A bill intended to help recruit and retain Nebraska National Guard members advanced 37-0 on Tuesday. LB1394 is Senator Tom Brewer’s priority bill and would allow guard members to exclude certain income from their federal adjusted gross income for state tax purposes beginning in 2025.
Brewer says the change would incentivize more Nebraskans to join the guard. “The numbers within the ranks of the National Guard has not been able to keep up with the demand and we’ve missed our recruiting goals for a number of years now. In the past we’ve had the luxury of federal bonuses and those are no longer available.”
Brewer said the bill would allow guard members to exclude the income they receive for attending weekend drills and annual training. The state Department of Revenue estimates that LB1394 would reduce state general fund revenue by $969,000 in fiscal year 2024-25, $2.2 million in FY2025-26 and $2 million in FY2026-27.