LINCOLN- One state lawmaker’s continued efforts to boost benefits for Nebraska State Patrol troopers, a largely consensus issue, ignited a rare fight among legislative allies. The fight flared up last week in the Nebraska Legislature after State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln and his ally, State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, struck a deal to add a proposal to increase survivors’ benefits in the case of a trooper’s death from 75% up to 100%. In the case of dependent children without a surviving parent, it would bump benefits up to 100% until the child turns 19 years old.

Bostar’s Legislative Bill 76, as introduced, would also have raised maximum annual cost-of-living adjustments for Patrol members’ retirement benefits. A narrower version, just related to survivors’ benefits, was amended into Ballard’s Legislative Bill 645, related to school retirement, on April 24 in a 39-0 vote, without issue. At that time, the increased benefits would have taken effect on July 1.

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