Legislative Bills affecting the Commission that were introduced during the 1997 and 1998 sessions of the Nebraska Unicameral were acted upon by the Legislature in 1998.
Legislative Bill 1126 extended through calendar year 1998 the responsibility of the member states of the Commission to provide Community Improvement Cash Funds (CICF) to Nebraska (the Host State). This legislation was approved by the Unicameral and was signed into law by Governor E. Benjamin Nelson. This law ensures continued funding assistance for the Village of Butte (Host Community) and a number of other local political subdivisions in Boyd County which are impacted by the selection of the proposed disposal facility site.
The CICF was authorized and established by Nebraska law 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 1998 funding, the Commission has paid to Nebraska a total of $3 million in CICF moneys for public purpose use by the affected communities and political subdivisions.
One-half of the CICF money is distributed to the Host Community Village of Butte ($147,000) and the neighboring Village of Anoka ($3,000). The remainder of the funds are provided to the Boyd County Treasurer for distribution to a number of local 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. Recipients use the funds for public purposes such as: a portion of the costs of the new Butte Community Building; street, water, and sewer improvements; roads and bridges construction and improvements; educational materials and equipment; and fire safety equipment and facilities.
Nebraska State Senator M. L. "Cap" Dierks introduced Legislative Bill 552 in 1997 to withdraw Nebraska's membership in the Compact. He identified LB 552 as his priority legislation for last year's session The bill was held over by the Unicameral's Natural Resources Committee and not acted upon during the 1998 session.
The Natural Resources Committee conducted an interim study and a public hearing on the Host State withdrawal issue in December, 1997 and in January, 1998 introduced an alternate Host State withdrawal legislative bill, LB 1023. This version attempted to withdraw the State of Nebraska from the Compact if the Commission's developer started construction or site improvement for construction or let contracts for construction prior to May 1, 2008. This bill also was not enacted by the Legislature.
Toward the end of the 1998 legislative session, after several floor debates and discussions between several State Senators on the withdrawal issue, LB 1174 (an existing bill) was amended to become the Legislative Bill that prevented further construction or the letting of construction contracts until the Nebraska Department of Environmental had conducted a six-month education program. The bill's language stated the purpose of the program was to inform the public of the county [Boyd] and the people of the state [Nebraska] of the exact characteristics of the facility to be built. The bill specified that the program shall be undertaken forthwith. LB 1174 also required the Natural Resources Committee and the Executive Board of the [Nebraska] Legislative Council to conduct a study on the legal consequences of Nebraska withdrawing from the Compact. It was the intent of the Legislature that $150,000 of Rebate funds [given to the Host State by the Commission] be used to hire legal counsel for advice on the issue.
LB 1174 was passed by the Legislature on the last day of the legislative session and signed by the Governor. All other the legislative bills affecting the Commission or the llrw disposal issue not enacted during the 1998 second session were indefinitely postponed on April, 14, 1998, the last day of the session.