Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Gov. Pillen Joins the Show

Transcript

Gov. Pillen Joins the Show · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: I am very happy, happy to have our guest with
0:02
Speaker 1: us today, the governor of the great State of Nebraska,
0:05
Speaker 1: Jim Pillen. Governor Pillen, welcome to the show today.
0:09
Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Jean. Thanks for having me on.
0:11
Speaker 1: Great to be with you, and I hope you're great
0:13
Speaker 1: absolutely this nice rainy day. Well, I have so many
0:16
Speaker 1: questions to ask you today and for you to tell
0:19
Speaker 1: us what we need to know. But you know, first
0:21
Speaker 1: I want to say a little bit about Jim Pillen
0:23
Speaker 1: because I want to toot your horn a little bit
0:26
Speaker 1: because I remembered when I first met you. You were
0:29
Speaker 1: a regent, You're from Columbus, Nebraska, and I remember it
0:33
Speaker 1: very humbly. You kept on referring to yourself as I'm
0:36
Speaker 1: just a pig farmer, but you are so much more
0:39
Speaker 1: than that. I think people forget since you have been
0:42
Speaker 1: governor that you're a veterinarian, you're a livestock producer, you
0:46
Speaker 1: have a big family business. They kind of have forgotten
0:51
Speaker 1: about your past. And one of the things with your
0:53
Speaker 1: past I wanted to mention is you you were a Husker.
0:57
Speaker 1: You were defensive back from what seventy.
0:59
Speaker 3: Five to seventy eight yea, yeah.
1:04
Speaker 1: And played under coach tom Osmoorrene. You were on the
1:06
Speaker 1: Board of Regents from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty three,
1:10
Speaker 1: and then you became our forty first governor in twenty
1:12
Speaker 1: twenty three. So you've been a busy guy. And I'm
1:15
Speaker 1: going to say this. You were born in nineteen fifty five.
1:18
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm a year older than you. You
1:21
Speaker 1: probably won't let me forget that.
1:24
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm still fifty years old. I don't know about you.
1:27
Speaker 1: Well, I always say seventies is the new forties, so
1:30
Speaker 1: we'll just stick with that note.
1:33
Speaker 3: I've liked every decade as I got older.
1:36
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it because I just thought, ah, this just
1:38
Speaker 1: makes me, you know, old, maybe older, and hopefully a
1:41
Speaker 1: little bit wiser. But Governor boy, I tell you, what
1:45
Speaker 1: has been going on in Lincoln is something that I
1:47
Speaker 1: think is really hard to follow. I mean it's hard
1:50
Speaker 1: for me to follow. I've been trying to follow it.
1:53
Speaker 1: But I really want you to tell the audience today
1:57
Speaker 1: really what we need to know. I mean, number one
1:59
Speaker 1: is in the state of Nebraska, I know is still taxes.
2:04
Speaker 1: People think their taxes are too high. We want people
2:07
Speaker 1: to stay here, but just kind of of a review.
2:11
Speaker 1: Just yesterday the lawmakers passed three measures containing appropriation committees,
2:17
Speaker 1: mid by any and budget adjustments. Just a little history.
2:21
Speaker 1: I remember when you spoke in January and the session began,
2:25
Speaker 1: you said they were facing about a four hundred and
2:28
Speaker 1: seventy I believe million dollars shortfall. And then when the
2:33
Speaker 1: Economic Forecasting Advisory Board met in February, that lowered the
2:38
Speaker 1: predictions of our raise of predictions. It was a deeper
2:41
Speaker 1: hole that the state got in. So number one, how
2:45
Speaker 1: did we go from a surplus to such a deficit
2:52
Speaker 1: in your opinion, what was going on? And then tell
2:54
Speaker 1: us what we need to know about how you solve
2:56
Speaker 1: that problem and where we are right now with the budget.
3:01
Speaker 2: Yeah one of them. Yeah, thank you, Thank you, Gene.
3:06
Speaker 2: And by the way, thanks for all your public service.
3:09
Speaker 2: There's there's lots of great things happening in Nebraska, a
3:13
Speaker 2: lots of great things happening in Omahan. You you had
3:16
Speaker 2: a great impact, so on behalf of Nebraska's Thanks for
3:19
Speaker 2: all you've done. Gene. You know, I think that I
3:22
Speaker 2: think that what's really really important is I'm committed to
3:26
Speaker 2: running government like a business. And that means that what
3:33
Speaker 2: we've done the past. We have to do things different
3:35
Speaker 2: because our tax, our tax policy. We've made progress right
3:39
Speaker 2: and year one nobody, nobody could believe that we were
3:44
Speaker 2: charging income tax on our seniors for their social security.
3:48
Speaker 2: That got ended. Income tax. It was historic in twenty
3:52
Speaker 2: three where we took it down from just under seven percent,
3:55
Speaker 2: it'll be three point nine twenty seven. That's a step
4:00
Speaker 2: in the right direction. Decreasing income tax. We have to
4:03
Speaker 2: go more. The great big bugaboo is our property tax,
4:08
Speaker 2: and we've made progress. But I'll get to that. But
4:13
Speaker 2: the first thing, what as governor and the unit camera,
4:17
Speaker 2: what we have to do is we have to have
4:19
Speaker 2: a balanced budget. Thank god, we don't operate like the
4:22
Speaker 2: federal government. We balance our budget. It gets very I
4:27
Speaker 2: think I can explain why it seems so complicated. So
4:31
Speaker 2: we started. We started in June our budget. In business,
4:36
Speaker 2: right in business, we compare months by months or quarter
4:40
Speaker 2: by quarter, how we did the previous year. In the
4:43
Speaker 2: first quarter of this year, we were we had decreased
4:46
Speaker 2: spend two hundred million and we had one hundred million
4:50
Speaker 2: more revenue than the year before. But because of the
4:53
Speaker 2: balanced budget, there's this thing called the forecasting board, and
4:57
Speaker 2: I'm not. And it's a part of the process until
5:01
Speaker 2: you understand it. So the forecasting board deals with only
5:05
Speaker 2: one side of the business. If the forecasting board comes
5:09
Speaker 2: in with projections of revenue, and here's what's pretty fasting.
5:15
Speaker 2: If the forecasting board comes in with more revenue, the
5:20
Speaker 2: unicamal spends it, and the good news would be for
5:24
Speaker 2: shrinking government. The forecasting board came in with less revenue projections.
5:29
Speaker 2: I I'm not crazy. I view that as a positive
5:33
Speaker 2: because that helps us shrink government, say no and quit
5:37
Speaker 2: spending and decrease spending. So that's what we're working on.
5:42
Speaker 2: We started. I have an awesome cabinet. I have twenty
5:47
Speaker 2: five out of twenty nine new cabinet members since I've
5:50
Speaker 2: become governor. Governor. They believe in fiscal responsibility, they believe
5:54
Speaker 2: in running government like a business. And as I always say,
5:57
Speaker 2: if you believe you can't. If you believe you can't,
6:01
Speaker 2: you're one hundred percent correct. We have a team that
6:04
Speaker 2: believes we can. So we started back June fourteenth. We
6:09
Speaker 2: started way back last summer. I called it make or
6:12
Speaker 2: break Nebraska. Didn't matter what the forecasting board, we are
6:17
Speaker 2: going to run government like a business. We are going
6:20
Speaker 2: to improve our services, decrease our costs, and we are
6:25
Speaker 2: going to in the end improve our bottom line a
6:29
Speaker 2: billion dollars. We were working on that and that is
6:33
Speaker 2: pretty well what we put forth in our budget in
6:38
Speaker 2: January fifteenth. We're really excited. I don't have the exact
6:42
Speaker 2: numbers because things were getting worked on yet lace last night,
6:46
Speaker 2: but the bottom line, our budget is balanced. We've said
6:51
Speaker 2: we've said no to spending to about four hundred and
6:55
Speaker 2: twenty million dollars. We have worked on some rev new
7:00
Speaker 2: items that will get more revenue that will help. And
7:03
Speaker 2: then also it's hard to believe, Gene, but we have
7:06
Speaker 2: over six hundred cash accounts within state government. I call
7:12
Speaker 2: it pillowcase money. It's money that's accrued up that's not
7:16
Speaker 2: being utilized. So we have taken and swept some of
7:20
Speaker 2: those counts because it's the people's money. So it's between
7:25
Speaker 2: decrease spending, more revenue and utilizing some money that's sitting
7:29
Speaker 2: in rat holes doing nothing for us. So that's how
7:32
Speaker 2: we've been able to balance it and filled it in.
7:37
Speaker 2: And last but not least, what's really really important. We
7:42
Speaker 2: have the highest credit rating we've ever had for the
7:45
Speaker 2: state with the triple A. So the state is doing great,
7:50
Speaker 2: but it is hard because when the Forecasting Board says
7:54
Speaker 2: there's less revenue coming, it's interpreted that we're broke. No,
7:59
Speaker 2: we just decreased and like we do in business. So
8:01
Speaker 2: it's it's it's it's it's really not complicated. Sometimes it's
8:07
Speaker 2: a little bit harder, but there's there's there's Uh, there's
8:12
Speaker 2: just simple things that we've done to be able to
8:17
Speaker 2: make sure every Nebraska that needs services get it gets
8:21
Speaker 2: it done. Uh and uh, you know, we make sure
8:24
Speaker 2: and with that we're decreasing spend to shrink government. I
8:28
Speaker 2: totally believe we've done too many things in the state
8:31
Speaker 2: that we don't need to be doing and that's our money.
8:34
Speaker 2: So that's that's kind of the Does that make sense?
8:37
Speaker 3: It does make sense.
8:39
Speaker 1: Explain a little bit more about the Economic Forecasting Advisory Board, though,
8:43
Speaker 1: I mean, how how often do they meet and they
8:46
Speaker 1: give these estimates because I know when I did the
8:49
Speaker 1: City of Omaha's budget twelve times and when we start,
8:53
Speaker 1: we start in January and we take an estimate of
8:58
Speaker 1: what our major revenues are going to be, and that
9:00
Speaker 1: is number one, sales tax, followed by property tax, followed
9:03
Speaker 1: by that heated tax, the restaurant tax, and then I
9:06
Speaker 1: look at last year's budget and see where we are,
9:09
Speaker 1: and then start developing the budget. How does that economic
9:12
Speaker 1: forecasting board? How do they meet? And in January, for example,
9:18
Speaker 1: have a deficit of four hundred and seventy million, and
9:20
Speaker 1: then in February they say, oops, it's a lot more
9:23
Speaker 1: than we thought.
9:24
Speaker 3: How does that work?
9:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the so like four, I used the answer
9:29
Speaker 2: where we started on our new budget July one, and
9:32
Speaker 2: then the forecast and where we were three months in
9:37
Speaker 2: one hundred million over revenue from the previous year, two
9:39
Speaker 2: hundred million less spend. And then the forecasting board came
9:43
Speaker 2: in and said we're going to be two hundred two
9:46
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty million a year short, four hundred and
9:48
Speaker 2: forty million in the buy aium. So that's their responsibility.
9:53
Speaker 2: So they say the revenue is going to be down
9:56
Speaker 2: from where it was when the when the budget started,
9:59
Speaker 2: and then they did it again in in uh I
10:01
Speaker 2: think it was in February where that it's another two
10:06
Speaker 2: hundred down. So those are the things that make it
10:11
Speaker 2: makes it confusing to people trying to under read the press,
10:16
Speaker 2: because the press has another two hundred your million in
10:19
Speaker 2: a hole. It's like, and then somebody's same pillin's bowling
10:21
Speaker 2: all the money. Well, no, you can be rest assured.
10:23
Speaker 2: I treat nickels like manhold colors. I don't spend the dime.
10:27
Speaker 2: It's a decrease in the revenue. So I think it's awesome.
10:32
Speaker 2: It really really helps us decrease government and really really
10:35
Speaker 2: helps everybody keep saying, Look, you know a lot of
10:39
Speaker 2: times people don't want to decrease spend when they have money.
10:44
Speaker 2: Anybody that's in business and running a very very good business,
10:47
Speaker 2: you're doing it all the time. You are only using
10:51
Speaker 2: money when it's creating value, and if you're not creating value,
10:55
Speaker 2: you stop doing it. And so that that's in pre
10:57
Speaker 2: in essence what we're doing. So the forecast board comes
11:01
Speaker 2: out with three different forecasts over the course of the year,
11:04
Speaker 2: and that's what makes it complicated. But yet you know,
11:08
Speaker 2: once you understand it, it makes a little more sense.
11:11
Speaker 2: But it's very very difficult. You know. Hell, it took
11:14
Speaker 2: me to become governor to figure it out. I didn't
11:17
Speaker 2: understand it either.
11:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to understand, and even somebody that follows it.
11:22
Speaker 1: Like me, I know that there were two failed attempts
11:25
Speaker 1: at advancing the main budget bill. It seemed like the
11:29
Speaker 1: third one was a charm. I know, I had Senator
11:31
Speaker 1: von gillern On a week or so ago chair of
11:34
Speaker 1: Revenue Committee. But can you let me first say so,
11:38
Speaker 1: is it accurate to say that you balance the budget
11:41
Speaker 1: with a combination of cuts, revenue generators, and transfers? Is
11:45
Speaker 1: that pretty much?
11:47
Speaker 2: Okay? Exactly, decrease spending, some transfers of idle cash, and
11:53
Speaker 2: a little bit in revenue okay.
11:55
Speaker 1: And I just mentioned I know there were two failed
11:57
Speaker 1: attempts to advance a main budget built forward.
12:00
Speaker 3: What were the main roadblocks?
12:02
Speaker 1: If you could just describe a few of the things
12:04
Speaker 1: that the legislature was debating, you know why why were
12:07
Speaker 1: there too failed attempts?
12:10
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think that it had to do with in
12:12
Speaker 2: our original budget, we had had seven million dollars in
12:19
Speaker 2: it for opportunities scholarships for all kids, kids in private schools,
12:27
Speaker 2: kids in public schools, so we could help kids have fit.
12:31
Speaker 2: Some people just totally interpreted as nothing but school choice.
12:35
Speaker 2: So that that was a really really heavy debate, and
12:39
Speaker 2: that created a lot of politics and then also in
12:43
Speaker 2: regard to childcare. So those were the those were the
12:46
Speaker 2: really the two I don't know if you want to
12:49
Speaker 2: call them values issues, whatever you want to call them. Honestly,
12:53
Speaker 2: you know, when we presented originally there were there were
12:58
Speaker 2: like to the the appropriations, but committee on all the cuts,
13:04
Speaker 2: you know, I mean there was hundreds of issues. They
13:07
Speaker 2: approved all of them. So I think in our original budget,
13:11
Speaker 2: ninety five percent of the issues and ninety some percent
13:16
Speaker 2: of the cash everybody in the appropriations agreed on. So
13:21
Speaker 2: sometimes it seems like it's through a controversial it gets
13:24
Speaker 2: down to you know, I'll call them nitpicking issues, choice issues.
13:29
Speaker 2: Some are really disappointed with that. One of the things
13:32
Speaker 2: that's really important on this conversation, Genie, is we were
13:35
Speaker 2: the first state in the country to do an executive
13:39
Speaker 2: order on the big beautiful bill that has no sunset. Hopefully,
13:45
Speaker 2: what that means is it will go on forever. I'm
13:48
Speaker 2: a believer in getting more than our first share of
13:50
Speaker 2: federal money to Nebraska. So this federal scholarship program is
13:57
Speaker 2: for homeschool kids, private school kids, and public school kids,
14:02
Speaker 2: and we will be working really hard. It starts in
14:05
Speaker 2: twenty seven to make sure that every school system has
14:09
Speaker 2: a nonprofit and that they have a scholarship granting organization. So, Gene,
14:14
Speaker 2: what you can do is write a check to your
14:17
Speaker 2: favorite school, public or private, for seventeen hundred dollars to
14:21
Speaker 2: their scholarship granting organization, and then when you fill out
14:25
Speaker 2: your income tax for twenty seven, you decrease what you
14:29
Speaker 2: owe the federal government seventeen hundred dollars. Think about what
14:34
Speaker 2: kind of impact that will do. It can be used
14:36
Speaker 2: for school lunch programs, for after school programs. We're working
14:40
Speaker 2: on JAG for tutors, so for tuition in private schools.
14:47
Speaker 2: So it's really an incredible opportunity to keep our money
14:51
Speaker 2: home and help it make a difference on our kids.
14:54
Speaker 2: So that in the end probably was one that took
14:57
Speaker 2: up more time than it should have been.
14:58
Speaker 1: My humble opinion will say as a former school board
15:01
Speaker 1: member myself for the Miller Public Schools, I can't I
15:04
Speaker 1: can't even over emphasize how important that is. Are the
15:09
Speaker 1: the were the teachers union or were they? Were they
15:12
Speaker 1: some body that was opposed to this or not?
15:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that the I think that the interpretation
15:21
Speaker 2: again was that it was exclusively exclusively for private schools,
15:26
Speaker 2: so they were totally against it. Again the again you
15:30
Speaker 2: read the fine the fine print. The it was it
15:33
Speaker 2: was for the gap year of opportunity scholarships, and it
15:37
Speaker 2: was in it the money could be used for any
15:40
Speaker 2: school and and as and that will be with the
15:44
Speaker 2: federal scholarship program. And you know, originally there were some
15:48
Speaker 2: folks in public schools when we made that announcement went
15:53
Speaker 2: at us really hard. I called him and said, let's meet,
15:55
Speaker 2: let's really talk about this, because, uh, do you want
15:58
Speaker 2: to take away? Do you want to turn back the
16:00
Speaker 2: three hundred and ten million that we get from the
16:01
Speaker 2: federal government for a K twelve education? I don't think
16:04
Speaker 2: we do. And you know, if we get we have
16:07
Speaker 2: a million taxpayers in Nebraska gene if twenty percent, if
16:12
Speaker 2: twenty percent participate, that's seventeen hundred dollars on two hundred
16:17
Speaker 2: thousand taxpayers. That's that's three hundred and forty million more
16:20
Speaker 2: dollars it would come into our K twelve system. And
16:23
Speaker 2: what a difference that way in our school system for
16:25
Speaker 2: our kids. It's a big deal.
16:27
Speaker 1: Yes, it is now now the process now, as far
16:29
Speaker 1: as the legislature goes, you have with the budget bill.
16:32
Speaker 1: You have five calendar days I think I'm correct, excluding Sunday.
16:37
Speaker 1: You can either sign veto or line item veto and
16:40
Speaker 1: then of course it would take thirty three votes to
16:42
Speaker 1: override a veto.
16:43
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
16:45
Speaker 2: Yes? And so well actually, uh yeah, it'll take thirty
16:49
Speaker 2: three votes over ride a veto, and it takes twenty
16:53
Speaker 2: votes to sustain to sustain of vetos, So you know
16:56
Speaker 2: we're working on that. You know, I think that, Yeah,
17:00
Speaker 2: there's overall and overall I'm really pleased with where we're
17:04
Speaker 2: at there. There's yeah, there's some things that I'm more
17:09
Speaker 2: debating whether to swallow on, and we've got to make
17:12
Speaker 2: those decisions in the next twenty four hours.
17:14
Speaker 3: And you can line item veto right correct.
17:16
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yeah, we sure, Ken.
17:18
Speaker 3: Well I have you if you have a few more minutes.
17:20
Speaker 1: I did want to ask you about LB eleven sixty five,
17:23
Speaker 1: which is kind of referred to as the the up
17:26
Speaker 1: merger bill, and you had I think that you and
17:31
Speaker 1: Senator von Gilleran he supported that bill for you moved
17:36
Speaker 1: it forward, and so talk a little bit about that
17:40
Speaker 1: if you can, because we often talk about how important
17:43
Speaker 1: it is to have more incentives for employees to retain
17:48
Speaker 1: their employees that they have here in Nebraska, and then
17:50
Speaker 1: to attract new employees and new businesses. Speak a little
17:53
Speaker 1: bit about tax incentives in Nebraska.
17:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, yeah, thank you, Gene. It was a full
17:58
Speaker 2: team effort. We worked a ton on this issue in
18:01
Speaker 2: the off season, and I think that year one on
18:08
Speaker 2: the campaign trail, all I heard is everywhere across the state,
18:12
Speaker 2: everybody in business is short people. We need more people. Well,
18:16
Speaker 2: we've got to track people to Nebraska. So originally I
18:19
Speaker 2: had an idea that maybe we had five years of
18:22
Speaker 2: no income tax that would get people drop a barrier
18:26
Speaker 2: to get more people. Well, in the end that didn't
18:28
Speaker 2: make sense, so we should have gotten it done sooner.
18:31
Speaker 2: But the bottom line, what this tax incentive does is
18:35
Speaker 2: it's to help every size business. Somemmer calling at up. Yeah,
18:41
Speaker 2: up's a big deal, but every business gosh key with
18:45
Speaker 2: FNBO businesses in Grand Island and Norfolk and Columbus and Hastings.
18:51
Speaker 2: We've got extraordinary businesses across the state Scott's Bluff, So
18:55
Speaker 2: any business can benefit to grow their business and bring
18:59
Speaker 2: people from out of state. I call it six eight
19:02
Speaker 2: and ten with a focus on ten economic development. You know,
19:07
Speaker 2: we're such a hard working, humble people gene. In my lifetime,
19:11
Speaker 2: I've viewed, let's bring companies here. In our pitches. We
19:16
Speaker 2: got great people, hardworking and you don't have to pay
19:19
Speaker 2: them anything, and we have to change that, and we're
19:22
Speaker 2: changing it. And that's one of the goals of this
19:25
Speaker 2: is at ten percent, any company that brings people from
19:30
Speaker 2: out of state pays them one hundred and twenty thousand
19:32
Speaker 2: dollars or more, you get a ten percent tax credit
19:36
Speaker 2: for ten years. So if Union Pacific, or if a
19:44
Speaker 2: big feed lot brings an accountant in and pays them
19:47
Speaker 2: two hundred thousand dollars a year, they get a twenty
19:52
Speaker 2: percent tax break on your state income tax for ten
19:55
Speaker 2: ten years or intel as long as that person works
19:58
Speaker 2: for them. So it's a it's extraordinarily competitive. It will
20:03
Speaker 2: it will break the barriers down. If you pay somebody
20:06
Speaker 2: ninety thousand dollars, you'll get an eight percent break. If
20:08
Speaker 2: you pay somebody sixty thousand dollars, you get a six percent.
20:12
Speaker 2: The focus is to sub to make sure we've got
20:16
Speaker 2: businesses doing great, we have stakeholders doing great. We need
20:20
Speaker 2: to we want to pay our people more so it
20:23
Speaker 2: really stimulates our economy so that we buy more stuff,
20:27
Speaker 2: we go out to eat more, we buy more cars,
20:29
Speaker 2: you name it. It really will have a great impact
20:31
Speaker 2: on our economy.
20:32
Speaker 1: And I know we've talked about this before when I
20:35
Speaker 1: was still mayor, but I think that it is referred
20:38
Speaker 1: to as a UP merger bill because as most people
20:41
Speaker 1: understand and know now, that UP is mergered with an
20:44
Speaker 1: Atlanta based railroad, Norfolk Southern, and the last thing we
20:50
Speaker 1: want to see happen it would be UP to move
20:53
Speaker 1: their headquarters out of Omaha. It is one of four
20:56
Speaker 1: five Fortune five hundred companies left in Omaha. We have
21:01
Speaker 1: Union Pacific Key with Mutual of Omaha and Berkshire. We
21:04
Speaker 1: did have ConAgra, and when Conagara got a new CEO,
21:08
Speaker 1: that CEO was from Chicago and they moved their headquarters
21:11
Speaker 1: to Chicago. We don't want to see that happen again.
21:13
Speaker 1: We want to have a Nebraska to make it a
21:17
Speaker 1: business friendly state for all businesses. But we want to
21:20
Speaker 1: make sure that those that are here that may have
21:23
Speaker 1: the opportunity to move, that they don't and that they
21:26
Speaker 1: want to stay here. Because boy UP has a lot
21:29
Speaker 1: of employees here in Omaha. And look at Mutual they
21:32
Speaker 1: have four thousand employees here.
21:34
Speaker 2: So we will make stop question I met And you
21:38
Speaker 2: know the other thing that we need to make sure
21:40
Speaker 2: we appreciate the incredible things we have. And on banking,
21:44
Speaker 2: we have family banks. We have the largest family owned
21:46
Speaker 2: bank in the United States of America headquarter in Omaha. Yes,
21:50
Speaker 2: we have now an engineering firm, the largest employee owned
21:55
Speaker 2: engineering firm in the world, headquartered in Omaha. We want
22:00
Speaker 2: to help them grow, so they build another tower of
22:02
Speaker 2: engineers in Omaha key with one of the greatest builders
22:09
Speaker 2: in the world. We want to make sure that they
22:11
Speaker 2: grow and stay in Omaha. And then countless other medium
22:15
Speaker 2: sized business and small businesses. We have extraordinary businesses in
22:22
Speaker 2: Omaha and in Nebraska. And you know, somebody said, well,
22:26
Speaker 2: you can't afford, you can't afford not to This doesn't
22:29
Speaker 2: cost the state a dime. This far exceeds when you
22:33
Speaker 2: bring somebody in from out of state that brings the family.
22:38
Speaker 2: You your way on the positive side of the ledger
22:41
Speaker 2: of creating value to grow the economy in the state
22:44
Speaker 2: and for revenue for the state and cities.
22:47
Speaker 1: And I know people sometimes they just don't understand how
22:50
Speaker 1: important it is because you take a business like Keywit,
22:53
Speaker 1: or you take a business even like HDR. They have
22:56
Speaker 1: businesses and offices all over the world. They can move
23:00
Speaker 1: a headquarter anywhere and still function just like they do
23:03
Speaker 1: here in Omaha. But we want to keep them here.
23:05
Speaker 1: I know we're running out of time, but Governor, how's
23:07
Speaker 1: the campaign going?
23:09
Speaker 2: Hey? You know, people are gracious. We were able to
23:12
Speaker 2: make it down to Houston and be with Nebraska fans
23:16
Speaker 2: and I just get humbled every day people coming up
23:20
Speaker 2: thanking us for our work. We we have over five
23:24
Speaker 2: thousand people who have stepped up and helped us. We've
23:28
Speaker 2: got extraordinary momentum and humbled to have the privilege. And
23:32
Speaker 2: we're very, very Yeah. We we feel great where we're
23:36
Speaker 2: at today, and we don't take anything for granted. We
23:39
Speaker 2: just keep working hard every day and keep building our team.
23:41
Speaker 2: And you know, only only in Nebraska do people stop
23:45
Speaker 2: and say thanks for all your work, thanks for not
23:47
Speaker 2: giving up on property taxes. We're praying for you, and
23:50
Speaker 2: so maybe that's a great way to end it. On
23:52
Speaker 2: Holy Week. Nebraska, We're about faith, family, hard work, the
23:58
Speaker 2: American dream. And you know, we may not agree on everything,
24:01
Speaker 2: but by elly, stand up for our values, standing up
24:05
Speaker 2: for who we are. And with the fires that we're
24:08
Speaker 2: out west, thank God for the rain, and Nebraska came
24:12
Speaker 2: together like one little bitty village. Everybody help and across
24:18
Speaker 2: the state. It was really, really tough, but extraordinarily extraordinary
24:23
Speaker 2: privilege to see people doing things for each other, from
24:27
Speaker 2: Omaha to Scott's Bluff, across the state. We live in
24:31
Speaker 2: the greatest places. I love to say, it's the people.
24:34
Speaker 2: Let me finish with this one. I had a lady
24:36
Speaker 2: tell me, Jean, I moved to Nebraska. Our family moved
24:39
Speaker 2: to Nebraska from California twenty two years ago because of safety, education,
24:44
Speaker 2: and cost of living. We could create wealth for our
24:47
Speaker 2: family in Nebraska. And she said, twenty two years later,
24:51
Speaker 2: that's still true. But she said, we will never leave
24:54
Speaker 2: Nebraska because of the people.
24:56
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I could say the same thing. This
24:58
Speaker 1: is a fifth state that I I've lived in, and
25:00
Speaker 1: I love Omaha, I've loved Nebraska. I've been here for
25:04
Speaker 1: thirty three years now, and this is where I'm gonna
25:07
Speaker 1: stay too. So Governor, good luck with the campaign. Thank
25:10
Speaker 1: you so much for being here. You are very informative
25:12
Speaker 1: today Happy Easter and go big Red.
25:16
Speaker 2: Hey, have a good one. Thanks Jane, Thanks for.
25:18
Speaker 3: You dude, You're bet Thanks for being on.
25:20
Speaker 4: This is in response to the governor. This is coming
25:24
Speaker 4: from Patrick. It is never an income problem. It is
25:27
Speaker 4: always a spending problem. Get rid of all non government spending.
25:31
Speaker 4: Everything needs to be cut by at least fifteen percent
25:34
Speaker 4: every program, if it is not essential to running the state,
25:38
Speaker 4: get rid of it.
25:39
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I understand where he's coming from, but
25:43
Speaker 1: I can't say that I agree one hundred percent. Cut
25:45
Speaker 1: everything by just a I don't know where fifteen percent came.
25:48
Speaker 1: But let me tell you, if you try to cut
25:50
Speaker 1: everything by fifteen percent, you will be decreasing your services.
25:54
Speaker 1: And really it depends on whose ox you're gonna go are,
25:57
Speaker 1: because I mean, what are you gonna say, I'm gonna
25:59
Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut DJHS.
26:01
Speaker 3: So I'm going to cut whatever.
26:04
Speaker 1: You are going to run into a lot of issues,
26:07
Speaker 1: like I said, of decreasing services, and is that what
26:10
Speaker 1: you want to do. I will go back to the
26:12
Speaker 1: City of Omaha budget, which I did twelve of them,
26:15
Speaker 1: and you know you could say, maybe you could say
26:17
Speaker 1: to me, well, cut everything, cut every city department fifteen percent.
26:20
Speaker 1: Maybe if they would lay that on the City of Omaha,
26:23
Speaker 1: it should apply. I would think if he says we
26:25
Speaker 1: could do this with the state, well, are you going
26:27
Speaker 1: to cut the Omaha Police Department fifteen percent? Or are
26:30
Speaker 1: you going to cut the fire department? Are you going
26:32
Speaker 1: to cut public works and you're not going to have
26:34
Speaker 1: enough people to plow snow or fill up potholes? I mean,
26:37
Speaker 1: it depends on if you really can cut those departments
26:43
Speaker 1: and then also provide the services. And I've said this
26:46
Speaker 1: before with the City of Omaha, is two thirds of
26:50
Speaker 1: the general fund city budget is fire and police. And
26:54
Speaker 1: fire and police are under labor contracts collective bargaining agreements.
26:58
Speaker 1: You are contractual obligated to pay them the salary that
27:02
Speaker 1: you agreed on. So where are you going to cut?
27:05
Speaker 1: So it does make a big difference. Say it's not
27:08
Speaker 1: a revenue problem, it's just a spending problem. I would
27:12
Speaker 1: think it is both, because you know, a revenue problem.
27:15
Speaker 1: When COVID hit in twenty twenty, we were first estimating
27:19
Speaker 1: maybe a seventy million dollar budget shortfall because of the
27:22
Speaker 1: decrease in sales tax. Try to deal with that in
27:25
Speaker 1: the middle of the year. And say we got a
27:27
Speaker 1: budget done, and it shouldn't matter that your revenue has
27:30
Speaker 1: just been cut seventy million dollars.
27:31
Speaker 3: You should be able to figure it out.
27:33
Speaker 1: It should be hard, though, I'm saying this is not easy,
27:37
Speaker 1: and every mayor across Nebraska, the governor, the legislature, the
27:42
Speaker 1: city councils, they should all struggle with that budget because
27:46
Speaker 1: they should never forget whose money they're spending, and it's
27:48
Speaker 1: not theirs, it's the tax beyers.
27:51
Speaker 5: I have a good one here for you. This one.
27:55
Speaker 4: Is from Sharon Sorry, excuse me. This one is from
27:58
Speaker 4: Aaron Gene. What do you think of Mayor Ewing calling
28:02
Speaker 4: Sheriff Hansen and the county sheriffs quote occupying force end quote?
28:09
Speaker 4: Are the Omaha police and county sheriffs not good partners?
28:12
Speaker 5: Right now?
28:13
Speaker 1: You know what I would say that was that in
28:16
Speaker 1: my opinion here, I would say that that was a
28:20
Speaker 1: reckless statement that was made by the mayor. I think
28:25
Speaker 1: that was an emotional response, a tactical air. It does
28:29
Speaker 1: not go over very well with folks. You know, the
28:32
Speaker 1: Sheriff's department covers Douglas County, although Omaha occupies about eighty
28:39
Speaker 1: percent of Douglas County. It's still in Douglas County, and
28:43
Speaker 1: the Sheriff's department and the Omaha Police Department should be
28:46
Speaker 1: good partners and they should be working together all the time.
28:50
Speaker 1: There are parts you know of Douglas County that obviously.
28:55
Speaker 3: Are still part of Omaha.
28:58
Speaker 1: Omaha continues to grow a get bigger with annexation, but
29:02
Speaker 1: we still should have a very good working relationship and
29:06
Speaker 1: they can work side by side together. And so I
29:10
Speaker 1: don't know why the mayor, as a former police officer,
29:13
Speaker 1: would say something like that. He should be very much
29:17
Speaker 1: aware of what the sheriff does and what the sheriff's
29:20
Speaker 1: responsibilities are. And remember it is state law that there
29:25
Speaker 1: is a sheriff for each county. And so it's not
29:28
Speaker 1: that Omaha continues to grow so much that we don't
29:31
Speaker 1: need the Douglas County sheriff anymore. If Omaha really you'd
29:35
Speaker 1: have to stop and think by state law, if Omaha
29:38
Speaker 1: grew so much that it completely took over Douglas County,
29:44
Speaker 1: in my opinion, by state what is in state law,
29:48
Speaker 1: And I'd have to verify if what I'm saying is
29:50
Speaker 1: one hundred percent accurate, But I think it would be
29:53
Speaker 1: the sheriff, would be the chief officer, law enforcement officer
29:59
Speaker 1: rather than the police chief.
30:00
Speaker 5: You're saying in terms of hierarchy.
30:03
Speaker 1: In terms of state law, right, right, And so they
30:06
Speaker 1: should be working together. And I think, you know, I
30:10
Speaker 1: I think people will have a lot to say about this.
30:13
Speaker 1: I know Sheriff Hanson has been on the show a lot.
30:15
Speaker 1: I know Chief Schmier has been on this show a lot.
30:18
Speaker 1: But there should be a good working relationship and that
30:21
Speaker 1: that response, I think was a bit reckless.
30:24
Speaker 4: And when you were a mayor, how was the relationship
30:27
Speaker 4: with between them and you in your office?
30:30
Speaker 1: Well, if you recall it first, you know Tim Dunning
30:32
Speaker 1: was was the Douglas County sheriff. Aaron Hanson was elected sheriff.
30:37
Speaker 1: I supported Aaron when he ran for sheriff. I think
30:40
Speaker 1: when I ran for mayor this fourth time in that
30:43
Speaker 1: the the before the primary, Aaron did not come out
30:46
Speaker 1: and support me where I supported him.
30:48
Speaker 3: But did that make me angry at him?
30:50
Speaker 5: No?
30:50
Speaker 3: Heck no. I mean it's his choice, but he.
30:52
Speaker 1: Still serves and his sheriff's department serves a very very
30:56
Speaker 1: important role, and they should be working together with the
31:02
Speaker 1: City of Omaha. And with the Omaha Police Department, and
31:04
Speaker 1: they have different responsibilities. You know, the Sheriff's department is
31:08
Speaker 1: over the jail, the Sheriff's department is over the courthouse,
31:12
Speaker 1: and so they do have different responsibilities and a good
31:15
Speaker 1: working relationship is vital for public safety. Now let me
31:19
Speaker 1: bring up one other point though, and I brought this
31:21
Speaker 1: up before, that when I was mayor for twelve years,
31:24
Speaker 1: my goals were repeated constantly to the public what my
31:29
Speaker 1: goals were as mayor. My number one priority as mayor
31:32
Speaker 1: was public safety. It should be every mayor's number one
31:36
Speaker 1: priority should be public safety. That is, government's number one
31:39
Speaker 1: responsibility is keeping the citizens safe. Mary Ewing's number one
31:43
Speaker 1: priority is affordable housing. Public safety isn't even listed in
31:48
Speaker 1: his list of priorities.
31:50
Speaker 3: So take that for what it is.
31:52
Speaker 4: I'm gonna switch gears here a little bit. I've witnessed
31:56
Speaker 4: something for the first time yesterday that I've never witnessed before.
31:59
Speaker 4: Tell me, and we had it live on the radio
32:02
Speaker 4: here in the five o'clock hour. Artemis two.
32:05
Speaker 1: Oh you and Chris Baker. Yeah, uh huh, Artemis too.
32:08
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm totally excited.
32:10
Speaker 5: About you get the chance to watch that you watched
32:12
Speaker 5: it live yesterday.
32:12
Speaker 3: Of course I watched it.
32:14
Speaker 1: You know, I've been down to the Kennedy Space Center
32:16
Speaker 1: when we lived in Texas. This is such an important
32:20
Speaker 1: mission too, and god speed those astronauts. I did hear
32:22
Speaker 1: that there was a problem with the toilet and feel
32:25
Speaker 1: bad for that one woman astronaut's on board. But this
32:29
Speaker 1: is the first highest stakes mission that NASA had in
32:34
Speaker 1: fifty four years. And you know right now are they
32:38
Speaker 1: are orbiting the Earth, which is what they are going
32:40
Speaker 1: to do with those I mean, it's unbelievable, and those
32:44
Speaker 1: big rockets are going to shoot them right towards the Moon.
32:47
Speaker 1: Orian is the capsule that they will be in as
32:51
Speaker 1: a loop around the Moon. But there's so much important
32:55
Speaker 1: information that they are going to get from this mission.
32:59
Speaker 1: You know, are going to be on the dark side
33:01
Speaker 1: of the Moon, which no one has ever been on
33:04
Speaker 1: and be able to take pictures. But you know, this
33:07
Speaker 1: is just a jumping start to get to Mars. And
33:11
Speaker 1: that's what it's really all about. It's it will human
33:15
Speaker 1: life be able to be supported to take off from
33:19
Speaker 1: Earth land on the Moon, make fuel, our get refueled,
33:24
Speaker 1: and then that be our station there and then send
33:27
Speaker 1: a rocket to If we can send a rocket to
33:29
Speaker 1: the Moon and refuel on the Moon, then can we
33:32
Speaker 1: eventually get to Mars. And that's what this is about.
33:35
Speaker 1: What is so amazing too, is when they are done
33:38
Speaker 1: with their ten days, they're going to splash down in
33:40
Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean right on the point that they have
33:43
Speaker 1: planned for them. It's amazing is what the information that
33:47
Speaker 1: they are going to do. So, like I said, godspeed
33:50
Speaker 1: to them up there, and I love watching all of this.
33:52
Speaker 1: But the lift off I thought was so exciting it
33:54
Speaker 1: sent chills at my back.
33:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was really cool. And like I said, I've
33:59
Speaker 4: never seen anything like this. I know Tesla and SpaceX
34:02
Speaker 4: like they've done some, but to have real you know,
34:05
Speaker 4: those are not manned rockets either.
34:07
Speaker 3: You know this is a fact humans.
34:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this is a lot about humans well, and
34:12
Speaker 1: they will get a lot of information about the humans
34:14
Speaker 1: on board the Orion. And also I like I said
34:17
Speaker 1: that the real goal is to figure out if we
34:21
Speaker 1: can get humans to launch from the Earth, make it
34:26
Speaker 1: to the Moon, refuel on the Moon, and then explore
34:30
Speaker 1: what we have in space and so much we can
34:33
Speaker 1: learn from that.
34:34
Speaker 4: Right into this we have Sue on the line. Sue,
34:37
Speaker 4: thank you for calling news radio eleven to ten KFAB.
34:40
Speaker 4: You're live with Jeans Author.
34:43
Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning.
34:45
Speaker 6: Like I told the person that answered, I want to
34:50
Speaker 6: be educated. I understand that we have to educate all
34:56
Speaker 6: children in our state. What I'm failing to understand is
35:02
Speaker 6: why as taxpayers are we having to pay for the
35:07
Speaker 6: school bus system and why isn't that put on the
35:11
Speaker 6: people that are using it?
35:14
Speaker 1: Oh, okay, you know you don't have a specific tax
35:18
Speaker 1: for the school bus system. The schools, the public schools
35:23
Speaker 1: are able. They have their own school board that sets
35:25
Speaker 1: their own tax. Levey and I brought this up before.
35:28
Speaker 1: In the city of Omaha, the school districts, if you
35:31
Speaker 1: look at your property tax bill, are about sixty two
35:35
Speaker 1: percent of your total bill goes to the school districts.
35:38
Speaker 1: But there's not a specific tax for bussing the kids.
35:43
Speaker 1: It's just part of the school district's budget. Now, the
35:47
Speaker 1: issue is, you are very correct that we are required
35:50
Speaker 1: by law to educate our students, but some students need
35:54
Speaker 1: to get to the schools is the issue, and by
35:57
Speaker 1: state law. And I would have to review on this
36:02
Speaker 1: one because it's been a long time since I've been
36:04
Speaker 1: on the school board. But I do believe it's required
36:07
Speaker 1: that if a student lives more than I believe it's
36:12
Speaker 1: three miles, or it might be it might be about
36:15
Speaker 1: three miles from school. I think Millard was two miles
36:19
Speaker 1: from school. That the school board adopted that, then the
36:23
Speaker 1: school needed to provide bussing for that student. And so
36:27
Speaker 1: students that live very close to the school, they did
36:30
Speaker 1: not have to provide bussing for them, but kids that
36:33
Speaker 1: lived further away that walking was out of the question.
36:37
Speaker 1: And a lot of these kids don't have parents that
36:39
Speaker 1: can get them to school. They are obligated and required
36:42
Speaker 1: by law to bust those kids to make sure that
36:45
Speaker 1: they get there. They're also required for kids that receive
36:48
Speaker 1: special education services because a lot of times they don't
36:52
Speaker 1: go to the school that is nearest them. They go
36:54
Speaker 1: to another school, so they have to bust them to there.
36:58
Speaker 1: So it is just part of the school district's budget,
37:01
Speaker 1: the cost of what bussing is. But you know, you're
37:05
Speaker 1: not going to have a good community unless you have
37:07
Speaker 1: good schools, and we are very very fortunate in the
37:10
Speaker 1: state of Nebraska to have a good public school system.
37:13
Speaker 1: We just got to make sure we get our kids there,
37:15
Speaker 1: and we get our kids there safely and get them
37:18
Speaker 1: back home again.
37:18
Speaker 6: To Okay, thank you very much.
37:22
Speaker 3: Oh, you're very welcome. Thanks for calling. Very good.
37:27
Speaker 4: I got another one for you here. This one comes
37:30
Speaker 4: from sharing that I mistakenly read earlier.
37:32
Speaker 5: But here we go.
37:33
Speaker 4: I do not know if you have the answer to this.
37:35
Speaker 4: Is there reflective paint that could be used for lane
37:38
Speaker 4: markers when it rains and it's dark, it's impossible to
37:41
Speaker 4: see the lane.
37:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, they do use it.
37:43
Speaker 1: I mean it is when they repaint and restripe the roads,
37:47
Speaker 1: which they do every year. They do have reflective paint
37:51
Speaker 1: that they use. But it fades with time and that's
37:55
Speaker 1: just what happens. And it depends on the weather. And
37:57
Speaker 1: we do have some harsh weather conditions here too that
38:00
Speaker 1: it just fades with time. Now, I will say this,
38:03
Speaker 1: I don't know what they use in Europe, but I
38:05
Speaker 1: was when I was in France for a sister city trip,
38:09
Speaker 1: because we have a new sister city in the northeast
38:14
Speaker 1: or northwest part of France. Now, they have some reflective
38:18
Speaker 1: paint they use in France. That is I mean, it's
38:21
Speaker 1: like a light bulb is under the pavement. I mean
38:24
Speaker 1: it is bright and it glows, and I don't know
38:27
Speaker 1: what they use over in Europe or over in France,
38:31
Speaker 1: but I know there is different products. The issue is
38:35
Speaker 1: always this too, is how much those other products are
38:39
Speaker 1: going to cost?
38:40
Speaker 3: You know.
38:40
Speaker 1: I mean when I talk about the roads here, our
38:43
Speaker 1: roads are primarily asphalt. For this I'm getting away from
38:46
Speaker 1: the striping. Asphalt and concrete. Concrete lasts twice as long
38:49
Speaker 1: as twice as expensive. I am sure that they are
38:53
Speaker 1: coming up or could come up with other composite materials
38:57
Speaker 1: that you could do roads with, but it would be
39:00
Speaker 1: cost prohibitive. I mean, concrete cost a lot of money.
39:04
Speaker 1: And if you are going to redo all of our
39:06
Speaker 1: roads in Omaha all you know, fifty five hundred lane
39:09
Speaker 1: miles a road with some extremely expensive composite, how are
39:13
Speaker 1: you going to pay for it?
39:14
Speaker 3: That's the issue.
39:15
Speaker 5: I don't want to pay for it now, and it
39:17
Speaker 5: would be the.
39:17
Speaker 1: Taxpayers would pay for it. So you always have to consider.
39:21
Speaker 1: There are always looking at and making new products that
39:24
Speaker 1: are more durable, that show up better, say as far
39:27
Speaker 1: as striping and the paint. But it's what is the
39:30
Speaker 1: cost to the citizens and as the governor just said,
39:33
Speaker 1: we want to keep the cost of government as low
39:36
Speaker 1: as we possibly can, so we want to provide good
39:38
Speaker 1: services that keep it at a cost that is affordable
39:41
Speaker 1: for the taxpayers.
39:42
Speaker 4: I've seen the white black stripes, you know that those
39:47
Speaker 4: are back to back. Those have been decently helpful too.
39:51
Speaker 3: But I think so too.
39:52
Speaker 1: The only time I really don't like just striping alone
39:55
Speaker 1: is for bike lanes because people don't pay a lot
39:58
Speaker 1: of attention if there's a stripe along the side of
40:01
Speaker 1: a road for a bike lane, I think if we
40:04
Speaker 1: do do bike lanes, they need to be protected, not
40:06
Speaker 1: just with a stripe of paint.
40:08
Speaker 5: So you got about thirty seconds. But how do you
40:10
Speaker 5: protect it? I mean you do some sort of barriers.
40:13
Speaker 1: Have some sort of barriers, some sort of concrete barriers.
40:15
Speaker 1: I mean they do concrete flower pots, they do concrete
40:20
Speaker 1: things that are raised bollards and things that are raised
40:24
Speaker 1: from the concrete itself. But something that is a lot
40:26
Speaker 1: more permanent that people understand. You don't go over here,
40:30
Speaker 1: you know, just using paint. When it snows, you can't
40:33
Speaker 1: see it. So that's what the issue is there.
40:36
Speaker 5: People aren't paying attention to. You drift into the Lane but.
40:39
Speaker 1: Absolutely and when we have snow here, I mean, this
40:42
Speaker 1: was a really mild winter, but boy we've had some
40:45
Speaker 1: that you really can't see.
40:46
Speaker 3: For months and months and months.
40:47
Speaker 4: This is the kfab comment line. Your host of the show,
40:50
Speaker 4: Jean Stouthard. I'm Peyton Highlock. We will see you guys tomorrow.
40:53
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening, Thanks for being with us today