Pillen proposes budget tightening in State of State speech
By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
15 de Enero de 2025 a las 17:00 ·

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Gov. Jim Pillen proposed to cut state spending Wednesday, in a State of the State speech highlighting his priorities and reflecting on his recent serious horseback riding accident.
Pillen began his speech on a personal note, giving thanks for surviving a Dec. 22 accident that broke seven ribs and damaged his spleen, kidney, lungs and back.
“I’m incredibly grateful that Almighty God has given me a second shot at life," he said. "And I continue on the road to recovery instilled with a renewed commitment to spending my days fighting for the people of Nebraska and most importantly, to make a difference."
Later, Sen. Wendy DeBoer, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, celebrated the 69-year-old Republican governor’s recovery.
“It’s just really wonderful to see him up and speaking and doing so well. And as part of the escort committee then, I walked with him all the way to his office and back and he seems to be doing really well. So that’s pretty remarkable recovery considering where we were at not that long ago,” DeBoer said.
Pillen then went on to describe his priorities for the current legislative session, including his proposed state budget for the next two years.
“We have presented to you a fully balanced budget that cuts spending. We have achieved this historic spending restraint by having the courage to say ‘no,’” he declared.
To close a projected $433 million budget shortfall, Pillen is proposing to cut state spending by half a percent over the next two years. He would scale back many programs that, with an influx of federal funds, were expanded in recent years.
Sen. Rob Clements, chair of the Appropriations Committee, praised Pillen’s approach.
“I believe the governor’s budget proposal is doable. It’s not a drastic cut. There’s some programs that have been added mostly because of COVID – we put out more state funds trying to revive the economy, because we had a lot of money. Some of those are going to be rolled back to what they used to be rather than expanded,” Clements said.
Some of the proposed savings would come from the Department of Health and Human Services. For example, the budget proposal would take back $4.5 million a year in funding for the state’s public health departments, leaving them with about $7 million a year instead of more than $11 million.
Sen. Terrell McKinney expressed concern about the real-world impact of some proposed budget cuts.
“From what I’m hearing it’s not good, and I want to try and protect a lot of funds that we’ve committed to over the years since I’ve been here, and also try to protect especially those essential services and basic services, from even DHHS or other services, that people actually need,” McKinney said.
Pillen is also proposing to cut University of Nebraska operating funds by $14 million a year, a 2% cut.
His proposal would also scale back funding for water projects approved by the so-called STARWARS committee and the Legislature in 2022, including improvements at Lake McConaughy, Lewis and Clark Lake, and Niobrara State Park. And it would end state support for developing a proposed lake between Lincoln and Omaha that a study showed could harm Lincoln’s water supply.
DeBoer said scaling back those water projects might be necessary.
“Obviously, I would like to see some of these big generational projects that the ARPA funds gave us the ability to work on come to pass, but if we dreamed too big, then it makes some sense to face the reality of the finances as we have them now,” she said.
Pillen also wants to make government more efficient by reducing the number of boards and commissions and merging the Department of Environment and Energy with the Department of Natural Resources.
Sen. Tom Brandt, who will carry the merger bill for the governor, said it makes sense to combine the two agencies.
“They’re in the same building," he said. "Their offices are across the halls from each other. Logistically, it does make sense to put these departments together, particularly when you look at Environment, their mission is water quality; Department of Natural Resources, their mission is water quantity."
On taxes and school funding, Pillen wants an additional $245 million a year in funding for property tax relief, which administration officials said could at least hold property taxes steady. But unlike last year, when the governor proposed a multi-billion dollar state takeover of school operating costs, he now wants to study the problem for a year.
“I will establish a blue-ribbon commission of experts to cut through the bureaucracy and vested special interests in our current school funding system and recommend a new model for Nebraska,” he said.
Pillen touched on themes he has emphasized in the lead up to this year’s session, including his support for restricting transgender athletes to teams and locker rooms of their sex at birth and restricting the use of school restrooms; banning the sale of lab-grown meat in Nebraska grocery stores, and returning to a winner-take-all system of Electoral College voting.
The details of these and other proposals will now be scrutinized, as bill introductions continue through next Wednesday, when public hearings get underway.