LB1098 Hearing Brings Host of Supporters and Opponents
The hearing on Council’s bill brought in a host of supporters and opponents.
Council said she had more than 50 emails her office received that opposed LB84. And while they believed there was a need for roads funding, they just didn’t believe it should be taken from sales tax.
Supporters at the hearing, that included representatives of education, child advocates and a rail service proponent, said they were concerned the law gave roads funding priority above all others. Those include investing in education and training programs, and repairing child welfare.
Opponents represented bankers, truckers, chambers of commerce and the Nebraska Highway Commission. They said funding roads was a matter of safety and economic development.
Hearing on LB1098 to be Held Feb 16
Nebraska Legislative Bill 1098, a bill to repeal the “Build Nebraska Act” and change distribution of sales and use tax revenue, will be held on February 16.
The hearing will be conducted by the Revenue Committee and be held in room 1524 of the Capitol building at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday Februray 16.
The date and time of the hearing is subject to change.
House Introduces Transportation Bill
The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) and Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman John Duncan (R-TN), unveiled the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act” (H.R. 7) on January 31, 2012.
The House Republican plan focuses on the major themes of clearly defining the federal role in transportation, advancing program consolidation and reform, and streamlining the project delivery process. It also encourages more private sector participation in building infrastructure, boosting resources for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (TIFA) program, and providing incentives for states to build upon existing State Infrastructure Bank programs. The bill contains no project earmarks, whereas the previous transportation law included more than 6,000 earmarks.
To view this bill as introduced, you can click this link.
Trying to Protect Roads Funding
One of the proposals that I fear would take us in the wrong direction is LB 1098. This bill calls for the repeal of the Build Nebraska Act.
The Build Nebraska Act, passed in the previous legislative session, was a major state commitment to fund and improve our state’s roads and infrastructure network.
Nebraska’s previous mechanism for financing existing road projects was woefully inadequate to meet current and future transportation needs. As a member of the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, I was very aware of the troubling downward trend lines in Nebraska’s ability to finance maintenance and improvements. My colleagues and I devoted three years of study to identify the optimum way of investing the necessary resources to meet our state’s needs.
Earmarked Roads Funds Under Fire
An Omaha senator is among those questioning whether Nebraska can afford to earmark $70 million a year for new highways when there are so many other demands on the state’s dollars.
The governor is seeking tax cuts, and legislators are asking for increased spending for abused and neglected children, K-12 education and the University of Nebraska, among other items.
State Sen. Brenda Council said that might mean repealing or paring back last year’s Build Nebraska Act, which earmarked additional state funds beginning in 2013 to complete the state’s unfinished four-lane expressway systems, build bypasses around major cities and help cash-strapped cities fix their streets.
Effort to Repeal LB84 Could Arise
There could be an effort to repeal a bill (LB84) passed last session that changed how Nebraska pays for building roads.
LB84 drew deep concerns from a number of senators, including three members of the Appropriations Committee, about what the diversion of sales tax could mean to the state’s other priorities, including education, human services and public safety.
Speaker Mike Flood said he is “absolutely opposed” to repealing the law, emphasizing that good roads are vital to the economic viability of rural Nebraska.
Star Herald Opines on UNL Highway Study
The UNL study found that construction of four-lane freeways had the biggest impact in counties of 20,000 or 25,000 or more in population. Highway Commissioner Doug Leafgreen of Gering was quick to point out that the major counties along the Heartland Expressway route — Scotts Bluff, Box Butte and Dawes — are large enough to benefit from an expressway.
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The Heartland Expressway should be Nebraska’s contribution to the national effort to link markets in the central United States with trading partners in Canada and Mexico. Those nations are prime markets for agricultural goods, and the Heartland would link states that are in the nation’s sweet spot for oil, natural gas, coal, wind and even solar energy resources. States to the north and south of Nebraska have been building the transcontinental trade corridor and seeing a boom in development along the route.
The point of the Heartland Expressway is to attract more truck traffic and more tourism, and to create a faster, more profitable route that will attract business to western Nebraska, not necessarily to boost the economies of Lincoln and Omaha…….
Study Good News for Heartland Expressway
Highway Commissioner Doug Leafgreen of Gering, said he considered the study “good news” for construction of the four-lane Heartland Expressway across the rural Panhandle region of the state.
Leafgreen said all the major counties along the route — Scotts Bluff, Box Butte and Dawes — are large enough to benefit by an expressway.
Heartland Expressway Stretch Tabbed for Crucial Funding
Governor Heineman has earmarked over $30 million of the new highway construction money to complete the widening of a Heartland Expressway segment between Alliance and the L-62A turnoff south of Angora.
Scottsbluff Expecting Growth from Heartland’s Completion
The effect of a completed Heartland Expressway on Scottsbluff could pave the way for hiring a city planner. Scottsbluff City Manager Rick Kuckkahn told the Scottsbluff City Council that a planner could help prepare Scottsbluff for future growth.
“There are a number of things a planner would be well-suited for,” Kuckkahn said. “The completion of the Heartland Expressway would have a profound imprint on Scottsbluff with the energy, tourism, traffic and infrastructure.”
Panhandle Area Development District
Ports to Plains
Theodore Roosevelt Expressway
Western Nebraska Tourism Coalition
