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CPAR identifies trends that shape the future of Nebraska

Legislative Brief

Omaha – In November 2018, the Center for Public Affairs Research received a lot of media attention for their work with the Nebraska Legislative Planning Committee.

Josie Schafer, director of CPAR has worked with the Planning Committee of the 105th Nebraska Legislature since arriving in August to identify new trends in Nebraska that will shape the coming session and the future of Nebraska.

On November 15, she and John Bartle, dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, presented this work to former, current, and incoming senators at a legislative council meeting in Nebraska City. The brief and other CPAR news and publications can be found on the #NebraskaByTheNumbers webpage.

Our rainy day fund is around the median, which makes you think maybe it’s not too bad. But we have much stricter and constitutional limits on debt that make it such that it’s a real concern in the state."

 Josie Schafer, director, Center for Public Affairs Research

Here are some examples of the media coverage. The Omaha World-Herald published an editorial on Nebraska's need to prepare for the impending increase in the elderly population. The Lincoln Journal Star published an editorial about how Nebraska is aging in reaction to the presentation.

NET published a story about the gathering and the fiscal challenges facing the senators, with a quote from Schafer putting the rainy day fund status in perspective. "'Our rainy day fund is around the median, which makes you think maybe it’s not too bad. But we have much stricter and constitutional limits on debt that make it such that it’s a real concern in the state,' Schafer said."

The Center for Public Affairs Research is proud to have a long-standing relationship with the Planning Committee of the Nebraska legislature and this additional opportunity to present objective data and analyses about Nebraska. For a look at other reports and briefs created as a part of this partnership visit the Nebraska State Policy Initiative webpage. The page also includes an interactive dashboard ranking legislative districts on an 17 different characteristics.

The Center for Public Affairs Research is celebrating it 55th year of providing and supporting the collection and wide dissemination of public affairs knowledge locally and nationally to directly improve the quality of lives of residents of Nebraska or support the capacity of other agencies to do so. Visit the 55 Years of Impact webpage for an viz illustrating the impact throughout the state during the last five years.