With the Nebraska Legislature at the midpoint of its 90-day session, UNMC leaders continue to monitor bills that could impact the med center and University of Nebraska System.
This week will be pivotal, leaders said, as state senators announce priority bills.
During Friday’s all-campus forum, UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, and Jeff Kratz, director of government relations, discussed several of the bills UNMC is monitoring including:
- LB551, which would prohibit academic tenure at postsecondary educational institutions. No hearing has been scheduled for the bill.
- LB552, which would prohibit postsecondary educational institutions from having a diversity, equity and inclusion office.
- LB147, which would eliminate the requirement for fluoride in water. A member of the UNMC College of Dentistry will testify today in opposition to the bill, on behalf of the university.
- LB627, which would provide for housing for nursing and allied health professions students in Norfolk.
- LB 305, which would provide a nonrefundable tax credit to licensed physicians who precept medical students. The Preceptorship Tax Credit Act would provide a $1,000 credit for each rotation of at least 80 hours of clinical training, with a maximum credit of $5,000 in any single tax year. The bill would be beneficial, Dr. Davies said, as UNMC expands its educational programs to Kearney and seeks additional preceptors.
During NU’s recent budget hearing, university leaders and supporters made a “persuasive case,” Dr. Davies said, to the appropriations committee on the critical role the university plays in driving the state’s economic success and the importance of continued investment in higher education.
“The case is really strong,” he said. “For every $1 of state funding invested in the university, $10 is returned to Nebraska’s economy.”
The university has requested a 3.5% increase in state funding for each year of the next biennium for base salaries and key programs. NU also is advocating against any proposed cuts to biomedical research, especially with the Health Care Cash Fund, which annually distributes a total of $15 million to NU’s four campuses, Creighton University and Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Dr. Davies said he recently led several UNMC leaders – including Kyle Meyer, PhD, Chandra Are, MBBS, Rob Messbarger, MD, and Faye Hagger, EdD – in meetings with health care leaders in North Platte, Hastings, Grand Island and Kearney. The group discussed opportunities to expand preceptorships for medical students and residents in Central Nebraska and to ensure there was adequate housing and transportation for the students at each location.
UNMC has between 40 and 50 medical preceptors in central and western Nebraska, he said, and hopes to increase that by 20 to as many as 50 more. In addition, with the urgent need for physicians in different settings, opportunities for expansion of rotations for medical residents were explored. He stated that all the hospitals expressed strong interest in both the medical student preceptorship and expanding residency rotations.
The forum also discussed:
- Ongoing federal changes, including a permanent injunction on the National Institutes of Health cap on Facilities and Administration rates (also known as indirect cost rates), the recent confirmation hearing for a new NIH director and the fact that some study sections have resumed (counsels have not). Visit UNMC’s federal transition webpage for the latest updates, advocacy tools, recent UNMC and NU communications and more.
- I Love NU Day, which will be April 2 at the State Capitol. Faculty, staff and students are invited to participate but must file vacation time to attend.
- UNMC’s For the Greater Good Giving Day, which will be March 26-27.
- Construction updates from Anne Barnes, vice chancellor for business, finance and business development, including planned work on 42nd Street and continued construction on student housing in Omaha, which will open in fall 2026.
In closing, Dr. Davies paused to acknowledge Employee Appreciation Day, which UNMC celebrated last week. He thanked the UNMC community for its hard work and dedication, noting: “A lot of the most critical functions of our organization – just like the most critical functions of the human body – are hidden, and we don’t see on a day-to-day basis what’s being done. … But the work our employees – our faculty, staff, students and student workers – do is critical.”