Legislature passes budget despite critics' warnings

The Nebraska Legislature gave final approval Thursday to the state budget for the next two years, despite warnings by critics that Nebraska is headed for big financial problems.

Midway through Thursday’s debate on the state budget, Sen. Wendy DeBoer said she felt the need to speak.

“I feel like somebody needs to be the kid that says the emperor has no clothes,” she said.

DeBoer, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, described her view of the budget that was about to be approved by her mostly-Republican colleagues – and said it was shared by many of them, privately.

“I know how many of you know this budget is built on fictions," she said. "I know how many of you know that we are not going to pass a balanced budget today -- that these cash sweeps that we are doing are not sustainable -- that there are unconstitutional provisions, that there are numbers that just don't add up."

Sen. Ashlei Spivey gave the example of sweeping $1 million from a Department of Education cash fund she said was intended to hold down certification fees to help attract and retain teachers. She asked Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Rob Clements about that, referring the Department of Education’s budget designation as “Agency 13.”

“For this specific cash fund, the certification fund, which is used for the teachers’ fees, did you have a conversation with the commissioner or anyone from Agency 13 around the impact of this million dollars, and their viewpoint that they did not want it swept because of the intentional use and projected use of this?” she asked.

“I had not heard about that. I just saw that the revenues were more than the expenses and the fund balance was adequate to be sustainable,” Clements replied.

In a later interview, Clements defended both the cash sweeps and the budget as a whole.

“We have transferred money from cash funds that are still sustainable," he said. "They have revenue coming in and expenses going out, but they've built up extra funds over the years, and we just took some of the excess. And the future, you never know, but we've got the next two years forecast covered, and so I think for two years we're in good shape."

Sen. Jane Raybould said she regrets the Legislature didn’t seriously consider alternative ways to balance the budget, like deferring construction projects and tax cuts.

“Sen. McKinney has talked extensively about the jail. I believe that there is savings to be made by doing value engineering in the construction of it, and for a construction delay of two years. I will get into the Perkins Canal briefly… but also, you know, pausing the accelerated income tax rate reductions,” she said.

But what Raybould saw as missed opportunities to divert funds, Clements saw as accomplishments.

“Protecting the Perkins County Canal project for water for Nebraska is really important (and) protecting the new prison,” he said.

Still, Clements said, the budget situation bears watching.

“We'll still have to see what happens on the federal level. We'll be monitoring that, but I'm comfortable with where we are right now,” he said.

Senators voted 37-11 for the main budget bill appropriating money to state agencies, and 35-13 for the funds transfer bill.

Gov. Jim Pillen now has until midnight Wednesday to issue any line item vetoes, which the Legislature could then attempt to override.

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