Two pieces of legislation affecting the Commission were introduced during the 1997 session of the Nebraska Unicameral. Legislative Bill 684, extended through calendar year 1997 the responsibility of the Commission member states to provide to the Host State (Nebraska) Community Improvement Cash Funds (CICF). This legislation was approved by the Unicameral as an amendment to LB 658 and was signed into law by Host State Governor E. Benjamin Nelson. This insures continued funding assistance for the Village of Butte (Host Community) and a number of other political subdivisions in Boyd County which are impacted by the selection of the proposed disposal facility site.
The CICF was authorized and established in 1987. The annual amount provided by the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas to Host State Nebraska is $75,000 each for a total of $300,000. With the 1997 funding, the Commission has paid to Nebraska a total of $2.7 million for public purpose use by the affected communities and political subdivisions. One-half of the CICF money is distributed to the Villages of Butte and Anoka ($147,000 and $3,000 respectively) and the remainder is provided to the Boyd County Treasurer for distribution to a number of political subdivisions such as the Butte Public School, the Rural Fire Protection District, the Boyd County Fair Board, the area Community College, and the area Natural Resource District. These recipients use the funds for public purposes such as street, water, and sewer improvements, roads and bridges, educational materials and equipment, fire safety equipment and facilities, and for a portion of the costs of the new Butte Community Building.
Nebraska State Senator M. L. "Cap" Dierks introduced Legislative Bill 552 to withdraw Nebraska's membership in the Compact. He identified LB 552 as his priority legislation for the session.
Senator Dierks cited as the reason for introducing the bill the exclusion of the Nebraska Commissioner from an executive session of the Commission's Mid-Year Meeting. A public hearing before the legislature's Natural Resources Committee was held on March 20, 1997. The bill was held over by the committee.
The bill may be discussed during the legislative session starting in January, 1998. The Natural Resources Committee did agree, however, to conduct an interim study of the issue. Public hearings will be held later this year and the Committee report will be ubmitted to the full legislature in its 1998 session.