Today I’ll be covering part of @GovRicketts’ tour to talk water and taxes. I’ll try to live tweet, fingers and Wi-Fi willing. 
A little warning to those who have alerts on for my tweets: You might turn those off for about an hour. That way I'm not responsible for wearing out your phone.
State Sen. John Lowe is here. He represents this part of the state.
Crowd starting to fill in.
More than 40 people here now.
Rusher: Income tax relief would be game-changing for small business, entrepreneurs and every business.
Starting with Sen. Lowe: We've passed one bill. Ricketts: But it was a tax-relief bill. Lowe: We're moving very slowly. We only have $1.04 billion to distribute. (Crowd laughs.) It's one-time spending and we have to spend it wisely. Working through it right now.
Lowe: Only real way to control taxes is to control spending.
Ricketts: Going to cover a couple topics. First is water, then we'll move onto taxes. Got a couple guests. Going to start with the water one. We're an ag state. Makes up 20 percent of our state economy. 9 million acres irrigated. 3 out of every 8 ag acres in Nebraska irrigated.
Ricketts: That resource is being threatened right now by Colorado. (Repeating some of what he's said to the #NEleg committees.) In 2016, they passed a law that laid out their goal was to provide no excess water above legal minimum to Nebraska.
Ricketts: Last year they released their basin implementation plan. If all plans were to be completed, our DNR estimates it will reduce water coming to Nebraska by South Platte River by 90 percent.
Ricketts: Also brought with me a document that is the Platte Valley Water Partnership Plan that they put together. On Page 12 of this it talks about delivering Nebraska approximately 47,000 acre feet of water.
Ricketts: They'd be willing to reduce about all the water coming to us. That's all they have to do under the compact during the irrigation season. 120 cu ft per second only during irrigation season.
Ricketts: That means we'd be drawing up acres of farmland in Nebraska. It also affects our drinking water, including in Lincoln and Omaha. Impacts our ability to generate power, hydroelectrically and Gerald Gentleman Station, the largest power plant in the state.
Ricketts: Also have species of wildlife that rely on that water. Here we have the Sandhill cranes. The good news, we signed a compact with Colorado in 1923.
Ricketts: It requires them to deliver 500 cu ft per second during the non-irrigation season, October-April, but only if we build a canal and reservoir system to take that water. If we do not build the canal and reservoir system, they have no requirement to deliver that water.
Ricketts: They are not planning to deliver that water to us because they do not have any legal requirement to do so. They don't want to deliver any to us in the non-irrigation season. Zero.
Ricketts: Because both states and Congress passed that compact, it gives us eminent domain to get the and to build this canal and irrigation system. I have asked the Legislature for $500m and the authority for the NDNR to pursue this project.
Ricketts: It'll take us 3 years to do the design and 5-7 years to build it. But only by building it can we collect that water. You may hear Colorado say slow this down. But that's in their interest. If they get all this built before we get done, they can take the water.
Ricketts: They know that if they build their project first, a judge is unlikely to take it from a municipality to give us the water we are owed.
Ricketts is talking about the natural resources districts in Nebraska that have managed water use. Ricketts: We're the only state that has kept the Ogallala Aquifer as high as we have, just a foot under its former level. We do a good job of managing our water.
Ricketts: "So we need to protect our water here in the state." If we have a drought like in 2012, the reservoir would let us release water into the Platte. That 2012 reservoir reduced Platte flows near Lincoln to about 200 cu ft per second.
Don Batie, farmer on natural resources commish: This is vital project. Water avail in Nebraska not only drives ag, it drives economic development in communities along the Platte. It's hard to grow without water.
Ricketts repeating his line that 50 years ago Nebraska had visionaries that built NRDs. 50 years from now, he said, people will look on this decision that way.
Ricketts: So far, Nebraska has come through the pandemic very well. I think we're tied for the fifth lowest mortality rate among people who've gotten covid. Got the lowest unemployment rate in the history of any state in the United States. 1.7 percent.
Ricketts: Politico rated Nebraska the best in health, well-being, economy, etc. Revenues are higher than forecast. Nearly $1 billion ahead of where we thought we'd be July 1 of last year.
Ricketts: That money is not my money. It's not the Legislature's money. It's your money. It's the people's money. When we have revenues in excess of what we need to run the state we should turn it back to you.
Ricketts: LB 1107 two years ago passed. Refundable income tax credit. This year you'll get 25 percent of what you paid your school district. Avg. homeowner, about $148 back. Reason it's so high is revenues have been over forecast.
Ricketts: But it's slated to go down by couple hundred million in 2024. New bill will put floor down so it doesn't go down below. LB 723. That's significant relief we're trying to lock in.
Ricketts: The second major bill is LB 825. This is about accelerating the tax relief on Social Security taxes. Wyoming and South Dakota don't tax income at all. We passed a bill last year to phase them out over 10 years. New bill would phase it out in five years.
Ricketts: LB 939 is the income tax bill. Taking tax rate down. Top rate kicks in at about 33k. Kicks in when you make about $19 an hour. Fast food restaurants in Omaha are already paying $16. It's going to impact a lot of people. It'll also make us more competitive as a state.
Ricketts arguing that tax bill might help attract young people. (Critics of the bill have argued that amenities and quality of life investments matter as much or more.)
Business owner, sorry I didn't get his name: Is saying retention of talent is enormously important to his business. We employ a number of young people who leave right after they graduate from UNK.
Business owner: We don't have beaches. Or mountains. We just have to keep those young people here before they hop on a plane and leave.
Tom Henning of Cash-Wa: Kearney native. Been active in the community. Have had the pleasure of serving on the revenue forecasting board last 13 years. Served in local economic development.
Henning: Revenue forecasting is a pretty astute process. Usually get within 4-5 percent. Surpluses usually go in the rainy day fund. (In 2023 if nothing done will be at 1.5bn., Ricketts says.)
Henning: We missed the forecast so far, there was money received from feds. But the economy in Nebraska has been good. I'd even call it great. As a food distributor in all of Nebraska, it's been indicative back there. (Credits conservative leadership.)
Henning: I chaired the economic dev board when we were dealing with Facebook. Now we have jet service in Kearney. But the two issues we've got that have been insurmountable have been taxation. We're on an island. We're a high tax state compared to others around us.
Henning: CEOs looking to move their businesses, the first thing they're looking at is probably impact on them. It can be a real deal killer. Second thing is property tax. Not just for nice houses, but for businesses, too.
Henning: "Those are two of the primary barriers we have to attracting business and industry." Firmly believe we are in a position where to improve our tax climate we've got to grow our population. We've got a running start at the future. Governor is right on.
Henning: People are looking for places to live like Nebraska, where we have an economy that's great. They're looking for safety. We've got a real opportunity.
Here’s Henning speaking
Now speaking is Megan Goeke, who owns Hello Beautiful Bridal & Formal Wear of Kearney.
Goeke: Any tax relief will help our businesses invest more into our community and state. We need to help our young people be able to make a good living, establish a household and raise a family.
Goeke: Says business got tougher during the pandemic, with people cancelling proms and formals, that any tax relief will help.
Ricketts: If we keep our expenses low and our revenues are rising, that's how we have sustainable tax relief. Across 8 years, the average growth in our expenses across 8 years is 2.5 percent. Our revenues grow on average over the past quarter century of about 4.75 percent.
Ricketts: That's how you know you can investa that in property tax and income tax relief.
Gov now taking questions. I'll try to keep up.
Q: What are current flow rates?
Tom from NDNR, director: Irrigation season, last 10 years, average of 900 cfs that comes across the border. Many times it's at or below 120 cfs. State has to call and say deliver at least 120. In the non-irrigation season averaging about 500.
Tom from NDNR, director: Irrigation season, last 10 years, average of 900 cfs that comes across the border. Many times it's at or below 120 cfs. State has to call and say deliver at least 120. In the non-irrigation season averaging about 500.
Tom from NDNR: It's more recently been about 200 cfs. Right now, Colorado is diverting that water into its own storage systems. They have a junior right. Many of the uses in Colorado are ones we could call out.
Tom from NDNR: We need both the canal and storage system because it allows us to redeploy that water as needed. We use too much water. Colorado uses too much water. And now they want to use more.
Tom from NDNR: "We need to protect what we have now, what comes into the state now, and be able to use that water for our needs."
Ricketts: On Feb. 4, almost immediately after, dropped a bill to accelerate the work they're doing on the South Platte River to try and get them done before we get our project done.
Ricketts: This is a unique compact. It was approved by Congress. Changes would have to be approved by Congress. What do you think the odds are of that happening? Does Congress do anything right now?
Q: How do you prevent the water from seeping into the ground or evaporating along the way?
A from Tom NDNR: Certainly you have some leakage that recharges ground water and that's a good thing. We will either line it or do some piping as well.
A from Tom NDNR: Certainly you have some leakage that recharges ground water and that's a good thing. We will either line it or do some piping as well.
Q: What kind of water might we expect?
A from Tom NDNR: Some of the projects being talked about are from the lower district. 1,000 high-capacity irrigation wells pumping right now in Colorado. They'd have to offset those depletions.
A from Tom NDNR: Some of the projects being talked about are from the lower district. 1,000 high-capacity irrigation wells pumping right now in Colorado. They'd have to offset those depletions.
Tom NDNR: They use the winter flows to make that work. All of those are junior to our right, if we build the canal and reservoir system.
Q: Why now? This deal's been in place 100 years. Is it just financial?
A Ricketts: It gets back to the timing of what Colorado passed in 2016 where they said specifically that said they didn't want to give us the water, and releasing their basin implementation plan last year.
A Ricketts: It gets back to the timing of what Colorado passed in 2016 where they said specifically that said they didn't want to give us the water, and releasing their basin implementation plan last year.
Ricketts: It very specifically stated they are not intending to give us any water except the 120 cu ft per second during irrigation season. (Credited AG and NDNR for keeping an eye on this.)
Q: 8-10 years to build this, does our right become avail while being built?
A Ricketts: It will take the 8-10 years to do that. For us to do this, we can't collect on any of it until we actually get the canal and reservoir system built.
A Ricketts: It will take the 8-10 years to do that. For us to do this, we can't collect on any of it until we actually get the canal and reservoir system built.
Tom NDNR: Historically the State of Colorado in some of its permits would note our right. They don't even put us in their permits now. Once we're building this, any new permits would be at risk.
Q: We're already in a basin that doesn't have enough water. How can we use less?
Tom NDNR A: One of the best things we can do is store and release the water when we need it. (Reservoirs) We have a very highly manipulated system. Being able to manipulate it the way we need helps.
Tom NDNR A: One of the best things we can do is store and release the water when we need it. (Reservoirs) We have a very highly manipulated system. Being able to manipulate it the way we need helps.
Tom NDNR: "This is about keeping the water we have. This isn't about new water. We can't have less than what we have."
Q: What are challenges facing this project in Leg and is it ARPA fund eligible?
A Ricketts: Because it affects drinking water, some part of it is eligible. (Asked for 400m out of cash reserve and 100m ARPA or federal relief funds.)
A Ricketts: Because it affects drinking water, some part of it is eligible. (Asked for 400m out of cash reserve and 100m ARPA or federal relief funds.)
Ricketts: This is new info. Some of this is talking to senators, educating them. That's part of what we have to do with this Legislative session. Trying to get around to talk to as many as possible. It's a large amount of money. But the cost of inaction is so much higher.
Crowd member: I spent several years on the county board here, 16, on taxation committee for Cattlemen, 1107 was a really big win. Relief though is different than reform. We look at relief as temporary. Reform is more permanent and that's what we'd like to see.
Ricketts: We're going to have to keep working on it.
Q: Is the 500m you requested the total cost of the project?
A Ricketts: The 500m is the bare minimum we would need to complete the project. Estimate based on what we know. Not likely to get less expensive.
A Ricketts: The 500m is the bare minimum we would need to complete the project. Estimate based on what we know. Not likely to get less expensive.
(Ricketts thanked Americans for Prosperity for helping him put together the town hall.)
That's it for today. Going to get writing. Thanks for following along. Story to come on @NE_Examiner.
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