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Pillen addresses issues, outlines priorities
McCOOK, Neb. — Nebraskans can’t be expected to agree about everything, but need to be able to work together to make things better for everyone, Gov. Jim Pillen told a crowded McCook restaurant this morning in a preview of Thursday’s State of the State address.
Read the complete text of Thursday's State of the State address here.
“God forbid if we agree about everything,” Pillen admitted to the gathering at the Citta Deli cafe, going on to address some of the most controversial issues of his first year in office.
The governor, earlier quoted as saying he didn’t “believe in welfare,” defended his decision to turn down $18 million in federal funding to feed children when school is out.
The problem, Pillen said, is that the $40 distributed each summer month for each eligible child goes to parents and may not actually be used to buy food for children, who may already be fed through other summer programs. Although he referred to the benefit as cash, it is actually distributed in the form of S-EBT cards which can only be used to purchase food.
The former Cornhusker defensive back said he was a “team player” who saw the benefits of working together as a team in an office setting, referring to his executive order sending state remote workers back to the office. Following a Commission of Industrial Relations ruling favoring the state’s 8,000 government workers, that order is on hold.
“Work doesn’t have to be work,” said Pillen, who touted applying business principles to government. Workers who are unhappy with their working conditions should find another job, he said. “If they don’t want to come back to work, they can’t be on the team anymore.”
With high praise, Pillen introduced his long-time friend, Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, a former U.S. Attorney for Nebraska and Rob Jeffreys, director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, whom he called a “5-star recruit” who was former director of the large Illinois Department of Corrections after spending 24 years with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Jeffreys was attracted to the state because of its people, Pillen said.
With the construction of its new prison and programs, Nebraska is poised to be a national leader in correctional services.
Pillen said he would continue to emphasize kids, taxes, agriculture and Nebraska values in the biennium budget to be introduced Thursday.
Nebraska has “gotta start saying no” to spending which has made the state less competitive, and removing Community Colleges from property taxes and re-emphasizing vocational education are important steps to help build a “vibrant middle class.”
He renewed his call for a 40% reduction in property taxes, with the Community College change contributing about $250 million toward that goal, and called for “front-loading” property tax credits that often go unclaimed. A “hard cap” is called for to reduce local spending, and besides raising sales taxes, Nebraska should greatly increase cigarette taxes to help reduce property taxes.
He said it was “hogwash” to suggest that a sales tax increase is a tax hike and not a property tax reduction, but is a way to widen the tax base and restore Nebraska’s “3-legged stool” of income, property and sales tax revenues.
To applause, Pillen vowed that he would “never see his granddaughter competing against boys” or his grandson showering with a girl who believes she is a boy.
He said the Opportunity Scholarship Act, subject to a voters referendum, provides a way for students to go to schools where they “fit in.”
Pillen defended his veto of rural workforce housing funding last year as a result of timing and said the next budget would include $25 million in “seed money” for that purpose, and to “not just give houses away.”
He pledged to ensure foreign adversaries do not own Nebraska farmland and to keep property owned by people like Ted Turner, Bill Gates and the LDS Church on the tax rolls. He pointed to the action removing Chinese electronics from wireless systems as a similar effort.
Pillen said industry needed a better system for legal immigration, and said Nebraska State Patrol and Nebraska National Guard deployments to Texas helped stem the tide of illegal immigrants, as well as discover children being used to carry methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.
Throughout his talk, Pillen expressed optimism about his state and called for Nebraskans to work together for the overall betterment of the state.