Nebraska lawmakers spent the majority of Wednesday debating LB 1011, a bill that was introduced by Speaker Mike Hilgers at the request of Governor Pete Rickets as part of the Governor’s biennial budget recommendations. This bill would make adjustments to the appropriations and re-appropriations for state operators and aid programs in the fiscal year ending June 30,2022.
The budget bill discussion shifted to prison overcrowding verses the need for reform.
The state is considering building a new $270 million, 1,500 bed prison between Lincoln and Omaha. This would replace the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
State Senator Steve Lathrop introduced an amendment and stated, “We are at a crisis place. Overcrowding is a crisis. Staffing is a crisis and we can’t build our way out of this. If we spent $270 million dollars to add 700 beds to our capacity, we would have to double that just to meet the basic operational capacity by 2030.”
Others agreed with with Senator Lathrop’s comment. “Even if we voted this year to build a prison, it would take five plus years to build that prison. We still have an overcrowding crisis,” said Senator Terrell McKinney.
State Senator Wendy DeBoer stated, “This new prison can’t be the entirety of our plan. The plan has to be multi-facetted because we cannot build our way out of the overcrowding emergency that we are in.”
Debate took a number of turns and addressed parole board function, parole violations, jamming out of prison, sentencing structure, and the importance criminal justice reform.