Strengthen Nebraska Families’ letter to the legislature aims to inspire economic growth

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – According to one study from the Aksarben Foundation, Nebraska is not growing at the rate of other states like it.

It ranks 38th out of the 49 states studied for economic growth.

Mike Cassling, a founder at the nonprofit of ‘Strengthening Nebraska for Families,’ along with his co-founder Dana Bradford, wrote a twelve-page letter to Nebraska senators urging for change.

“As a state, we are not growing,” he said.

Cassling says it is due to a lack of jobs and wages not keeping up with inflation.

“A decrease in wages is a decrease in what can be spent, which is a huge problem,” he says.

A problem that is creating brain drain, a term used to describe the large number of young professionals leaving the state to work elsewhere.

“If we were to grow at the rate of Des Moines, Iowa, over the past five years, that would have been almost $700 million to the bottom line of the state of Nebraska,” said Cassling.

According to the Aksarben Foundation report, information compiled by the organization DCI, southeast Nebraska has seen only a 0.18% increase in employment growth since 2020.

That same report indicates a 5.22% increase in wage growth for the same time period.

In the letter to the legislature, Cassling starts with a critique of the legislature’s 2026 budget report.

“This year we’ll have $700 billion in revenue, and it takes $5.5 billion to run the state, so we have about $1.5 billion in excess,” he said.

Cassling says that it can negatively affect the demographic the state is looking to retain, younger people.

“35% of the population is renting, and they get no benefit of that relief; it goes directly to the owner,” he said.

Cassling adds that retaining young people or attracting more (positive migration) could be achieved by creating jobs.

Both primary quality and secondary quality. Primary jobs create more jobs, and secondary jobs provide goods to the community.

“We need to look at moving some of that money going to property tax relief to growth,” he said.

Cassling gives examples such as marketing growth and incentives for businesses. He says, “We’ve already run it past businesses in Lincoln and Omaha and have ideas on what we can do to bring new jobs here quickly.”

Cassling’s letter contains many more of these ideas directed at the legislature to promote growth and is available here.