DAS Website: From the Director's Desk

Teammates,

Under Governor Ricketts’ leadership, state government has worked to make Nebraska the most military and veteran-friendly state in the country. As we celebrated Veterans Day last week, and honored the brave men and women who serve and protect our freedoms at home and abroad as part of our nation’s armed forces, I’d like to reflect on the ways the State has supported our military and veterans, especially DAS’ efforts in this area.

As part of the Governor’s broader mission of making state government more effective, efficient, and customer focused, the State has worked to implement a number of initiatives aimed at specifically supporting our military, veterans, and their families:

Signing legislation making the Department of Veterans’ Affairs a one-stop shop for both veterans’ benefits and veterans’ homes;
Creating five additional Military Honor License Plates to recognize the service of members of the reserves of the armed forces;
Providing reciprocity for military spouses all over the country by updating the language for the adoption of the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact, which allows nurses to have one multi-state license;
Expanding hiring preferences at the State for military members and their spouses;
And signing a bill allowing 100% of military retirement pay to be exempted from Nebraska income tax.

While these are all great initiatives aimed at serving military and veteran Nebraskans, at DAS we’ve led a variety initiatives aimed at supporting our military and veteran State teammates and their families:

Establishing the Teammate Military Service Recognition Program in 2021. This program recognizes those State teammates who have previously or are currently serving in the armed forces. In the inaugural year, we recognized over 450 self-identified military and veteran teammates with commemorative Nebraska Military challenge coins, and we will be recognizing over 150 more this year;
Launching the Military Spouse Transition Program to help military spouses moving to Nebraska identify job opportunities in state government;
Dedicating recruiter support to help veterans overcome employment barriers by continuing their careers with the State;
And helping implement Governor Ricketts’ Executive Order ensuring the POW/MIA flag will be permanently flown at certain State properties so those servicemen and servicewomen who have not returned home will never be forgotten.

One recent program that DAS has helped spearhead is the Veterans’ SkillBridge Initiative. This program creates connections between military members and Nebraska’s employers during their final 180 days of service. This gives participants a chance to explore the best fit for their specific talents and interests after transitioning out of military service.

Check out this video on the Veterans’ SkillBridge Initiative; thank you to Brian Svik with our Training and Development team for the great production and editing for the video! As seen in the video, this program has already been highly impactful for both veterans and the State.

Thank you to all of our current and former servicemembers and to those continuing their service as part of our team at the State of Nebraska. I hope everyone had a nice Veterans Day weekend.

Regards,

Jason Jackson
Director, Department of Administrative Services

More from the Director's Desk:

November 16, 2022: An Unrivaled Dedication to Service

November 14, 2022: Honoring our Veterans

November 1, 2022: A Sustained Culture of Continuous Improvement

October 7, 2022: Foreign Procurement in State Government

August 5, 2022: 2022 State of Nebraska Personnel Alamanc

August 5, 2022: DAS Leadership Update

August 3, 2022: A More Efficient State Government

July 27, 2022: Recognizing ADA's 32nd Anniversary

July 26, 2022: Honoring Chief Standing Bear's Legacy