LINCOLN — Despite three consecutive bipartisan votes this year to lift a lifetime ban on public food aid for some Nebraskans with past drug felonies, the Legislature on Monday did an about-face that put a nail in the bill’s coffin. The only change between the 32-17 vote on May 14 that favored Legislative Bill 319, noted State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha and others, was a veto by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen.

“If you change your mind, if you don’t have the backbone to stand by your vote — on food, to people who don’t have it — I don’t really know what you stand for,” DeBoer told colleagues. Despite pleas by her and others, including the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Victor Rountree of Bellevue, who invoked several Bible passages about forgiveness, the Legislature voted 24-24 to uphold the governor’s veto. The bill needed 30 votes to override Pillen’s veto.

That means the status quo stands, with state law prohibiting anyone who has been convicted of selling or distributing a controlled substance from accessing SNAP benefits (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). People with three or more felonies for possessing or using illegal drugs also are ineligible, but state law allows Nebraskans with one or two drug possession or use convictions access to SNAP if they complete a licensed treatment program. Rountree’s priority bill would have lifted the ban entirely under certain circumstances, such as if the offender completed their criminal sentence or was serving a term of parole or on post-release supervision. Also under Rountree’s bill, a person with three or more felony convictions for drug possession or use had to participate in an accredited substance abuse treatment program unless a health care provider determined it was not needed.

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