LINCOLN, Neb. — Legislation designed to provide tax incentives to keep Union Pacific’s headquarters in Omaha faced no opposition during a hearing in the Nebraska Legislature on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
While Legislative Bill 1165 does not mention UP, its sponsor, state Sen. Brad von Gillern (R-Elkhorn), told the Revenue Committee hearing that it’s no secret what prompted the bill.
“LB1165 has been referred to by name as the ‘Union Pacific merger bill’ by some,” von Gillern said in remarks reported by Nebraska Public Media. “I suppose that’s not entirely incorrect, although you’ll not find their name anywhere in the bill. The Grow the Good Life Act is not about corporate welfare, as some will try to say. It’s not about a headquarters building. It’s not about a quarterly earnings report. It’s not about a stock price. It’s not about a merger. It’s about people.”
UP has said it plans to remain in Omaha since it announced plans to merge with Norfolk Southern, but von Gillern told the hearing that the state is at risk of losing the railroad to Georgia, where NS opened a new headquarters in 2021 [see “Norfolk Southern opens new headquarters,” Trains.com, Nov. 11, 2021].
“We can’t afford to sit around,” von Gillern said, according to the Nebraska Examiner, “and wait for the next headline that reads: Company X let 2,000 people go or Company Y reorganized and 3,000 jobs left the state.”
Eleven speakers testified in favor of the bill, with none against. Among those appearing in support: UP Chief Human Resources Officer Josh Perkes, who said the railroad contributes to communities in the state with an annual payroll of more than $800 million and has invested $1.5 billion in Nebraska infrastructure over the last five years.
Von Gillern said the bill is a “pay for performance” plan, requiring businesses to hit certain targets to receive the incentives. Analysis by the state Department of Revenue estimates the bill would create an $8.7 million loss to the state’s general fund in 2026-27, the Examiner reports, and $4.58 million the following year; von Gillern says those figures should change after recent modifications to the bill.
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
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Some of the most obligatory corporate welfare ever seen. I bet you Von Gillerm’s reelection campaign will get a decent chunk of the millions in tax revenue he will cost the rest of his state – a state $500 million underwater from exactly this kind of corrupt corporate welfare
C’mon man, America is built on corporate welfare and exists because of corporate welfare, live and eats and breathes corporate welfare. Without corporate welfare, we’d have to dial back the last fifty years to the 1970’s and start over. (Might not be a bad idea……, maybe we should.)
Maybe Nebraska needs to repeal term limits and get Ernie Winters back in the legislature. For all his faults I can’t see him agreeing to this deal in his home city.
$500 million underwater is chump change in Illinois.
UP move? Who that posts here think that is a possibility?
My personal feeling is that UP would rather remail central than on the east coast of the country. Where they are now they can run operations in both directions with little effect because of time zone changes, If they move everything to Georgia they will always be three hours behind on the west coast. But the best reason to stay is the historic reason. The Facts are that the UP is Omaha, Nebraska. An HISTORIC location. And Nebraska has supported the railroad for many many years. The Georgia offices of NS will still be used, they will just npt be the HEAD offices. But its never a bad idea to grease the skids especially when 5,000 plus jobs are on the line…