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Environmental Trust warns against sweeping lottery funds; legal and constitutional questions raised
Summary
Nebraska Environmental Trust officials and conservation groups urged the Appropriations Committee not to redirect lottery-derived trust funds to state agency budgets, saying the trust is constrained by statute and the state constitution and flagging prior legislative amendments done in budget bills without a standalone bill and public hearing.
Carl Elmsoiser, executive director of the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET), told the Appropriations Committee the NET board has taken a neutral position on related budget language but raised technical and constitutional concerns about proposals to redirect trust lottery proceeds to other state programs.
Elmsoiser said the NET is funded solely by lottery proceeds and pointed out there is "no provision in the Nebraska Environmental Trust Act to allow a direct transfer of funds to the water sustainability fund nor the Nebraska soil and water conservation fund." He cited Nebraska Constitution Article III, Section 24 and Nebraska Revised Statutes in the…
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