The Nebraska Legislature ramps up its 60-day short session for 2020 on Jan. 8, and it promises to be a busy one before senators adjourn on April 23.
One of the major ones is LB 720. The bill would adopt the ImagiNE Nebraska Act to replace the expired Nebraska Advantage Act for economic incentives for businesses.
But tax cuts for military veterans, funding for flood recovery and money to continue addressing the state’s overcrowded prison system also rank high on his to-do list for the year.
A key ingredient for overall success this session must be a culture of professionalism by state senators.
Yep having been a single teacher and single - $35k would make it rough to purchase a $200k and up house. This legislator In Gothenburg is a banker you would think he would have a better understanding of salaries and cost.ita wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 3:36 pm Here is an article highlighting some of the proposals from the first meeting of the year:
http://netnebraska.org/article/news/120 ... sm-housing
I thought it was interesting, though, that a representative from Gothenburg thinks that a teacher could afford what he says is affordable housing, somewhere between $200-250k. I am pretty sure a teacher making $35k a year would struggle to afford even a $200k home, unless they were single or have kids with a working spouse/significant other. .
Thanks for the insight. Do you know what kind of banks are approving mortgages in those type of situations? I did a rough calculation on a mortgage calculator, and if someone in that situation applied for an FHA First Homeowner's loan on a $200,000, which has a 3.5% minimum down and its own version of mortgage interest (it's variable, but I used .4% in addition to a 3.8% base interest), with 2% property tax rate (which is lower than most of urban Omaha/Lincoln), and a modest $1,000 insurance policy (which is like underestimated), the monthly is about $1600. That's not including additional points and additional costs to close, probably another $3-5,000. That would be over 50% of a person's monthly gross if they are making about $35k. I don't see a bank approving something like that, but maybe I am out of touch with reality and bank's are back to their predatory lending ways.GrandpaaSmucker wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:29 pm I know of a few people who are single making 35,000 a year who have went out and bought 200,000+ houses in the last couple of years. With a 5000 dollar down payment and a job paying 30,000 a year they can get a 200,000 loan. Little or hardly no credit is no problem. 1300 dollars a month mortgage payments for 30 years. Most of these people have no idea of what they are doing or the mathematics involved. They are operating on the live for today worry about tomorrow when it gets here mentality. Some of these people I know have already refinanced their home in the first or 2nd year and cashed out the increase in value that housing has experienced this past year. God bless these people and prey for the economy not to stumble because it is going to hit the fan for them.. It is just a matter of when.
The government never really reigned it in back in 2008 and 2009. Our government is worthless and crooked and gave the banks and all involved a free pass and a wink and a nod. It really is just about the same now as it was before the mortgage crisis. As soon as the banks gets these risky mortgages they sell them off and they get buried in the stock market in some fund.ita wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:51 pm That would be over 50% of a person's monthly gross if they are making about $35k. I don't see a bank approving something like that, but maybe I am out of touch with reality and bank's are back to their predatory lending ways.
I know we are veering into subjects outside of this thread, but last comment from me: there was greater enforcement of Dodd-Frank and Basel requirements prior to 2014-ish. Since then banks have gotten more and more lax in complying and there has been greater push from certain legislators and other political leaders for deregulation because the economy is doing well again.GrandpaaSmucker wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:33 pmThe government never really reigned it in back in 2008 and 2009. Our government is worthless and crooked and gave the banks and all involved a free pass and a wink and a nod. It really is just about the same now as it was before the mortgage crisis. As soon as the banks gets these risky mortgages they sell them off and they get buried in the stock market in some fund.ita wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:51 pm That would be over 50% of a person's monthly gross if they are making about $35k. I don't see a bank approving something like that, but maybe I am out of touch with reality and bank's are back to their predatory lending ways.
Couldn’t agree more. For how proud I am of Nebraska’s unique government, electing a multi-millionaire heir to governor has proven one of the worst mistake Nebraskans have made. The disconnect with the majority of people is even more extreme than normal politicians. Of course, I guess this is the type of leader America seems to love...GrandpaaSmucker wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:43 pm I support and am rooting for the Medical Marijuana and Gambling petitions that have just been submitted to be put up for vote on the ballot. That being said it is a complete waist of time and energy in a State like Nebraska. It does not matter if they put it on a ballot and we vote to legalize those 2 things. The ruling elite will never allow it. Keep in mind the citizens of Nebraska voted 2 years ago to allow tens of thousands of Nebraska's poor to get Obama Care and we are now in the middle of the worst pandemic in a 100 years and they still are not getting Obama Care. The rulers ain't going to let the poor get Obama Care and will stall it out forever or until they can have one of their lawyers come up with a legal reason to snuff it out.
Our Nebraska oligarch is laughing at those petitions.
» Reduces the projected cost of the incentives and phases in the expense over several years. A year ago, LB 720 was projected to hand out $125 million a year in tax breaks; now the program will begin at $100 million a year for the first two years, then ramp up to $150 million a year after five years. Finally, the program would be capped at 3% of the state’s net tax receipts (if measured in last year’s tax receipts, that would be $147 million).
» Makes the governor, rather than the Legislature’s Executive Board, the decider of whether the yearly cap on tax breaks should be exceeded in case of an excess of applicants. In February, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion stating that it was an unconstitutional delegation of power to allow the legislative branch to make what is an executive branch decision.
» Includes an offer to provide $300 million in matching state funds for a massive proposal to create a $2.6 billion national center for responding to pandemics, natural disasters and other calamities at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The NExT Project would have to come up with at least $1 billion from the federal government and $300 million from private donors before the Legislature would provide its match. Med center officials have billed it as a game-changer that would provide 8,700 permanent, high-paying jobs.
» Clarifies that companies could not take advantage of the COVID-19 downturn by obtaining incentives for rehiring workers laid off this year.
» Includes, for the first time, financial incentives to keep jobs from leaving the state. This clause is aimed at helping convince Milwaukee-based Fiserv, which recently purchased Omaha-born First Data Resources, to retain some of the 5,500 jobs still in Nebraska. It would provide up to $40 million over 10 years if a company retained 90% of its workforce.
LB 720, which is expected to be debated this week, had been amended previously to bring in money for job training and to help the production of renewable chemicals, such as fuel additives, livestock feed and food. And it has new tax incentives for rural job and manufacturing expansion.