Dear Governor Ricketts, We write this letter on behalf of the Platte Institute to ask your administration to set an important precedent for financial transparency in state and local government, by creating a publicly-accessible inventory of federal funds being spent in Nebraska. As you have noted, COVID-19 emergency federal relief funds allocated to Nebraska total...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its state unemployment data for the month of April. Nebraska had an unemployment rate of only 4% in the month of March, yet with the full effects of the pandemic in motion during April we saw a 4.3% increase in unemployment for a monthly amount of 8.3%, or 86,300 people. ...
The public interest law firm the Institute for Justice (IJ) has filed two lawsuits in Lancaster County court related to policies recently debated in the Nebraska Legislature. While the Platte Institute is not party to either lawsuit, they clearly intersect with our work, since both challenge the constitutionality of state and local economic policies we’ve...
If you follow the Platte Institute you know we publish papers on public policy issues in Nebraska. But what you probably didn’t know is that sometimes this data is used in academic research and trade publications. In 2018, Nicole Fox and I published a report that reviewed the proposed reforms to occupational licenses enacted in Nebraska. While...
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The Nebraska Legislature is currently scheduled for a summertime return to its 2020 session, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 emergency. Nebraska Legislature Speaker Jim Scheer says the plan is for senators to return for the final 17 days of legislative business between July 20 and August 13. Prior to the crisis, lawmakers had completed hearings...
The Platte Institute along with almost 30 other free market think tanks are asking Congress to modify the CARES Act to allow for more flexibility in already distributed funds instead of spending more money. Now, Platte’s partner organization in Utah has called on their delegation to support Representative Bacon’s FLEX Act. This press release partners...
A delayed tax filing deadline and closed businesses in Nebraska has resulted in April state tax revenues that are $292 million below previous monthly projections. While this is a very noticeable impact from the pandemic, the data released by the Nebraska Department of Revenue this morning tells us a bit more about our tax code...
We don’t know exactly how much money has been sent to Nebraska from the federal government for relief efforts related to the pandemic (how many people got the $1,200 payment?, how many children got the $500 payment?, where did all the PPP money go?, etc.). What we DO know is that the federal government has sent...
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Today, I had the privilege and opportunity to participate in a White House “Listening Session” with the Office of American Innovation. Along with five other state think tank leaders, I was asked to provide feedback to the White House on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis as well the needed recovery efforts. Specifically, I was...
All over the country, governors used executive orders to reduce health care licensing restrictions in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Regulatory changes included waiving fees, granting recognition of out-of-state medical personnel licenses, allowing immediate licensure for students who had not quite completed their clinical program, and waiving certain testing requirements for nursing assistants. This temporary...
The CARES Act has received criticism since its enactment in late March, however, there is a growing consensus of lawmakers seeing that a change is needed to the original legislation. As written, the CARES Act only allows its $150 billion in aid to states and local governments to be used for new spending, not to...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Employment Situation Summary today, and the results are what we expected (for the month of April). Number of unemployed persons rose by 15.9 million to 23.1 million in April Unemployment rate rose to 14.7% (that’s a jump of 10.3 percentage points) Largest over-the-month increase in the history of the survey...