Gov. Jim Pillen issues executive order to eliminate nearly 1,000 vacant state jobs

Gov. Jim Pillen issued an executive order Tuesday to eliminate nearly 1,000 vacant state jobs by removing funding for positions that have been vacant for more than 90 days.

Funds allocated to those positions are to be redistributed at the direction of the budget administrator, the order states.

Exempt from the policy are law enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters, children and family services specialists and other positions related to public safety.

Positions that provide direct operational support for facilities that offer 24-hour services, highway maintenance and construction positions are also exempt.

The governor’s office claimed the decision will save the state close to $40 million.

A list of state positions that has been vacant for at least 90 days was 18 pages long, and included 362 positions with the Department of Health and Human Services.

The vast majority of positions listed have vacancy dates from the last three years, though some on the list date as far back as 2017.

List of state positions vacant for at least 90 days

A press release from the Nebraska Association of Public Employees stated the decision will hurt all Nebraskans. The organization is a state employee’s labor union that represents over 8,000 State of Nebraska employees who work more than 300 different front line jobs in all 93 of Nebraska’s counties.

“This decision hurts all Nebraskans,” said Justin Hubly, Executive Director of the union. “We should expect consequences, including longer lines and closures at DMV locations to continue, hold times to increase when applying for Medicaid, and a slow down in the delivery of unemployment services, just to name a few. We want to do the best for our neighbors, but we simply can’t deliver quality service with a permanent 20% reduction in the state workforce.

“The state is critically short staffed at many agencies. Our top priority is ensuring that we can continue to provide effective and efficient services to our fellow Nebraskans. We must do everything in our power to ensure the state is able to retain its current workforce and attract a new generation of public employees for the future.”

The press release stated that currently, more than one in five state jobs are vacant, waiting for a qualified applicant to fill the position.

In accordance with state law, union members will begin negotiating a new labor contract in September.

By way of full disclosure, some Nebraska Public Media staff are members of NAPE AFSCME.