Lawmakers made adjustments to the state\u2019s two-year budget with four bills passed this session.<\/p>\n
LB968, introduced by Norfolk Sen. Mike Flood on behalf of the governor, provides for deficit appropriations and passed on a 45-2 vote.<\/p>\n
Among the significant appropriations outlined in the bill are:
\n\u2022 $17 million to the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to cover shortfalls due to developments in the child welfare reform effort and to reduce caseloads;
\n\u2022 $10 million to state aid to K-12 special education;
\n\u2022 $9.7 million to reinstate 1.5 percent of a 2.5 percent cut in Medicaid provider rates for the upcoming fiscal year;
\n\u2022 $6.1 million to fund the design and construction of a veterinary diagnostic center at the University of Nebraska; and
\n\u2022 $4 million to reduce the state\u2019s developmental disability services waiting list.<\/p>\n
LB969, also introduced by Flood at the request of the governor and passed on a 44-3 vote, authorizes various fund transfers.<\/p>\n
LB131, introduced by Elk Creek Sen. Lavon Heidemann, makes transfers from the state\u2019s cash reserve, including:
\n\u2022 $50 million for a cancer research center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha;
\n\u2022 $15 million for the UNMC College of Nursing and School of Allied Health Professions at the University of Nebraska in Kearney;
\n\u2022 $7.5 million for improvements to the Oak Bowl at Peru State College;
\n\u2022 $6.7 million for renovation of the Armstrong Gymnasium at Chadron State College; and
\n\u2022 $800,000 for the Centennial Mall renovation project in Lincoln.<\/p>\n
The bill passed on a 43-1 vote.<\/p>\n
Finally, LB1072, introduced by the Business and Labor Committee, approves claims exceeding $50,000 authorized by the state claims board, including:
\n\u2022 $2.5 million in denied claims made by subcontractors of Boys and Girls Home \u2013 a former lead contract agency with DHHS;
\n\u2022 $495,000 in tort claims; and
\n\u2022 $275,000 in miscellaneous claims.<\/p>\n
The bill also includes $3.9 million in write-offs for fiscal year 2010-11. LB1072 passed on a 42-4 vote.<\/p>\n
Gov. Dave Heineman subsequently vetoed the provision in LB1072 approving $2.5 million in claims made by subcontractors of Boys and Girls Home, but senators voted 31-12 to pass the bill notwithstanding the objections of the governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lawmakers made adjustments to the state\u2019s two-year budget with four bills passed this session. LB968, introduced by Norfolk Sen. Mike<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,67],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-7646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appropriations","category-session-review-2012","tag-sen-mike-flood"],"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\/7646","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=7646"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13329,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7646\/revisions\/13329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}