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Senate committee hears Maureen Larson’s confirmation; DED director stresses workforce, partnerships
Summary
Maureen Larson, the governor’s appointee as director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, told the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee the agency is prioritizing workforce development, public‑private partnerships and business recruitment and defended recent staffing changes as tied to the wind‑down of COVID‑era programs.
Maureen Larson, the governor’s appointee as director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, appeared before the Legislature’s Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee for a confirmation hearing and outlined priorities for the agency, including workforce development, public‑private partnerships and business recruitment.
Larson said she began work as interim director about six months ago and highlighted the department’s talent programs, including a recently refreshed Good Life Is Calling marketing campaign and a Nebraska Next portal for employer recruitment. She described the Governor’s Youth Summit ("approximately 250 kids" introduced to state career opportunities) and Read Nebraska mentoring ("16 mentoring organizations" impacting 3,136 students in the 2024–25 academic year) as examples of DED outreach.
Committee members focused questions on staffing and contracts. Senator George Dungan asked about reported reductions; Larson replied much of the change reflects the winding down of COVID‑era programs and said, "we had over 900,000,000 additional funds, which created a plethora of new programs... Those programs are now winding down." She told senators she had reorganized internal legal services and created an independent compliance team so contracts receive a second level of review, and she said emergency procurement still requires Department of Administrative Services sign‑off.
Lawmakers also pressed Larson on recruitment strategy and incentives. Larson described the department’s work with a contracted research firm (DCI) to develop a plan that underpins the Good Life Is Calling campaign, and she said DED seeks more private‑sector partners to scale recruitment and retention events. On incentives, Larson said statutory rules limit her discretion: "If you are statutorily qualified then you get the agreement," and proposed giving administrators more discretionary levers and developing certified, shovel‑ready sites with clear infrastructure and power capacity information.
Larson provided a topline budget figure for DED during questioning, saying, "The current budget is about $261,000,000." Committee members also pressed for clarity on how the agency will prevent improper no‑bid contracting going forward; Larson said contracts now go through the legal and compliance teams and that the Department of Administrative Services is involved when emergency procurement is claimed.
The committee closed the confirmation hearing after additional questions. No formal committee vote on the nomination was recorded during the public hearing.
What’s next: The committee concluded public questioning and moved on to the day’s bill hearings; any formal confirmation vote would follow committee procedure later in the legislative process.
