LINCOLN — Nebraska could leverage more federal funds and better coordinate its efforts to combat climate change by creating a dedicated office to focus on that area, a state legislative committee was told Thursday. State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)State Sen. Ashlei Spivey, who represents northeast and northwest Omaha, pitched her plan to create an “Office of Climate Action” to the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee as a way to help the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) implement a climate action plan that helped secured a $307 million federal grant for the state last summer.Spivey, who was elected in November, said the office would act “as a quarterback” to coordinate the state’s climate initiatives and would help Nebraska attract “tens of millions” in additional federal grants, as well as create jobs. Seven other senators — all Democrats in the nonpartisan Unicameral — co-sponsored the measure.“This bill does not impose mandates or regulate behavior,” Spivey said. “It just builds on what the (NDEE) is already doing.”Climate offices in 26 states The senator said that 26 states already have state climate offices, and 48 states have adopted state climate action plans. She cited Iowa, Texas and Florida as states who have successfully leveraged more federal dollars via such offices.No one testified against Legislative Bill 163, and the NDEE did not send anyone to testify at the public hearing Thursday at the State Capitol. Omaha Public Power District crews provide emergency mutual aid assistance in Florida. (Courtesy of OPPD)But the agency, via a fiscal impact statement on the bill, projected that it would have to add six new employees at a cost exceeding $611,000 a year to implement the bill, which calls for the state to submit a state climate action plan by July 2026 to “manage the risks” and “reduce the causes” of climate change.An even higher estimate to set up such an office — $710,748 — came from the State Department of Administrative Services, which projected a need for 10 new employees, and included the cost of office furniture and setting up internet service.Columbus Sen. Mike Moser asked Spivey about the extra cost — which is an issue this year due to a projected $432 million state budget deficit over the next two years.Spivey responded that she thought that existing employees, perhaps three, within the NDEE could be reassigned to handle such an office, emphasizing that she wasn’t calling for creating a new state agency, but an office within NDEE.She said her goal was to “further” the work of NDEE, which released its “Nebraska Priority Climate Action Plan” 11 months ago, but has not yet implemented it.One proponent of the bill, Ken Winston, a lobbyist for Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light, a group of religious leaders concerned about climate change, quoted Gov. Jim Pillen as saying the $307 million federal grant obtained