Last week at the State Capitol, the Nebraska Legislature continued its work, conducting floor debate in the morning, and continuing with bill hearings in the afternoon. Throughout this work, several bills aligned with the Greater Omaha Chamber’s priorities made progress this week, while others are scheduled for hearings in the coming days.

Last Tuesday, one of the Chamber’s key priorities, LB719 from Senator Mike Jacobson of North Platte, advanced from first round General File debate to second round Select File debate on a 43-0-1 vote. LB 719 updates the Nebraska Rural Projects Act to better reflect the realities of modern industrial development in rural communities. The bill expands eligibility for state support to include critical off-site infrastructure, such as rail connections, road access, and utility improvements, when those investments occur in public rights-of-way or on property not owned by the applicant. By allowing projects to be developed as connected, functional sites rather than isolated parcels, LB 719 helps make rural industrial and rail-access business parks more feasible, competitive, and attractive to employers.

Additionally, one of the long term goals of the Greater Omaha Chamber has been increasing access to child care, which enables parents to participate fully in the job market. However, access to safe and affordable child care remains a challenge, especially in balancing the economic realities of running a child care center for providers and parents with the regulatory structure designed to ensure that childcare centers are safe. 

Last Wednesday, the Greater Omaha Chamber supported LB 891from Senator Ben Hansen of Blair, a bill that seeks to balance the need for safe, high-quality child care with the economic realities facing providers and families. LB 891 modernizes Nebraska’s child care licensing framework by reducing regulatory barriers that limit provider capacity and workforce participation, including easing staffing shortages by allowing qualified volunteers to count toward staff-to-child ratios, streamlining hiring through portable background checks, and preventing local residency requirements that restrict where family child care providers can operate. Together, these changes help expand access to childcare while maintaining strong safety standards critical for employers and the workforce.

Among the legislation we’re supporting this week is LR300 from Ashlei Spivey of Omaha, to create the Nebraska Economic Development Task Force. In the past, the Legislature has periodically convened a task force aimed at long-term economic planning for the state, allowing a group of legislators to more comprehensively focus on issues that transcend the immediate budgetary and economic needs of the state. For example, the Legislature’s 2019 Economic Development Task Force identified a significant and growing workforce shortage, highlighted gaps between education and labor market needs, and raised concerns about Nebraska’s ability to attract and retain young talent. The task force recommended targeted investments in workforce development, including career education scholarships and improved data systems to better align training with high-demand jobs, as well as a more strategic and accountable approach to economic development incentives. Several of those recommendations were later enacted, including the creation of the ImagiNE Nebraska Act, the establishment of Nebraska Career Scholarships, and the development of a statewide education-to-workforce data system to better track outcomes and inform policy.

With the changes to our Nebraska’s economy over the past seven years, it makes sense for the state to create an updated Economic Development Task Force, to examine the new challenges and opportunities that face our region and state. LR300 will be heard before the Legislature’s Executive Board on Wednesday, 
February 4.

If you’d like to hear more about these bills, and other legislation we’re monitoring, we’re resuming our In the Legislative Loop series of zoom briefings.  This will give you the chance to sign on to a members-only biweekly Zoom call for a 30-minute update on the latest news from the State Capitol. Our first In the Legislative Loop Zoom call will be on Monday, February 9 at 11:30 AM. We’ll review ‘behind the scenes’ items from the session, as well as letting you know what to expect coming up at the Legislature over the next few weeks. You can sign up for our bi-weekly legislative opportunity here.

To watch the hearings for the bills we’ve discussed, or for any legislation, you can do so at Nebraska Public Media’s live streaming page.

While your Greater Omaha Chamber Public Policy team is hard at work right now at the State Capitol working to strengthen our business climate and advocating for our bold Omaha COMPETES agenda, never hesitate to share your insights with us on your state legislative priorities at advocacy@omahachamber.org. 

You can read the Legislature’s Update to learn more about the happenings in Lincoln.