LINCOLN- Most Nebraskans saw a disaster in the making when the state signed a contract for 40% less than what they were paying in the past. The state's procurement process did not question any of the reasonableness of the five-year $197 million proposal. Now, The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services signed an emergency contract to keep St. Francis Ministry from running out of money. The new contract wiped out the 40% cost different and boosted payments the state would be making.

LR29, introcuded by Senator Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, seeks to create a special legislative committee to investigate how the state signed that contract and all events that transpired from that.

DHHS CEO Dannette Smith defends the decision to sign with St. Francis citing the now-terminated St. Francis officials for the situation. The state does not submit cost proposals to the evaluation teams everyone else does, they merely check the math and rate the proposal accordingly. At the time, many people believed PromiseShip was being overpaid, which has now been disproved.

St. Francis has yet to meet the caseload requirements laid out in state law.

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