{"id":31265,"date":"2022-01-27T16:49:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T22:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=31265"},"modified":"2022-01-28T14:49:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T20:49:04","slug":"innovation-partnership-bill-advances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=31265","title":{"rendered":"Innovation partnership bill advances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers advanced a bill from general file Jan. 26 meant to facilitate relationships between technology firms and research institutions in historically underserved areas of Nebraska.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Terrell McKinney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB450, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, would require the state Department of Economic Development to design an innovation hub, or \u201ciHub,\u201d designation for certain areas in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

The bill defines an iHub as a partnership between private nonprofit corporations and a two- or four-year college or university to stimulate economic development. Among other tasks, the DED would provide technical assistance and guidance to entrepreneurs
\nand facilitate partnerships between the member organizations.<\/p>\n

Innovation hubs could bridge technological gaps in Nebraska, spark economic growth, create jobs and revitalize economically depressed areas like North Omaha, McKinney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany businesses, specifically in North Omaha, have lacked real investment in economic sustainability and opportunity for small business and entrepreneurs since the late 60s,\u201d McKinney said. \u201cBoarded up buildings and foreclosed businesses do not draw individuals to communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Business and Labor Committee amendment, adopted 42-0, would specify the area within which an iHub could be designated as an economic redevelopment area, defined in state law as an area in which the average rate of unemployment is at least 150 percent of the state average, and the average poverty rate is 20 percent or more for the area\u2019s federal census tract.<\/p>\n

McKinney also offered an amendment, adopted on a 40-0 vote, to add enterprise zones as an area eligible as an iHub area. The change potentially would allow areas of the state that have experienced population decline also to qualify. Among other provisions, the amendment also would add inland port authorities and financial institutions to the list of allowable iHub partners.<\/p>\n

As amended, the bill would require an iHub to contain at least three partners, develop a five-year plan and be current on all state and local taxes.<\/p>\n

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha supported the bill, saying it would enable communities to have a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for business development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue in North Omaha with business development is no different than the issue in Ogallala. It\u2019s no different than the issue in Norfolk. It\u2019s how do we develop small businesses \u2014 and it\u2019s not just lifestyle businesses of coffee shops and restaurants, it\u2019s suppliers, what we consider main street businesses,\u201d Wayne said.<\/p>\n

Blair Sen. Ben Hansen also supported LB450. He said there were provisions in place to distribute iHubs throughout Nebraska, and that the bill would provide opportunities to educate new and potential business owners regarding business plans, contracts and hiring.<\/p>\n

Senators advanced LB450 to select file on a 43-0 vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers advanced a bill from general file Jan. 26 meant to facilitate relationships between technology firms and research institutions in historically underserved areas of Nebraska.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31223,"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":[7],"tags":[262],"class_list":["post-31265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-labor","tag-sen-terrell-mckinney"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/LB450McKinneyBHansen1-26-22a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31265","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=31265"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31303,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31265\/revisions\/31303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}