Gov. Jim Pillen hosts first-ever cabinet roundtable briefing

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Governor Jim Pillen hosted Nebraska’s first-ever roundtable briefing with members of his cabinet on Monday.

The meeting highlighted the work being done during the current and past legislative sessions.

Each cabinet member spoke about the accomplishments that they say are helping to ease the minds of many.

“Nebraska’s unemployment rate is 3%,” said Katie Thurber, the Director of the Department of Labor. “It’s sixth in the nation, and remains unchanged in recent months. The national unemployment rate is 4.3%. Meanwhile, our employment rate has gone up. We have record-high employment levels in Nebraska, currently sitting at 1,104,402 people employed. That’s an increase of over 13,000 from this time last year.”

A topic that’s long been talked about is property taxes.

The Department of Administrative Services’ Budget Division discussed how it has worked to help lower taxes and assist homeowners.

“We have the highest credit rating we’ve ever had,” said Neil Sullivan. “Triple A, as the Governor mentioned. We’re set to deliver over $3.6 billion in property tax relief in this millennium. And drop the income tax rate down to 3.99% come January.”

Several cabinet members praised the help everyone rushed to give to those affected by the wildfires.

The Department of Agriculture said they are successfully protecting farmers across the state by putting Nebraska at the forefront.

“I want to talk about the Ag Data Privacy Bill,” said Director Sherry Vinton. “This is groundbreaking, it’s a first in the nation. What this does is put our farmers in charge of who and when they share their data; it’s going to keep that value at the farm gate, and this is very, very important for our farmers.”

The Correctional Services Director, Rob Jeffreys, said overcrowding is no longer an issue in the state’s correctional facilities.

He also spoke about the highly controversial McCook detention facility.

“We partnered up with the federal ICE agency, and we transitioned that into a federal ICE facility,” he said. “In this partnership, we’re able to bring in about $14.2 million a year, turning those expenses into a revenue-generating asset.”

Pillen expressed his gratitude for all of the hard work each cabinet member has done.

“We are pleased with our progress, but certainly not satisfied,” he said. “We continue to have a lot of work to do.”