RSVP today for OpenSky’s Fall Policy Symposium, your opportunity to gather with Nebraska’s key thinkers and policy leaders to discuss major policy issues before the next legislative session.

The Symposium is set for Tuesday, Oct. 24, at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. Check-in starts at 8 a.m. with panel discussions to follow.

Although taxes make up much of Nebraska’s fiscal policy debate, fines and fees contribute a substantial portion of revenues, particularly for cities and counties.

Join us for a panel discussion – What do state and county fines and fees tell us about equity and sustainability in Nebraska’s revenue systems? – to consider how fines and fees are distributed across all Nebraskans, particularly among low income Nebraskans and our communities of color. Panelists (highlighted below) will also review how tax policy decisions can put pressure on fines and fees to fund public services, looking to the experience of Kansas as an example.

  • Jasmine Harris, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for RISE, which works to break the generational cycle of incarceration in Nebraska
  • Desmond Bryant-White, Program Manager and Lead Organizer of Progeny, a Wichita, Kansas-based youth advocacy organization focused on justice reform
  • Ashlei Spivey, founder and Executive Director of I Be Black Girl, a reproductive justice organization based in Omaha
  • Sen. George Dungan, moderator, representing District 26 in Lincoln

Land valuation practices and Nebraska’s ongoing workforce challenges will be the focus of other panel discussions.

Keynote speaker Professor Timothy J. Nelson of Princeton University will close the Symposium with groundbreaking research on why the Upper Midwest has less poverty, longer life expectancies and greater chances for children than other regions of the country, and how Nebraska can continue to offer “the good life” to everyone.

Tickets are $25 (free for senators, legislative staff and the media), and scholarships are available. Contact Luke Sutton at lsutton@openskypolicy.org or 402-438-0382 for more information.

As a special offer, the first 100 people who register will receive a free copy of Nelson’s new book, The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America. Reserve your seat today.