Nancy Hicks: Safe haven law, in rhyme

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All the consternation recently about the safe haven law led to this rewrite of an old nursery rhyme.

(In case you’ve missed recent events, here are the highlights: 14 children — none of them newborns — have been dropped off at Lincoln and Omaha hospitals in the past month by parents taking advantage of the new, and very broad, safe haven law. One father, in fact, abandoned nine children, ages 1 to 17. )

Traditional version:

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There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

She fed them some broth without any bread

And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.

(Thereby committing child neglect and child abuse.)

And the new Nebraska version:

There was an old man who lived in a shoe.

He had so many children, he didn’t know what to do.

He bundled them up in their Sunday best.

And dropped them at the hospital so he could rest.

No special session likely

By the way, don’t count on a special legislative session to change the safe haven law. That would costs about $100,000 for seven days.

Plus, Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has historically opposed the safe haven law — even for infants — doesn’t leave office until early January. So he’s still around to filibuster and wreak his own creative havoc in a special session.

South beltway off radar

Lincoln’s south beltway has slipped off the state’s six-year plan, meaning my toddler grandchildren will likely be driving before the link between Nebraska 2 and U.S. 77 gets built.

Construction won’t start until somewhere beyond six years because the state doesn’t envision enough money in the next six years.

Why? Construction-related inflation, running between 11 percent and 24 percent, has eroded the state’s buying power, said Monty Fredrickson, deputy director for engineering for the Department of Roads.

State senators did set aside an extra $15 million over three years for seven specific projects, including this one. And the department will use some of that money to buy more right of way and move utilities along the path of the beltway.

But there’s no money for construction of the beltway, whose cost is now estimated at $145 million, Fredrickson said.

It is the single most expensive project outside of widening the interstate, he added.

“It’s a good project, and we are going to have it ready” —  for whenever there is enough money for new construction.

Some of the extra $15 million will be used for three other less expensive projects:

* Heartland Expressway: Minatare (U.S. 26) to Alliance (U.S. 385).

* Nebraska 35 corridor: Generally follows Nebraska 35 corridor from east of Norfolk into South Sioux City.

* Kearney east bypass: Second interchange on I-80.

Code agencies on diet

Most state agencies have kept their wants in check. Few have requested double-digit increases in the budget proposals submitted in mid-September.

But agencies controlled by the governor have turned in starvation budget requests, with increases so low they barely cover likely salary hikes.

For example, the Department of Health and Human Services is seeking increases from the general fund of less than 2.5 percent for both years, even though federal funds are expected to decline.

This makes requests by other agencies look piggish. Including:

* 7.19 percent, University of Nebraska.

* 11.62 percent, Historical Society.

* 36.5 percent, Foster Care Review Board.

Gov. Dave Heineman told his agency directors to keep budget requests “very conservative,” said Gerry Oligmueller, Heineman’s budget director.

And Oligmueller has some number-crunching comparisons.

The 23 code agencies (those under the governor’s control) are seeking an aggregate 0.37 percent increase in tax funds.

The 55 non-code agencies want an aggregate 10.55 percent increase in state tax funds.

Of course, two of the three most expensive programs are found in non-code agencies: state aid to education and the university.

But Medicaid, the other giant at the state tax table, is under the governor’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.