Two former state officials have sued the Pillen Administration and the state treasurer, claiming they unlawfully used Nebraska Lottery proceeds intended for environmental purposes to resolve a state budget shortfall.
Last week’s lawsuit cites a 13.5 million dollar transfer from this year’s Nebraska Environmental Trust which is funded by lottery proceeds and a 15 million dollar transfer in 2015 used to help balance the state budget and provide property tax relief.
The pair are being represented by The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and the Gutman Law Group.
Governor Pillen and the state legislature used a combination of state budget cuts and transfers of reserve and cash funds to deal with a 500 million dollar shortfall this year.
