{"id":22023,"date":"2017-04-26T12:10:01","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T18:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=22023"},"modified":"2017-04-27T11:51:38","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T17:51:38","slug":"budget-debate-begins-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=22023","title":{"rendered":"Budget debate begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers began debate April 25 on the state\u2019s $8.9 billion budget package. The state budget is structured on a two-year basis, with the budget enacted during legislative sessions held in odd-numbered years.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. John Stinner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gering Sen. John Stinner, chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said the goal of the proposed package is to return the budget to a positive structural balance and meet the minimum reserve requirement in the face of a nearly $1 billion projected budget shortfall.<\/p>\n

LB327, introduced by Norfolk Sen. Jim Scheer on behalf of the governor, is the mainline budget bill. A pending Appropriations Committee amendment contains recommendations for state operations and state aid.<\/p>\n

Among other provisions, the amendment includes the following increases to baseline appropriations over the biennium:
\n\u2022 $62.4 million for the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act (TEEOSA);
\n\u2022 $35.6 million for Medicaid;
\n\u2022 $15.4 million for staffing, programs and equipment for the state Department of Correctional Services; and
\n\u2022 $11.4 million for the courts under the Justice Reinvestment Act.<\/p>\n

Among other reductions, the amendment also includes proposed cuts of $24.7 million to state agencies, $13 million to the university system and $9 million in foster care contracts with private providers of kinship placements for state wards.<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s budget package comprises seven bills, four of which were advanced to select file April 25. LB328, advanced 35-0, would provide for the $12,000 annual salaries of Nebraska\u2019s 49 state senators. LB329, advanced 40-0, would fund salaries and benefits for judges and constitutional officers.<\/p>\n

Also advanced was LB330, on a 40-0 vote, which would appropriate funds for reaffirmed and new capital construction projects.<\/p>\n

An Appropriations Committee amendment, adopted 37-0, replaced the bill and would provide funding for several projects initiated in prior years, including:
\n\u2022 $12.1 million each year for the state\u2019s share of deferred maintenance and repair projects at the University of Nebraska and state colleges;
\n\u2022 $15.6 million in FY2018-19 for the State Capitol HVAC project; and
\n\u2022 $20.8 million for the last two years of funding for the Lincoln Community Corrections Center housing unit.<\/p>\n

Also advanced was LB149, introduced by Stinner, which contains additional changes to previous cuts made in LB22 to the state\u2019s budget for the current fiscal year. A committee amendment, adopted 43-0, became the bill and would restore $1 million in lapsed reappropriations to the Legislative Council, among other changes.<\/p>\n

LB149 advanced 44-0.<\/p>\n

Debate is scheduled to resume April 26 on the mainline budget bill, several pending amendments and three additional bills:
\nLB332, which would make transfers to and from the state\u2019s Cash Reserve Fund;
\nLB331, which would create funds and make certain fund transfers; and
\nLB171, which would provide for payment of claims against the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers began debate April 25 on the state\u2019s $8.9 billion budget package. The state budget is structured on a two-year basis, with the budget enacted during legislative sessions held in odd-numbered years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[149],"class_list":["post-22023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appropriations","tag-sen-john-stinner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22023"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22041,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22023\/revisions\/22041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}