Greetings from your State Capitol! This week the Nebraska Legislature continued its debate on adjustments to the biennial budget. In addition to budget adjustments, the Legislature continued debate on LB1014, the bill that will allocate $1.04 billion in federal funds the state received through the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA). The bill will be read on final reading and sent to the Governor for his signature or line-item vetoes.

The Appropriations Committee spent an extraordinary amount of time in its deliberations of the ARPA funds. The Committee held public hearings on a total of 130 requests for the federal funds. Thirty of the proposals were recommendations from the Governor. Senators introduced 84 bills for various ARPA projects in the Appropriations Committee, and 16 ARPA related bills were introduced in other Committees.

The Appropriations Committee prepared a guide for allowable uses of the funds and Committee members filled out surveys four different times over the course of public hearings to gauge the level of support for the projects presented. At the end of the day, the Appropriations Committee advanced 38 items that the Committee agreed qualified for funding for full debate by the Legislature.

Included in the final ARPA bill are additional funds for the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Program created in 2017 as a result of legislation I passed. ARPA funds were also allocated to nursing homes and assisted-living facilities for increases in provider rates. Other allocations will increase behavioral health care services, provide for construction of a Rural Health Complex in Kearney, provide for updates to the Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island, and provide updates to wastewater facilities, just to name a few.

The Legislature will also debate several pro-life bills this year. I am pleased to be a pro-life Senator and will be supportive of the pro-life items that will come to the Legislature.

As always, feel free to contact me anytime at (402) 471-2642 or mwilliams@leg.ne.gov. Thanks again for your continued support. Matt