Senate rejects Kavanaugh alternative, adopts committee amendments and advances mainline budget after hours of debate

Lincoln ' The Nebraska Legislature on the floor Tuesday debated competing approaches to the two-year mainline budget before rejecting an alternate plan from Senator Mikayla Kavanaugh and adopting the Appropriations Committee's package as amended.

Kavanaugh offered AM 13-03 as an alternate white-copy amendment to LB261 that would have redirected a set of cash funds toward property-tax relief and restored or increased funding to a range of public-health, behavioral-health and local-government programs. "This is a balanced budget that looks at the resources available to us and how we can do the most good for the most Nebraskans," Senator Mikayla Kavanaugh said while presenting her amendment.

The debate that followed ran for hours and covered property-tax relief, the Perkins County Canal, university funding, and funding for problem-solving courts and reentry services. Supporters of the committee package, led by Appropriations Chair Senator Clements, said the committee's recommendations balanced competing priorities while protecting employee salary adjustments and many agency operations. "We have absorbed revenue declines without damaging programs," Clements told the body as he defended AM 8-32.

Lawmakers pressed the forecasting assumptions used for out-year revenue, and several senators urged alternatives to cuts and cash transfers, including pausing parts of the accelerated income-tax reductions enacted in prior sessions. "If we really care about public safety, we have to care not just about sentencing, but we also have to be invested in what happens after sentencing," Senator Fredericksen said, arguing the proposed cuts would reduce drug, veterans and mental-health courts.

The chamber voted down AM 13-03. The roll-call tally recorded 4 ayes and 32 nays; the amendment failed to attract support on the floor. The body later voted to adopt the committee amendment AM 8-32 after a cloture motion and a roll call; the committee amendment was approved and LB261 was advanced to enrollment and review.

What comes next: Floor debate on budget-related bills and select-file amendments will continue, including a separate measure (LB264) that transfers a set of cash funds into the general fund. Appropriations committee leaders said select-file amendments will close the remaining forecast gap.

Ending: With LB261 advanced, senators warned the heavy work is not finished: several members said they will press for different revenue or policy changes on select file and in later conference work.