Busy year for appropriations committee

Usually, in even number years, the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee has a bit of an easier year. Not this year though. Not only is there an increase in tax collections resulting in higher economic forecasts, but they also have funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to appropriate.

The first task of the Appropriations Committee was to forward to the entire Legislature three budget bills: LB’s 1011, 1012, and 1013. The first bill, LB 1011 made changes to the appropriations for state agencies and programs from last year; it advanced from the first round of debate 40-6.

The second budget bill, LB 1012, was debated next and advanced this past Tuesday. I am confident that it will pass. LB 1012 funds some major projects. Two of the most notable are the Community College State Dependents Fund and the Statewide Tourism and Recreational Water Access and Resource Sustainability Fund. This bill also sets aside funds to begin design and engineering studies and to purchase land for the South Platte Canal Project. In addition, LB 1012 authorizes a transfer of $15 million from the Health Care Cash Fund to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, contingent on certification of matching funds. A number of other big-ticket items are also included in this bill.

The third budget bill, LB 1013, deals with the Cash Reserve Fund, basically the savings account for the state. The Legislature should always have money set aside for a downturn in the economy, but not a huge amount.

This is the people’s money and should not be used to start new projects that will have to continue to be funded in the future. Instead, it should go back to the taxpayers.

Since this article was submitted before the debate started on LB 1013, I don’t know what it will look like once it finally advances to Select File. However, there are numerous amendments already filed on the bill, so we will probably be debating it for at least eight hours.

The budget bills are different from the ARPA funding requests in LB 1014. ARPA funds are money we have not had before, nor will we receive again, so we must use it wisely.

There were 84 bills introduced to request the use of ARPA funds.

The Appropriations Committee approved 40 of those requests, based on several factors with the major one being that the request must fall within the federal guidelines for use.

Speaker of the Legislature, Senator Mike Hilgers, received approval from the Executive Board to designate LB 1014 as a “Speaker’s Major Proposal.” This allows the Speaker to determine the scheduling of the bill, as well as the order of amendments and motions filed.

As always, please feel free to contact my office with any questions or concerns that you might have.

My email address is dhughes@leg.ne.gov and my phone number is (402) 471-2805. My office is in room 2108 at the Capitol if you are in the Lincoln area.