The spotlight was on workforce development, with a special emphasis on attracting young people to the state, during a Lincoln Chamber of Commerce breakfast gathering Wednesday that peered ahead to next year's session of the Legislature.
Three Lincoln state senators were on hand to offer a view of their legislative priorities, and workforce development was on their list, along with property tax relief and prison reform.
"The thing we need the most is a young workforce," said Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Population growth is the key."
Former Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, who is spearheading Blueprint Nebraska, a statewide coalition formed by the Chamber to construct a plan for economic growth, said Nebraska needs to target 18- to 34-year-olds and undertake education reform to help produce the workforce of the future.
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The message, delivered through a "Choose Nebraska" campaign, ought to be that "Nebraska is for everyone," Smith said.
That, of course, is not the same message now being delivered by the Nebraska Tourism Commission in its effort to increase tourism in the state: "Honestly, it's not for everyone."
Sen. Kate Bolz said "now is the time" for workforce development and suggested that some of the strategies that should be employed include investment in apprenticeship programs and increased career-based scholarship programs.
"We need to be aggressive in determining how to attract youth to Nebraska," Sen. Anna Wishart said.
Sen. Suzanne Geist joined Wishart in identifying prison reform as a key legislative issue in 2020.
"Why are we warehousing people?" Wishart asked. "We need to differentiate between who we're afraid of and who we're mad at."
Bolz said a continuing response to flooding in Nebraska is on the table, along with the need for swifter implementation of Medicaid expansion to "exercise the will of the people."
Nebraska voters approved a Medicaid expansion proposal in 2018, but the Ricketts administration does not plan to implement the new program until October 2020, almost two years after voters approved the ballot measure.
Bolz also pointed to the need for increased child care services.
Geist said she will also focus on mental health issues and expansion of rural broadband service during the coming legislative session.
High on the Chamber of Commerce list of priorities is broad-based, structural tax reform and early adoption of a new business tax incentives bill to replace the current program that's scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
Smith also called for increased research and development initiatives.