Amid nasty debate about social issues, filibustering and theater playing out in the legislative chamber, lawmakers did manage to meet their constitutional obligation and pass a balanced budget on day 80 of the 90-day session.
The two-year budget calls for about $5.3 billion a year in spending, with an average increase of 2.2%. It sets aside a generous amount for cuts in state income taxes and increases in tax credits for property taxes, as well as allocating the final funds for a $366 million state prison and reserving $574 million for the Perkins County Canal.
Also included is a $1 billion “education future fund” intended to pay the $1,500-per-student foundation aid to K-12 schools proposed by first-year Governor Jim Pillen. In fact, the legislature’s version of the spending plan varied slightly from Pillen’s.The Appropriations Committee version upped the yearly budget for the University of Nebraska system by 2.5% a year rather than 2% and allocated an extra $80 million for increased pay for providers of social services, who are struggling to keep and hire staff.
