LINCOLN — The conservative stronghold on the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature became clearer Wednesday, as state lawmakers chose Republicans for the top leadership spots on all but one of 17 key legislative committees. The lone Democrat elected to a chair position was State Sen. Terrell McKinney — and he ran unopposed in his bid to preside over the Urban Affairs Committee for two more years.

In the couple of races when a Republican competed against another Republican for a committee chair, the lawmaker with the more conservative voting record won. (Republicans this year again hold 33 of 49 seats in the Legislature, the exact size of supermajority needed to break filibusters and advance often contentious legislation. Democrats number at 15, and one state lawmaker is a progressive nonpartisan.)

In yet another contested race, the longest current tenured senator, Democrat Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, lost to the youngest member of the Legislature, Republican Beau Ballard, to preside over the Nebraska Retirement Systems.

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PARTISAN FIGHT CONTINUES OVER COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS IN NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE

LINCOLN — The fate of some conservative priorities, such as changing how Nebraska allocates its votes for president or adding a “women’s bill of rights” to state law, could depend on whether Republicans succeed this week in making Democrats a minority on every legislative committee but one.

The leading point of contention Wednesday revolved around the makeup of the eight-member Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. By the end of the first day of the session, Government was set to have five Democrats and three Republicans, including its chair.

“Me personally, and I’m one vote, I’m not representing any caucus in this,” State Sen. Christy Armendariz of Omaha, the Committee on Committees chair, said. “I think that the committee assignments should be representative of the makeup of the entire state.” While the Legislature is officially nonpartisan, Armendariz, a first-time member of the committee, said all 13 members know what is going on: a fight over partisan balance, which impacts all Nebraskans.

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A HOST OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES TO FACE 2025 NEBRASKA LEGISLATORS

LINCOLN- The 109th Legislature will officially convene on Jan. 8, and several returning senators confirmed that they plan to introduce bills following up on past issues like winner-take-all, property tax relief, and legislative oversight over government watchdogs like the Ombudsman’s Office.

Lawmakers have differing levels of optimism about whether there is even room for new tax relief given the deficit. Plans on other subjects, like gun access, abortion policy, and K-12 curriculum, are even murkier.

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SPEAKER ARCH: NEBRASKA BUDGET 'WITHOUT A DOUBT' BIGGEST ISSUE OF 2025 SESSION

LINCOLN — Speaker John Arch of La Vista this week outlined the Nebraska Legislature’s biggest 2025 issue as lawmakers return to Lincoln: the state budget. Arch, who is so far running unopposed to helm Nebraska’s legislative branch for two more years, said the budget would “without a doubt” be state lawmakers’ biggest issue in 2025 when they return for a 90-day session beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m.

That priority comes as the state budget is forecasted to be running more than $432 million short in the next two fiscal years, which begin July 1 and end June 30, 2027. Legislative solutions will likely need to be massaged by the Legislature’s Appropriations and Revenue Committees.If left unchecked, estimates show that the budget hole could grow to $1.13 billion by the middle of 2029, partly because of 2023 legislative decisions to decrease tax rates for top income and corporate earners.

Now, Arch said, lawmakers will see the reality and real numbers of those changes. “We’ll have to have some time to digest,” Arch told the Nebraska Examiner on Monday. “We took some pretty big swings in the last couple of sessions.”

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FORMER OMAHA LOBBYIST JACK CHELOHA NAMED RALSTON CITY ADMINISTRATOR

RALSTON- The City of Ralston has appointed Jack Cheloha, formerly a longtime City of Omaha lobbyist, as its new city administrator.

Cheloha, a senior attorney for Goosmann Law Firm, begins his Ralston duties on Jan. 2.

He replaced Rick Hoppe, who had served as city administrator for the city of about 6,500 people since 2020. Hoppe was recently named chief of staff to Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird. “Jack is the right choice to keep Ralston moving forward,” said Ralston Mayor Don Groesser.

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BIDEN TO AWARD LINCOLN POLICE OFFICER TU ANH TRAN THE MEDAL OF VALOR

LINCOLN- President Joe Biden is awarding a Medal of Valor on Friday to the Lincoln Police Department sergeant who jumped into a frigid pond in February 2023 to save a woman from drowning in her car. Sergeant Tu Anh Tran responded to a winter weather-related wreck at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in which a 27-year-old woman lost control of her Hyundai Elantra on Yankee Hill Road in south Lincoln and slipped into a pond that typically does little more than complicate life for golfers.

Tran has deflected attempts to describe his efforts as heroic, sharing credit with the bystanders and the people who called 911. But it was the second time he had jumped into the water to help rescue someone, having done the same in September 2022. On Friday in Washington, D.C., Tran will be honored along with officers from Nashville, Tennessee, who stopped a school shooter, a New York fire lieutenant who saved a mother and child, and a firefighter who saved two unconscious people.

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'CHRISTMAS MIRACLE' SAVES SMALL-TOWN NEBRASKA NEWSPAPERS

LINCOLN- Rod Worrell calls it a “Christmas miracle,” but just hours before he was ready to print the final edition of the Ainsworth Star-Journal on Dec. 25, a new owner emerged. Now both the Star-Journal and the Valentine Midland News, two weekly papers that Worrell and his wife Kathy had owned for more than 40 years, will not close. Potential owners in Ainsworth, he said, were having trouble finding someone to staff the paper — the workforce is a major issue in many sectors across Nebraska, including in Ainsworth, a ranching community 140 miles west of Norfolk.

Graig Kinzie, the owner of the local radio station in Ainsworth, said he’d been trying to put together a group to buy the paper for two to three months, but each group couldn’t come up with someone to run the operation. Then the owners of an Ainsworth car dealership, Clint and Katie Painter stepped forward to tell Kinzie their daughter, Erin, wanted to move back to her hometown and was willing to manage the paper.

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USDA AWARDS NEBRASKA GROUP $200M TO BOOST CLEAN ENERGY EFFORTS

LINCOLN- A Nebraska rural electric cooperative has been awarded a $200 million federal grant to boost clean and affordable energy efforts in the state. The funding to Nebraska Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative was part of the latest round of investments by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America Program, or New ERA, which aims to help rural Americans transition to cleaner, less expensive, and reliable energy.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in December that $4.37 billion in grants and loans were headed to 10 rural electric cooperatives, representing seven states, for projects that support jobs, lower electricity costs for businesses and families, and reduce climate pollution. In Nebraska, USDA officials say the $200 million award will be used by NEG&T to procure 725 megawatts of wind and solar energy in Butler, Burt, and Custer Counties.

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