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NHA submits comments for interim study on career education and training opportunities for high demand industries
The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) on October 16 offered to be a resource and provided useful information to the Education Committee as senators and staff examined the workforce shortage and job opportunities in high demand industries across the state. The development of a sustainable health care workforce pipeline is a key priority of the NHA and its 85 member hospitals.
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Heineman: 'We should reduce government expenditures'
LINCOLN—Now that the state knows it's facing a $335.5 million budget shortfall, the solution should be clear, Governor Dave Heineman said Tuesday.
"When family incomes go down, they reduce spending," he said. "When business income is down, they reduce spending."
And with Nebraska tax receipts down, "we should reduce government expenditures," he said, formally calling senators into special session next week.
That $335.5 million revenue loss represents nearly 5 percent of the $6.9 billion two-year budget.
And it's a number that senators will focus on when they gather in Lincoln on November 4 to start the budget-cutting special session.
Read more.
— Lincoln Journal Star, October 27, 2009
State senator sets up special budget Web site
 LINCOLN—A new Web site has been set up to make it easy for Nebraskans to make their state budget wishes known to the governor and Legislature.
The site, www.NebraskaBudget.com, includes a form asking questions about budget priorities and about financial challenges faced by visitors to the site.
The responses will be sent to the Legislature's Appropriations Committee and the governor.
The site's creation was announced on Monday by state Senator Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha, who is on the committee.
Governor Dave Heineman called a special session of the Legislature for next month after September tax revenues fell $40 million short of projections.
Legislators and the governor will be considering where to cut the two-year budget.
— Lincoln Journal Star, October 27, 2009
LINCOLN—The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board met October 27 to revise economic projections for the state.
The board—whose job is to set annual revenue projections for sales, income, corporate and miscellaneous taxes—decreased previous projections for all but one revenue category for the fiscal years comprising the current two-year state budget. The board’s projections will be used to make budget-cutting decisions during an anticipated November special session of the Legislature.
After presentations by the state Department of Revenue and the Legislative Fiscal Office, the board voted to decrease revenue projections for the current fiscal year by $125.3 million. The largest decline came in projections for individual income tax receipts, which decreased by $90 million from the previous forecast. The projection for FY2010-11 was reduced by $172 million.
The resulting shortfall is approximately 5 percent of the state's total $6.9 billion two-year budget. A special session to make budget adjustments is expected to begin November 4.
— Unicameral Update, October 27, 2009
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will unveil a health care reform bill that includes a government insurance option and an expansion of Medicaid. Senior Democratic House aides said the bill would likely include a version of the "public option" preferred by moderates and may raise Medicaid eligibility levels to 150
percent of the federal poverty level for all adults, a steeper increase than in earlier drafts.
Read more.
— Washington Post, October 29, 2009
WASHINGTON—Under pressure from moderate-to-conservative members of the House Democratic caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided to propose a government-run insurance plan that would negotiate rates with doctors and hospitals rather than using prices set by the government. Pelosi said the public plan would compete with private insurers. The bill from members of the House Democratic leadership team would provide coverage to 35 million or 36 million people at a 10-year cost of expanding coverage that would be less than the $900 billion ceiling suggested by President Obama.
Read more.
— New York Times, October 29, 2009
WASHINGTON—Freshman Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) in last week’s Republican address condemned the health care bill merger process as a “shameful” series of “backroom deals.” Johanns advanced a line of attack Republicans have used against Democratic leaders since the Senate Finance Committee just over three weeks ago became the last panel to pass their version of health care reform legislation.
Read more.
— The Hill, October 24, 2009
For more information about health-related legislative bills or resolutions, contact: Bruce Rieker,
Vice President, Advocacy, at (402) 742-8146 or
brieker@nhanet.org or Cora Micek,
Advocacy Coordinator, at (402) 742-8153 or
cmicek@nhanet.org.
NHA Rotunda Review is published by the Nebraska Hospital Association, 3255 Salt
Creek Circle, Lincoln, NE 68504. Phone (402) 742-8140, Fax (402) 742-8191. Visit our Web site at
http://www.nhanet.org. Kelley Porter, editor, at
(402) 742-8151, or email, kporter@nhanet.org.
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