Proposal to ‘reaffirm’ environmental trust offered

Voters could amend the state constitution to ensure that funds dedicated to conserving the state’s natural resources are used exclusively for that purpose under a measure heard Feb. 19 by the Natural Resources Committee.

The Nebraska Environmental Trust, created by the Legislature in 1992, receives a portion of state lottery proceeds to fund projects that conserve, enhance and restore Nebraska’s natural environment.

Plymouth Sen. Tom Brandt, sponsor of LR298CA, said lawmakers in recent years, however, have transferred trust funds for other purposes. He said Gov. Jim Pillen’s current budget proposal would transfer more than $40 million from the trust, threatening funding for grants that already have been awarded.

“If the people of Nebraska choose to adopt this amendment,” Brandt said, “it would reaffirm their original intent and provide long-term certainty for one of our state’s most recognized conservation tools.”

Brandt’s proposal would specify that trust funds could be used exclusively to administer the trust and fund competitively awarded grants to tax-exempt entities, political subdivisions or state agencies for the conservation, enhancement or restoration of the natural, physical and biological environment in Nebraska.

The trust could not award a grant to a project proposed by a state agency unless at least 50% of the project’s funding is provided by a political subdivision, the federal government or private donors.

If approved by the Legislature, the measure would go before voters at the November 2026 general election.

John Bender testified in support of the resolution on behalf of the Friends of the Nebraska Environmental Trust. He said the governor’s budget proposal would leave the trust unable to fund worthwhile conservation projects.

“If adopted, [LR298CA] will prevent such raids on trust fund dollars,” Bender said. “It would stop the gradual erosion of the purpose for which the trust was originally established, and it would make sure the trust operates in a manner keeping with why citizens voted to establish it.”

Matthew Gruntorad testified in support of the measure on behalf of the Nebraska Chapter of the Wildlife Society. He said the governor’s proposal, in LB1072, would direct $32.5 million to a marina project at Lewis and Clark Lake and an additional $10 million to support state Department of Water, Energy and Environment operations.

“Using the trust to fulfill existing contractual obligations or to offset general fund spending contorts the Nebraska [Environmental] Trust Act and skirts the state’s responsibility to fund its own commitments,” Gruntorad said.

Traci Bruckner of Audubon Great Plains also testified in support of LR298CA. She said placing the trust’s competitive grantmaking process in the state constitution is the “only adequate response” to repeated transfers of trust funds to help balance the state budget.

“When trust fund dollars are diverted to fund state agency operations designed to be supported by the General Fund,” Bruckner said, “the trust is no longer complementing the state’s efforts — it’s supplanting them.”

Agencies still could receive trust funds under LR298CA, she added, but they would have to compete for them.

No one testified in opposition to the proposal and the committee took no immediate action on it.