LINCOLN — Heading into his final legislative session as a term-limited Nebraska state senator, Speaker of the Legislature John Arch of La Vista said he expects the short, 60-day session to fly by.

The session begins Jan. 7, and between the possible expulsion of a senator, discord over the repurposing of a state prison facility into an ICE detention center and a continued push for property tax relief, Arch acknowledged there are more than enough issues to occupy lawmakers’ time before they adjourn in April.

Arch’s top priority among those issues is filling a $471 million budget hole by Day 50, he said, the deadline lawmakers have to complete budget adjustments and send the proposal to Gov. Jim Pillen’s desk.

“Honestly, there is the budget, and then there’s everything else,” Arch said.

Budget struggles also took precedence during the Legislature’s 90-day session this spring, when lawmakers worked to fill a budget deficit that at one point grew to $432 million. After making numerous cuts that senators acknowledged were painful, the session concluded with the state’s two-year budget projecting a modest $4 million surplus.

That surplus didn’t last long, because new economic projections made in July put Nebraska back into a projected deficit of $95 million. When Nebraska’s Economic Forecasting Advisory Board met again in October, projections brought the expected shortfall to $471 million.

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