October 1, 2026
SENATOR JOHN FREDRICKSON:
Nebraska has a $201 million opportunity. I don’t want us to waste it
I am a licensed clinical social worker. Every year, the need for mental and behavioral health care in Nebraska grows, and every year our investment falls short of it.
Families wait too long for care. Providers are stretched thin. Too many people get help only after a crisis, in an emergency room or a jail cell, when it costs the most and helps the least.
Nebraska now has a rare chance to change that.
This summer, Nebraska joined a multistate settlement with Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram. The states alleged that Meta built addictive features into its platforms while knowing the harm they caused to young people's mental health. Once approved by a federal judge, Nebraska's share will be up to $201 million, paid over roughly 10 years.
Our state has a particular stake in this. According to the Attorney General's office, Nebraska ranked second in the country for per capita use of these apps between midnight and 5 a.m.
This money exists because of harm to mental health. It should go to mental health. We get to decide whether these funds last for ten years or forever.
We have done this before. In 2001, the Legislature took Nebraska's tobacco settlement dollars and created the Health Care Cash Fund. Lawmakers could have spent that money on one time budget fixes. They chose to build something permanent instead. The settlement fund behind it held just over $182 million in 2001. By 2025, it had grown to nearly $650 million.
For 25 years it has supported local health departments, biomedical research, respite care, and treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. When the fund marked its 25th anniversary this January, legislative leaders called that decision visionary.
That is the model. In January, I will introduce legislation creating the Nebraska Mental and Behavioral Health Cash Fund, built on the same structure. First, the fund would only spend what it can sustain, using the same kind of formula that has kept the Health Care Cash Fund healthy for a quarter century.
The principal keeps working for Nebraska year after year. Second, every dollar would have to create, expand, or enhance mental and behavioral health services. These dollars cannot replace funding the state already provides. A new fund that simply backfills old commitments isn't new investment at all.
The timing is hard. This summer, the Legislature's fiscal office projected a $208 million shortfall in the current budget and $864 million in the next one. That is more than $1 billion.
The first $19 million from Meta could arrive before the end of this year, with another $14 million expected in January. The pressure to use that money to plug a hole will be real. During the last session, part of the gap was closed by sweeping state agency cash funds.
Spent that way, the settlement fills a budget hole once. Invested, it pays out every year. The budget has to be balanced, and I will do that work alongside my colleagues. We should not trade a permanent resource for a one-time patch.
This fund would serve Nebraskans of every age. The settlement was about kids, and kids should be a priority. But kids grow up. Anxiety, depression, and addiction that go untreated at 14 don't disappear at 24. They follow people into their jobs and their families, and too often into our emergency rooms and courtrooms. Investing across the lifespan is how we get ahead of that.
The 2001 Legislature built something that is still paying off 25 years later. We have the chance to do the same for the next generation. I am committed to getting this done, and I welcome anyone who shares that goal to reach out to my office.