Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
LINCOLN — In a normal year, a $46,000 proposal to help safeguard children with life-threatening allergies would not be a big deal in the Nebraska Legislature.
It would be a drop in the fiscal bucket, compared to the more than $3.3 billion in state spending this year.
But this is not a normal year.
The recession has increased unemployment, cut into salaries and sapped the tax funds that finance state government.
Two months ago, lawmakers had to reduce spending by $334 million in a special session to balance the books.
Today lawmakers may provide hints at how stingy they will be, as they begin debating bills leftover from last year.
Senators might have to be even tighter with spending in light of news Friday that tax receipts in December were almost 10 percent less than expected.
“Whether it’s $40,000 or $4 million, we have to look at everything,” said State Sen. Lavon Heidemann of Elk Creek, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which drafts state budgets. “It’s not so much the dollar figure, it’s how much of an absolute need is it?”
Friday’s dismal report, which showed a $31 million gap in revenue, sent a serious message, said Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk, speaker of the Legislature,
“That will have a significant impact on what this session will be about,” Flood said.
That means more talk about cutting spending and streamlining government, he said.
Flood was among several lawmakers who said they opted against introducing new spending proposals this year because there wasn’t any new money to spend.
Backers of the allergy bill are hoping to make the case that even in a recession, some new programs are necessary.
The proposal, Legislative Bill 76, would require the state to develop guidelines on how schools should manage things like classrooms, lunchrooms, field trips and playgrounds when they have students with life-threatening allergies.
Similar measures have passed in 12 states and are being considered in several others, including Iowa. Congress is considering a federal bill.
A parent of a teenage son with a life-threatening food allergy said school administrators, particularly those who have never dealt with such students, often lack expertise and experience.
Each child’s sensitivity level is unique, said Andrea Holka of Malcolm, Neb.
Some children are so sensitive that even exposure to a fellow student who ate a peanut-butter sandwich can trigger a potentially deadly attack.
“There are still administrators who don’t have experience with this. They don’t know where to go or how to act,” said Holka, who is active with two Nebraska parent groups of children with asthma and severe allergies.
She said that up to 15,000 Nebraska schoolchildren have potentially life-threatening allergies to such things as peanuts and bee stings, and many aren’t aware of it.
The number has been growing in recent years, said Sen. Abbie Cornett of Bellevue, who introduced LB 76.
Cornett, chairwoman of the Revenue Committee, is so allergic to bee stings that she carries a pre-dosed syringe device as a safeguard. She said that even in a budget crisis, sometimes new money has to be spent.
“I’m certainly trying to be a gatekeeper on saving money. But if we can save one child’s life — a preventable death — for $40,000, that’s a no-brainer,” she said.
The main cost of the bill would be for hiring a consultant to the Nebraska Department of Education to write up the guidelines. A legislative fiscal note said the department lacks the expertise to do the work.
Cornett said she’s looking at amendments to reduce the cost of the bill, such as adopting standards used in other states.
Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha said he considers one of his bills — promoting neighborhood development projects — dead because it comes with a $125,000-a-year cost.
It’s dead, he said, even though it cleared two of three rounds of debate last year.
Mello also is worried that another of his bills, with only a $1,500 price tag, might be too expensive this year.
“There’s some good issues out there, even if they cost a little bit of money, but we just don’t have any money right now,” he said. “And that’s a concern of a lot of senators.”
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
