During Tuesday’s legislative session, senators in Nebraska rejected a proposal to move $200,000 from the secretary of state Bob Evnen’s budget to the state’s budget shortfall.
The proposal follows Evnen giving the U.S. Department of Justice voter information, including the last four digits of social security numbers and birthdates.
Supporters of the measure criticized Evnen for sharing the data and said voters are worried about where their information may go.
Opponents overruled the initiative, highlighting that this specific portion of Evnen’s budget is reserved to cover rising health insurance costs and it is imperative to ensure people retain coverage.
There was mention that if the legislature didn’t approve the funding increase, support would have to come from a different portion of the budget, possibly through layoffs.
Additionally, an attempt to block funding cuts of $800,000 to the tobacco prevention and control budget failed during Tuesday’s session.
Senator Victor Rountree presented how the majority of the budget is used for tobacco prevention programs and treatment annually; the budget has already dropped from $2.5 million to under $1.8 million.
Even though Rountree’s point was recognized, it was noted that numerous beneficial state department and program budgets are slated for cuts this year.
The state legislature is currently fighting a $125 million budget deficit.
