Funds for state agencies supporting aging Nebraskans amended, advanced

A bill intended to address a budget deficit within agencies that support aging Nebraskans was amended to include a juvenile support pilot program before advancing to select file April 3.

LB382, introduced by Pender Sen. Glen Meyer, would expand permissible uses of the Medicaid Managed Care Excess Profit Fund to include reimbursement for the cost of services provided by the eight Nebraska Area Agencies on Aging.

The bill states legislative intent to appropriate $2 million in fiscal year 2025-26 and FY2026-27 from the fund to be used for eligible activities under the Nebraska Community Aging Services Act — such as nutrition, transportation and in-home care support services — distributed equally to each of the eight agencies.

Meyer said the bill would alleviate a $4 million dollar budget deficit within the agencies that provide services to over 36,000 Nebraska residents — including providing over 1.36 million meals in 2024. The percentage of Nebraskans over age 65 is increasing at a rapid rate, he said, and lawmakers need to ensure that the state’s most vulnerable residents are taken care of.

“Many Nebraska seniors depend on these kinds of programs in order to remain living independently and self-sufficiently in their own homes,” Meyer said.

The Medicaid Managed Care Excess Profit Fund had a $10 million balance at the start of the current fiscal year, he said, with another $20 million in deposits expected before the end of the year.

Several lawmakers said they supported LB382 but expressed concern that senators had rejected the previous measure on the day’s agenda, a bill sponsored by Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney that would use the same funding mechanism.

That measure, LB48, would create a pilot program to provide support services for families and youth involved in or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system.

Lincoln Sen. George Dungan said senators are responsible for helping the most vulnerable in the state, wherever they fall on the societal spectrum. He noted that the $1 million in annual proposed funding for McKinney’s bill would be a “drop in the larger bucket” of a fund created to serve the same purpose as the Medicaid program — assisting vulnerable Nebraskans.

“The most important thing we can do is utilize those funds for exactly what they’re supposed to do, which is to help people,” Dungan said.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha offered a motion to indefinitely postpone LB382 in order to give senators time to reconsider their earlier rejection of McKinney’s LB48.

“The vote that was taken on the last bill was egregious,” Cavanaugh said. “To not move a senator’s priority bill from general to select [file] because you think it’s ‘unnecessary’ … is not OK.”

The motion was rejected. Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln then offered an amendment to incorporate the “essence” of McKinney’s LB48 into the proposal.

“It seems that we have a prime opportunity to reconsider our treatment of that measure, as Sen. Meyer’s bill which was next on the agenda today … touches upon the same areas,” Conrad said.

Following the 27-7 adoption of the Conrad amendment, lawmakers advanced LB382 to select file on a 37-2 vote.