Nebraska is sending a clear message to businesses evaluating where to invest: the state is actively building the infrastructure to compete. Two pieces of legislation advancing through the 2026 session reflect that commitment to Nebraska economic development at both the state and local levels, giving companies more tools, faster pathways, and stronger incentive frameworks to support expansion decisions.
LB1165, the Grow the Good Life Act, passed in April and immediately drew national attention as one of Nebraska’s most significant economic development in packages in years. LB1114, a companion urban affairs measure, builds on that foundation by unlocking local development capacity that companies need when evaluating sites.
We’ve broken down what each bill does, how they work together, and what businesses need to know.
LB1165: The Grow the Good Life Act
Nebraska’s core business incentive program, the ImagiNE Nebraska Act, got a substantial upgrade with the passage of LB1165. For companies in the middle of a site selection process, this is a significant change.
The bill enhances performance-based incentives, giving businesses stronger tools to justify large capital commitments in Nebraska. It strengthens employer retention strategies, expands flexibility for childcare support as a workforce benefit and introduces new mechanisms to attract and retain talent. These updates address the gap Nebraska faced against states that have been aggressively restructuring their incentive packages to win high-impact projects. The result is a program hat is better positioned to support the kinds of investment thresholds and job creation commitments that make a project financially viable in a new market.
LB1165 builds on the ImagiNE Nebraska Act’s existing framework of investment credits, wage credits, sales and use tax refunds, and personal property tax exemptions rather than replacing it. For clients who have previously evaluated Nebraska and found the incentive ceiling limiting, the enhancements under LB1165 are worth a second look. Industries that stand to benefit most include manufacturing, data processing, logistics, and financial services.
LB1114: Expanding Local Redevelopment Capacity
State-level incentives close a deal on paper. Local execution closes it in practice. LB1114 addresses a constraint that has historically slowed Nebraska cities from delivering development-read sites on timelines that work for corporate real estate decisions.
Under existing Community Development Law, a structure had to be within a city’s corporate limits for 60 years before its redevelopment plan qualified for expedited review. LB1114 cuts that to 25 years. Properties built as recently as 2001 now fall within the expedited pathway, opening a substantial inventory of sites in established commercial and industrial corridors that were previously locked out of the fastest redevelopment process.
The bill also extends eligibility to platted vacant lots and nonconforming lots of record, parcels that frequently sit in prime locations but have been difficult to advance efficiently. Once a qualifying plan is submitted, cities must issue a decision within 30 days. For clients evaluating multiple markets simultaneously, that kind of timeline certainty is a meaningful advantage.
Community Improvement Districts: A New Infrastructure Finance Tool
LB1114 incorporates LB1130, which establishes the Community Improvement District Act. This creates a mechanism for property owners within a defined area to voluntarily form a CID to finance, construct, and maintain public infrastructure. CIDs can levy property taxes, issue bonds and warrants, and contract with cities and villages for public purposes.
From a site selection standpoint, this matters because infrastructure readiness is consistently one of the top factors that eliminate markets from consideration. CIDs give existing property owners within a defined area a direct way to fund infrastructure upgrades that improve the overall development environment, without depending entirely on municipal budgets or waiting on state appropriations cycles. For clients evaluating Nebraska sites, that means more communities may arrive at the table with infrastructure already in place or actively being funded, rather than asking a prospective investor to wait for it.
The bill also allows cities of the metropolitan and primary classes to use economic development programs for housing construction and rehabilitation. Workforce housing availability is increasingly a decision factor for clients planning large employment operations, and Nebraska’s willingness to address it through the economic development framework reflects an understanding of what modern site selection requires.
Island Port Capacity and Other Local Provisions
LB1114 raises the statewide cap on inland port districts from five to eight and lowers the county population threshold, making the inland port framework accessible to more Nebraska communities. For clients in distribution, logistics, and manufacturing who need freight infrastructure and the incentive packages that support it, this expansion increases the number of viable markets within the state.
Other provisions update sanitary improvement, district governance, and contracting thresholds, operational details that affect how efficiently local infrastructure projects move from approval to ground-breaking.
What This Means for Active Evaluations
Nebraska has historically been competitive on operating costs and labor quality. What LB1165 and LB1114 together address is the gap between a state that is competitive and a state that is actively structured to win. For clients weighing Nebraska against markets in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, or further afield, the combination of enhanced state incentives and improved local development infrastructure changes the comparison in Nebraska’s favor in ways that were not present even a year ago.
Taking the Next Steps
Knowing a law changed is one thing. Knowing what it means for a specific project is another. At KE Andrews, we work through the full incentive picture with clients at every stage of a site selection engagement, from initial market screening and incentive modeling to negotiation and award. If Nebraska is on your short list, we can quantify what the updated ImagiNE Nebraska Act framework delivers against your project’s specific investment and employment profile. Get in touch with our Site Selection & Incentives Advisory team to start the conversation.
