Association, creating an entity that represents a significant portion of Nebraska’s economy. Through its focused efforts, Neha works to support business owners and move the industry forward. “Legislation is our big thing. Whether it’s national, state or local, we get into the issues that affect our industry,”NeHA Executive Director, Zoe Olsen, depicts. “If you put us together, we’d be one of the leading employers in the state. We’re certainly one of the biggest parts of the economy. And because of the lodging tax that our hotels pay, we also fund the Tourism Commission.” OVERCOMING CHALLENGES “During COVID, we were very active and very successful in many of the things we did,” she continues, underscoring the importance of the association’s work with Senator Pete Ricketts, who was Governor at the time. This included the signing of an executive order allowing alcohol to go, a move that was a lifeline for many struggling businesses in Nebraska. “We did that because there’s a larger profit margin and less intensive work in making cocktails than there is in food preparation. We were looking for every way we could find to keep our members going,” Olsen conveys. This initiative, although met with resistance at first, became a permanent law thanks to NeHA’s persistent efforts. “We worked with a lot of entities to make sure that our alcohol to-go bill would not threaten federal highway dollars, that we had the support of law enforcement, and that we had the support of our liquor control commission, which we did,” she recounts.” Another example of the association’s resourcefulness was its work to help with supply chain issues, specifically ensuring Nebraskans had access to the items that the industry had a surplus of. The state, being largely rural, experienced severe shortages in essential supplies like toilet paper, cleaning products, and food items. “We had all these small towns that were lacking supplies. Meanwhile, our big vendor companies had stock rooms full of toilet paper, paper towels, steaks, eggs, milk, butter, all these things, but they couldn’t 53 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 07 NEBRASKA HOSPI TAL I TY ASSOCIAT ION
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