LINCOLN, Neb. (CN) - Three businessmen say a new state law that will move the Nebraska State Fair permanently to Grand Island is an unconstitutional special bill that will cost them and other Lincoln businesses millions of dollars.
The businessmen say LB 1116, which will move the State Fair to Grand Island forever in 2010, illegally confers special status upon Grand Island and the Hall County Livestock Improvement Association, which owns the Grand Island fairgrounds.
Plaintiffs say the State Fair generates $27 million worth of business in Lincoln each year. One plaintiff is a publisher, one is a tractor painter, and one pays taxes in Grand Island. He says the city will increase taxes to meet funding requirements of LB 1116.
Plaintiffs Roger Yant, Brian Von Seggern, and Jerry Christensen sued the City of Grand Island, the Hall County Livestock Improvement Association, the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska State Fair Board, and the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, in Lancaster County Court.
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