LB1070 LB1070
2022 2022
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH LEGISLATURE
SECOND SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 1070
Introduced by Williams, 36.
Read first time January 18, 2022
Committee: Appropriations
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to appropriations; to appropriate federal
2 funds to the Department of Economic Development; and to declare an
3 emergency.
4 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. (1) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
2 (a) The COVID-19 public health emergency has disrupted all areas of
3 Nebraska's economy at unprecedented levels;
4 (b) Workforce development will be a primary driver for Nebraska's
5 economic recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency;
6 (c) The COVID-19 public health emergency has created a workforce
7 shortage across the country and in Nebraska;
8 (d) It is estimated that there are over fifty thousand available and
9 unfilled jobs in the state but less than twenty thousand people seeking
10 jobs;
11 (e) Employers and potential new employees face a housing shortage,
12 which stands in the way of new opportunities;
13 (f) The COVID-19 public health emergency has led to inflated cost
14 for housing materials for workforce housing units, specifically those
15 activities related to demolition and water and sewer infrastructure,
16 which impacts the ability of Nebraska's rural communities to recruit and
17 retain workforce and hampers the ability of communities to maintain and
18 develop viable, stable, and thriving economies;
19 (g) The COVID-19 public health emergency and resulting inflation
20 have also caused the costs for new housing in rural areas to grow faster
21 than Nebraska incomes; and
22 (h) In order to develop workforce housing options that lead to the
23 recruitment and retention of a workforce in Nebraska's rural communities,
24 new and existing resources to support creation of workforce housing funds
25 are needed. Such funds should be used to address the negative economic
26 impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency by facilitating and
27 encouraging development of affordable workforce housing in Nebraska's
28 underserved rural areas.
29 (2) There is hereby appropriated $20,000,000 from Federal Funds for
30 FY2022-23 to the Department of Economic Development for the purposes
31 described in subsection (3) of this section. The Federal Funds
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1 appropriated in this section are from the funds allocated to the State of
2 Nebraska from the federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund pursuant
3 to the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Public Law 117-2,
4 Subtitle M, Sec. 9901.
5 (3)(a) The Department of Economic Development shall use the funds
6 appropriated in this section to award grants for infrastructure related
7 to rural workforce housing authorized pursuant to the Rural Workforce
8 Housing Investment Act.
9 (b) The Department of Economic Development may create a program to
10 administer the grants awarded pursuant to this section.
11 (c) Any program created by the Department of Economic Development
12 shall be coordinated and administered in compliance with the federal
13 American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
14 Sec. 2. Since an emergency exists, this act takes effect when
15 passed and approved according to law.
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