Preserving drug donation program, approving transmission lines discussed in Legislature

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

Feb. 5, 2025, midnight ·

Sen. Jana Hughes speaks in the Legislature Wednesday (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

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The Nebraska Legislature moved Wednesday to restore a program allowing prescription drugs to be donated to uninsured or underinsured people and considered legislation to limit private electrical transmission lines.

The Legislature approved the prescription drug donation program last year, but it has since gotten tangled up by federal regulations and budget issues, and Gov. Jim Pillen has proposed eliminating its funding.

The program is supposed to let individuals, health care facilities and manufacturers donate unused drugs which can then be provided to uninsured or underinsured patients. It was projected to cost slightly over $500,000 a year to administer. But Sen. Jana Hughes, chief sponsor of last year’s legislation, said the program would save taxpayers money compared to the $750,000 it currently costs to dispose of unused drugs.

“Rather than throw everything away and pay to have it incinerated, we can reclaim a large portion of our unneeded prescriptions and allow under-insured and uninsured Nebraska residents to access them… and we can save additional state dollars by reducing the cost of our Medicaid dollars paying for emergency room visits, due to the lack of access to many preventative medications for things like high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart conditions,” she said.

However, Hughes said because of a tightening of federal regulations intended to keep track of prescription drugs, Nebraska has been unable to use the money allocated for the program’s first year.

“The reason that the funds for our donation program were sitting out there unspent was because of the federal rule. This was not effectively communicated to the Governor's team, and it was put on the chopping block,” she said.

Hughes said the program could still be administered through an agency in Iowa, which has a waiver from the federal rules for a similar program that’s been operating there for many years. Her bill, (LB10) seeks to exempt drug distributors from the federal rules. It would also allow the drugs to be distributed to people affected by emergencies declared by the governor.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said Pillen’s effort to cut the funding for the program fits into what she sees as a bigger picture.

“This is going to be a pattern that you'll see throughout this session, that things that we have implemented, ideas that have come to fruition, that have gone through the public hearing process, we've had robust debate on, and the last Legislature enacted into law, and now it is being defunded to pay for the governor's own agenda,” she said.

Sen. Robert Hallstrom urged senators to support Hughes’ efforts to preserve the program.

“I just caution the body not to be penny-wise and pound-foolish in looking at the continued funding of this important program,” he said.

Hughes said she is working to restore funding for the program in the budget, which is now being considered by the Appropriations Committee. Senators voted 39-0 to give her bill first-round approval.

Wednesday afternoon, the Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on bill (LB489) by Sen. Tom Brandt which would prohibit private companies from building, owning or operating electrical transmission lines in Nebraska.

Brandt said the bill came about after Black Hills Energy sought to build a transmission line that cut across seven miles of Nebraska en route from South Dakota to Wyoming.

Because the company has no electric customers in Nebraska, the state’s Power Review Board, which approves transmission lines, concluded it had no jurisdiction. Brandt said he wants that board to have the ability to approve or reject such projects.

“While I don't know if that particular line is a problem, the bill anticipates that down the road, instead of maybe cutting the corner of the state, if you had somebody else who wanted to just cut across Nebraska with a private line, about the only entity that would have jurisdiction is probably your county planning and zoning boards. And it probably should be the Power Review Board,” he said.

Robin Spady of the Omaha Public Power District supported the bill, saying it would prevent private companies from building and operating transmission lines and not cooperating with public power, which supplies the state’s retail customers.

Nick Wagner of Black Hills Energy opposed the proposal. Wagner said his company has no problem being regulated, but the bill as written would prohibit it from expanding or maintaining the line which is already under construction.

“We are not in any way threatening public power’s right to serve retail customers in Nebraska," he said. "We are not going to have, and do not plan to have retail electric customers in Nebraska. And so an outright ban on anybody but public power having transmission is just not good policy."

David Levy, representing developers of private wind and solar farms, also voiced opposition. Levy said those companies typically have to build lines to connect their projects to the public power grid.

“When they build those lines, they then convey them at no cost to the interconnecting utility, and that becomes part of their transmission grid," he said. "So that's a private investment that becomes a benefit to the public transmission system in Nebraska. The bill, as introduced, would prohibit the construction of those generation tie lines."

Brandt said he is working on amendments to address the opposition, while still giving the Power Review Board jurisdiction.