Gov. Jim Pillen addresses Nebraska’s newly formed Committee on Pacific Conflict at its inaugural meeting. Sept. 24, 2024. (Courtesy Office of Gov. Jim Pillen)
LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen has officially appointed the members of Nebraska’s “Committee on Pacific Conflict,” believed to be the first such state-level committee nationwide to address potential risks from China.
Nebraska is in the center of the United States, thousands of miles away from China or a possible conflict in the land, sea or air of the Pacific Ocean. But State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, who sponsored Legislative Bill 1300 on behalf of Pillen this spring, has said any possible disruption in the United States could be profound.
“Just by preparing here, here in Nebraska, we are in effect doing our part to prevent a conflict from even starting,” Bostar told the Nebraska Examiner in April.
LB 1300, which includes the Pacific Conflict Stress Test Act and Foreign Adversary Contracting Prohibition Act, in part creates the 11-member Committee on Pacific Conflict. The law passed 46-0 in April.