Platte Institute for Economic Research

Although gas prices have decreased this last week, the prior few weeks have been rough on Nebraska drivers. Due to refineries in Indiana and Illinois shutting down for routine maintenance and the unexpected maintenance shutdowns of refineries in Kansas and Wyoming, gas prices in Nebraska increased dramatically, and for a time Nebraska had the fifth highest average gas price in the nation, trailing only Hawaii, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Illinois...

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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Wednesday, June 5^th marked the end of the 2013 legislative session. Throughout the session, the Platte Institute played an instrumental role by providing lawmakers, media, and the general public with high-quality research, expert testimony, and other educational materials that promote the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and personal responsibility. The Platte Institute played a key role in the following bills:   More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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Over the past few months the Platte Institute has expanded the organization's reach into new media.  Through applications such as Facebook and Twitter, we have been able to expand our message of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise to more people.  More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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Nebraska just took a substantial step in fostering wind energy development as the legislature passed LB104, which allows renewable energy companies to qualify for the Nebraska Advantage program and refund all or part of their sales taxes. Specifically, companies investing at least $20 million into the state would be able qualify for the Tier 5 incentive and refund all of their sales taxes. More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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LB533, which made several changes to the retirement funds for school employees, judges, and the Nebraska State Patrol, was Governor Heineman's first veto, and the Legislature's first veto override, during the 2013 legislative session. More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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Nebraska's taxpayers and students received an interesting look into how their tax and tuition dollars are being spent as the Chronicle of Higher Education released its 2012 survey of compensation packages of public university presidents. The report shows University of Nebraska President James Milliken ranked 33^rd, with total annual compensation of $651,908. Annual compensation calculations include base pay, bonus pay, deferred pay, deferred compensation, retirement benefits and severance pay.[1] Milliken ranked 100^th in the Chronicle's 2011 survey.[2] More>

Posted by: Kim Stephenson

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A legislative floor debate took an interesting turn last week as a discussion over teacher pension plans turned into a debate on charter schools and educational choice. While debating LB553, Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh noted there are more options for improving schools beyond simply increasing funding, singling out charter schools as an idea whose time has come. More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales have grown from 2 percent in 2000 to 16.1 percent today, with a value of $4.1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.  This massive revenue source has caught the attention of governments looking to meet budgets because many of these transactions are not subject to state and local sales taxes. More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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There are various ways to evaluate the health of an economy; from examining gross domestic product to calculating the inflation and unemployment rates, each measurement provides different information for regarding the economy as a whole. Yet there is one important statistic for determining the availability of economic opportunity and mobility: the growth rate of private sector jobs. More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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The debate over Medicaid expansion in Nebraska was discussed for two days last week on the legislative floor in Lincoln.  Over 10 hours of debate ended after LB 577 was filibustered by opposing senators.  Speaker Greg Adams ultimately decided to end discussion over the bill after the second day; however, the bill may be debated again later this session if opponents can find enough votes to break the filibuster.   More>

Posted by: Patrick Lincoln Gerhart

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