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LINCOLN — Nebraska entrepreneurs, interns and affordable housing advocates were among those who converged at the Capitol Wednesday to oppose several of Gov. Jim Pillen’s recommended budget cuts.
Fifteen Nebraskans, in all, objected to various reductions proposed in the Nebraska Department of Economic Development agency budget over the next two years.
Garnering the most protest during the hearing before the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee was a $5 million annual slash from the Business Innovation Act program and a shift of any remaining balance from the internNE fund.
Currently about $11 million is in the intern fund, which started at $20 million two years ago and still has some obligations outstanding.
Defending program trims was DED Director K.C. Belitz, who said the agency worked with Pillen’s office to find savings that would help balance the state’s biennial budget and provide support for other priorities, including property tax relief.
In some cases, Belitz said, the agency would return to pre-COVID spending levels and in a few instances, programs with less than desired payoff were discontinued.
DED also is adjusting focus. For example, Belitz said, the administration sees more efficiency in administering any future student internship program through the Department of Labor rather than working with an outside group or nonprofit, as it had with the Aksarben Foundation.
He said DED is turning up its attention on strategic talent recruitment, including targeting out-of-state professionals and retired military personnel and veterans. He cites recent visits to military-related job fairs in Colorado Springs, Chicago and Dallas.
“Nebraska has really built a reputation as a great place for military members to put down roots when they return to civilian life,” Belitz said. “We really feel like that’s a great target.”
On a related note, he said, the state budget over the next two years carves out $30 million for a Nuclear Command, Control and Communications center in Bellevue. Also known as the REACH facility (Research, Engineering, Architecture Collaboration Hub), the project is an effort to augment the state’s defense-related industries, he said.
Belitz sees the center as a magnet. REACH could break ground within the year, and is proposed as an anchor for a mixed-use residential and commercial campus aimed at luring high-tech professionals and their families. The overall venture is headed by a team including the City of Bellevue and developer Burlington Capital, and is to be located a quick drive from the U.S. Strategic Command and Offutt Air Force Base.
“With our state’s strategic location in the center of the country and steadfast support for the military, Nebraska is an ideal place for NC3 operations to find a home,” said Belitz. “There is just vast potential to facilitate future growth by establishing an ecosystem of academics, cybersecurity specialists, defense contractors, private industry and innovators to commercialize new technologies.”
Pillen’s recommended DED budget includes a general fund reduction of about $9 million over the next two years and a cash fund reduction of about $170 million.
Rob Owen, executive director of Bio Nebraska nonprofit trade association, told the committee that he would like to see a full $14.7 million annual reinstatement to the Business Innovation Act, which provides entrepreneurial assistance.
Since 2011, Owen said, the state has invested nearly $57 million in budding businesses through the BIA. Matching funds are required, and he said that today BIA-supported companies are generating $1.17 billion in annual economic output. Among those boosted by the initiatives are new companies that drive Nebraska’s growing bioscience industry.
