NEBRASKA ED PACKAGE BLOWS UP, AS PUSH TO INFUSE RELIGION INTO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAILS

LINCOLN — An uneasy compromise that became the Education Committee package bill died on the Nebraska statehouse floor Wednesday, in part because the quest to infuse more religion into public schools failed. A cross-section of committee members tried to get a group of loosely related education proposals out of committee and onto the floor for a month.

The combined bill was viewed as a bipartisan deal involving several groups, including the conservative chair of the committee and the state’s largest teachers union, to marry a proposal that would allow K-12 students to be excused during the school day for off-site religious instruction and coursework to a bill from State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha that would help schools find more long-term substitutes so teachers could take paid time off around significant life events. Some who backed the deal have said that parents can already sign out their kids for any reason and that they do not see it as a state endorsement of religion. Other lawmakers have expressed that it would open the door for other religious-themed bills.

The floor debate was like many of the tense executive sessions on the package. The deal blew up on the floor after State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha successfully removed Central City’s State Sen. Loren Lippincott’s Legislative Bill 550, a release time proposal, killing the whole package. While the original deal is dead – lawmakers involved in negotiations let lawmakers skip over the bill. Their aim: to bring back a cleaner version of LB 306 — mainly some clean-up language sought by State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil to address change terms and provisions in state law relating to higher education in the session’s final days while giving lawmakers an opportunity to attach their proposals to it individually and let the full Legislature vote on each. 

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SALES TAX, TOBACCO TAX PUSH DOOM NEBRASKA’S ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FOR PROPERTY TAX RELIE

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s version of “One Big Beautiful Bill” for property tax relief went up in smoke Monday despite an effort to narrow new revenues to increased taxes on cigarettes and vapes. It becomes the third property tax package in the past year to propose and fail to garner traction to use new sales tax revenues to lower property taxes. It also deals a significant blow to Gov. Jim Pillen’s pledge to keep property taxes flat this year as he eyes reelection.

Legislative Bill 170, led by State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, failed 30-15. It needed 33 votes to overcome a filibuster from opponents across the political spectrum who opposed the tax “shift. The proposal originally sought to add sales taxes to 20 currently exempt goods or services, including pop, dating services, chartered jets, swimming pool cleaning and maintenance services, and pet grooming. It also sought to hike the taxes on cigarettes (up to $1.36) and vapes (up to 40%). The original package anticipated $110 million in new revenue, with $100 million directed to property tax credits to offset property taxes paid to local K-12 school districts.

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NEBRASKA FIRST IN NATION TO BAN SODA, ENERGY DRINKS FROM PUBLIC GROCERY AID BENEFITS

LINCOLN — Nebraska has become the first state in the nation to restrict low-income recipients of public grocery aid from using SNAP benefits to buy soda and energy drinks. The ban related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was announced Monday during a daylong visit to the Cornhusker state by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

“There’s absolutely zero reason for taxpayers to be subsidizing purchases of soda and energy drinks,” said Pillen. Rollins called the move “historic” and, in a statement, called Pillen a pioneer, along with the governors of six other states, in improving health in the nation. The waiver amends the definition of food products to be purchased by SNAP benefits, excluding soda, soft drinks, and energy drinks.

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JUDGE CONSIDERING WHETHER TO DISMISS NEBRASKA MEDICAL CANNABIS PREEMPTION LAWSUIT

LINCOLN — A Lancaster County district judge is reviewing whether to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Nebraska’s voter-approved medical cannabis laws violate federal law after in-person arguments Tuesday. This is the second medical cannabis case to reach District Judge Susan Strong, who in late November ruled against a pre-election lawsuit challenging that the ballot measures shouldn’t have been placed on the ballot because of allegedly fraudulent notarizations. Strong rejected those arguments. In the latest case, Strong must first decide whether to let the federal preemption case proceed based on whether a longtime marijuana opponent, John Kuehn, has the necessary “standing” to sue.

That’s the legal term of art required for cases to proceed, meaning that Kuehn, a former state senator and former member of the State Board of Health, must show injury as a result of the new medical cannabis laws legalizing and regulating the drug. The ballot measures overwhelmingly passed in November, with 71% approval for legalization and 67% approval for a regulatory law. Tuesday’s arguments came on the same day state lawmakers are considering LB 677, a separate effort to create a clearer regulatory scheme around medical cannabis to assist in the program’s implementation.

Many of the arguments in court on Tuesday mirrored legal briefs filed earlier. Largely, they argue that Kuehn is not the right party to challenge the measures under “taxpayer standing,” or that, as a taxpayer, he should get to challenge “illegal” taxpayer spending. All 11 defendants named in the case from Kuehn have filed to dismiss the case. Attorney Jason Grams, for the three members of the new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission that voters’ regulatory law established, told Strong no taxpayer funds had been spent by Jan. 10, when Kuehn amended his lawsuit to include the commissioners.

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MEDICAL CANNABIS REGULATORY BILL STALLS AND LATE PUSH TO PROTECT NEBRASKA DOCTORS WHO RECOMMEND MEDICAL CANNABIS FALLS SHORT

LINCOLN — A legislative proposal seeking to help implement Nebraska’s voter-approved medical cannabis laws failed Tuesday, facing a tougher floor fight than four years ago despite widespread support in November. The latest measure, Legislative Bill 677, failed to garner the 33 votes needed to shut off a filibuster, with the bipartisan effort to stop debate falling 23-22. The regulatory push secured the support of eight Republicans, 14 Democrats, and one nonpartisan progressive in the officially nonpartisan 49-member body (State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha, the only other Democrat, was absent from the final vote but had supported the bill).

Republican State Sens. John Arch of La Vista, Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln and Merv Riepe of Ralston declined to take a position and were “present, not voting.” State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, a Republican with a Libertarian bent who sponsored LB 677, sought to appeal to his conservative colleagues that “on a limb,” everyone could agree that medical cannabis could at least help someone.

A late legislative attempt Wednesday to give additional protections to health care practitioners who recommend medical cannabis to Nebraska patients fell well short of moving forward, a day after a broader medical cannabis regulatory bill stalled. State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha sought to add those physician liability protections Wednesday to a broader Health and Human Services Committee bill: LB 376. The measure seeks to slash various reporting requirements and make other changes primarily in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Cavanaugh said his effort was a “solution” that would be a “small but meaningful step” for some of the families who showed up Tuesday for LB 677, the medical cannabis regulatory bill from State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair. LB 677 failed 23-22, falling 10 votes short of overcoming an all-day filibuster.

“Give these families some hope, some opportunity to get access to what the voters approved at over 70%,” Cavanaugh told his colleagues. “Vote to give doctors some small protection if they follow their conscience and their training.” Under the ballot measures approved in November, a patient can possess up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis for any condition with a health care practitioner’s recommendation.

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NEBRASKA LAWMAKERS GREENLIGHT NEW COMMITTEE TO WATCH OVER PRISONS, DHHS

LINCOLN — More than a year after Nebraska’s executive branch shunned legislative oversight of the state’s troubled prison and child welfare systems in a violation of state law, the Legislature moved Wednesday to establish a permanent oversight committee meant to resolve constitutional concerns that led to the lockout.

Lawmakers voted 39-3 to give first-round approval Wednesday to a bill that would rewrite Nebraska’s legislative oversight laws and establish an obvious chain-of-command from lawmakers to watchdogs tasked with keeping an eye on the Departments of Correctional Services and Health and Human Services. The bill is meant to address concerns that Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers raised in a legal opinion in 2023, in which he suggested that lawmakers had delegated their oversight authority to those “unsupervised” watchdogs, known as the inspectors general, in a move Hilgers claimed was unconstitutional. Though Hilgers’ opinion was nonbinding, the prison and child welfare systems — both arms of the executive branch — almost immediately shut off access the inspectors general had to agency facilities and records, leaving the Legislature without meaningful oversight of the agencies for six months. 

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IDEAS FLOW AT PUBLIC MEETING FOR NEW NORTH OMAHA INNOVATION DISTRICT FUELED BY $30M STATE GRANT

OMAHA — Could North Omaha create its own version of Kansas City’s Keystone Innovation District? Or Indianapolis’ 16 Tech, or the RICE innovation hub in Atlanta, which focuses on building Black businesses? The three campuses were spotlighted Wednesday as examples of entrepreneurial and tech-centric hubs akin to what could be built locally as the Omaha Inland Port Authority embarks on its newest mission: development of an innovation district, funded partly with $30 million in state funding.

Nearly 100 people turned out for the public meeting that kicked off a six-month visioning process for the new district, which is to be developed within the boundaries of the port authority’s roughly 3,000 acres in North Omaha, near Eppley Airfield. Davielle Phillips, an Omaha architect who is vice chair of the port authority board, said the initiative got off to a good start, with more participation than anticipated at the meeting held at the Venue at Highlander Accelerator. 

The board is also overseeing the development of an industrial-focused business park funded by a separate $90 million state grant. That initiative, in contrast, was beset early on by criticism that the development team did not seek enough public engagement and input.

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PILLEN VETOES $14.5 MILLION IN BUDGET — INCLUDING FUNDS TARGETING SUPREME COURT AND OMAHA BEDBUG BILL

LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen line-item vetoed $14.5 million in general fund appropriations from Nebraska’s legislatively approved budget for the next two years late Wednesday, 83% of which was earmarked for the Nebraska Supreme Court. In his veto letter returning Legislative Bill 261, the general spending budget bill, and LB 264, a bill allocating various state cash funds, Pillen thanked lawmakers for closing a major projected budget deficit for the next two years while making investments in education, developmental disability support, and national security. 

He returned four items he said are “necessary to honor our commitment to fiscal restraint,” and that the small number of objections reflects “the depth of fiscal conservatism” in the budget. “It is critical that we continue to treat nickels like manhole covers, and I urge you to sustain four additional reductions to improve our fiscal position,” Pillen wrote. If the vetoes are sustained, the Legislature would still finish the budget with a positive balance of $1.1 million, because Pillen’s approach would reduce spending instead of using as much money from the “rainy day” cash reserve fund. His approach reduces by about $14.5 million a transfer from the cash reserves. The lawmaker-approved state budget calls for transferring $147 million from cash reserves to help close a half-billion-dollar projected budget deficit. 

Gov. Jim Pillen has also squashed, at least for now, a legislative effort to help Omaha public housing residents get rid of a persistent bed bug problem, vetoing an Urban Affairs Committee bill pushed by a North Omaha lawmaker. 

LB 287 sought quicker and better remedies to bedbug infestations and other concerns voiced by low-income residents of the Omaha Housing Authority, primarily those who live in publicly subsidized apartment towers. The proposed intervention followed public outcry by OHA residents and advocates, including a class-action lawsuit led by a group of current or former residents of 10 public housing high-rise apartments and represented by attorney and former State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha and two Iowa lawyers who specialize in bedbug cases.

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LAWMAKERS WILL RECONSIDER SLOWING NEBRASKA’S MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES – BUT LIKELY VOTE NEXT YEAR

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature will retake a vote on a proposal to slow down voter-approved minimum wage increases – but likely not this session.  A Democratic-led minority and Republican-led majority in the officially nonpartisan body fought Thursday over whether to allow reconsideration of the vote on Lincoln State Sen. Jane Raybould’s Legislative Bill 258.

Raybould, whose family owns a grocery store chain that includes Super Saver, is the lone Democrat supporting the slowdown. State Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont is the lone Republican opposing the bill. The rest of the Legislature’s Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive who usually votes with them argued against ignoring “the will of the people.” They celebrated a brief tactical victory on May 14 by forcing a faster vote while one GOP senator was off the floor and missed the vote.

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‘PUBLIC SAFETY’ PACKAGE CLEARS LATEST HURDLE, OFFERS CHANGES BUT KEEPS LOWER DETENTION AGE OF 11

LINCOLN — A “public safety” package on Thursday cleared a second lawmaking hurdle and retains what has been the most controversial element — lowering the minimum age at which a youth can be detained from 13 to 11. 

Before Legislative Bill 530 passed on a 35-9 vote, however, lawmakers approved smaller juvenile-justice related changes to address some concerns of certain lawmakers and nonprofits, said State Sen. Carolyn Bosn, chair of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. Among modifications was a requirement that all temporary and alternative placement options be exhausted before a child aged 11 or 12 would be detained in a facility, which critics say causes lasting trauma.

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NEBRASKA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE MISTAKE MAY VOID INTENDED BUDGET VETOES

The $11.1 billion biennial budget that will fund Nebraska’s government for the next two years is law. But whether Gov. Jim Pillen returned the budget to the Legislature with his line-item vetoes under the constitutionally required deadline remains in question.

Typically, any veto issued by the governor is read aloud to lawmakers as soon as it is received by the Clerk of the Legislature. That did not happen Thursday morning, despite Pillen’s office sending out his veto message and letter to senators and media around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday.

Without the clerk’s office receiving the line-item vetoes before midnight, five days after the Legislature passed the budget on final reading, it becomes law without his signature. 

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US-CHINA TRADE TRUCE COULD BRING RELIEF FOR STATE FARMERS, BUT UNCERTAINTY PERSISTS

NEBRASKA- Up until this week, tariffs between China and the United States had reached new heights, spurring uncertainty among Nebraska farmers and the agricultural industry at large. A new 90-day truce between the two countries, rolling back most of their recent tariff increases, promises to bring some relief but still leaves more to be desired as Nebraska producers look to open up new markets, officials said.

Jordan Dux, the senior director of national affairs for the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said the bureau is grateful for President Donald Trump's efforts to secure the deal announced Monday, but he said there are bigger goals for the agriculture industry. "The 90-day pause is good, the bringing down the tariff rates, that's a positive thing," Dux said. "At the same time, hopefully the negotiations continue and we get to a point where we are seeing increased market access for Nebraska ag products."

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VACCINE DEVELOPED IN STATE COULD SIGNAL END TO ANNUAL FLU SHOT

LINCOLN- A new vaccine strategy developed and tested by a team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln could signal an end to the annual flu shot routine. The possible breakthrough is laid out in newly published research in Nature Communications. The study, “Epitope-Optimized Vaccine Elicits Cross-Species Immunity Against Influenza A Virus,” describes a vaccine that protects against H1N1 swine flu and can also protect against influenza in birds and humans.

“This research sets the stage for developing universal influenza vaccines so people won’t have to go to the doctor and get a flu shot every year,” said Eric Weaver, director of the Nebraska Center for Virology, who led the Nebraska research team. “This vaccine will protect you against the different strains that are out there.”

According to a UNL news release, swine vaccinated with immunogens designed in Weaver’s lab showed no signs of illness after being exposed to a commonly circulating flu strain. They developed antibodies against multiple viruses from several decades and several species and maintained their immune response throughout the six-month study. Based on the study results, Weaver said that immunity in pigs could last at least a decade. “We hope that would translate into humans,” he said.

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STATE'S NEW PRISON ALREADY BEHIND SCHEDULE, AND LIKELY TO COST FAR MORE THAN $350M

LINCOLN- Construction of Nebraska's new prison complex north of Lincoln is already behind schedule and is likely to cost far more than the $350 million lawmakers have set aside for the facility, which figures to be among the most expensive projects in state history. State officials had long maintained that they would build the 1,500-bed prison within the budget lawmakers approved and claimed construction would begin in the fall of 2024.

As recently as August, a spokeswoman for Nebraska's prison system said prison officials still believed they could build the prison with the $350 million lawmakers set aside last year to do so. But Nebraska lawmakers and state officials and legislators in South Dakota, where a similar proposed 1,500-bed prison is projected to cost $825 million, have cast doubt on that claim, which even Nebraska's Department of Correctional Services officials no longer appear to believe.

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LAWMAKERS MOVE TO END PRISON SYSTEM'S RELIANCE ON INCONCLUSIVE DRUG TESTS

LINCOLN- Nebraska lawmakers took steps Friday to limit the state prison system's reliance on inconclusive field tests to discipline incarcerated people suspected of harboring drugs, a year after the Legislature's prison watchdog raised concerns about the practice. Since 2018, Nebraska's Department of Correctional Services has routinely used "presumptive field testing devices" that resemble at-home pregnancy and COVID-19 tests to build internal discipline cases against inmates without seeking confirmatory testing, according to last year's report from the Office of the Inspector General of the prison system.

That practice, which runs counter to warnings in the user manual for the field tests, "increases the likelihood that people will be punished — including spending more time in prison — for something they did not do," Inspector General Doug Koebernick's office warned in the 26-page report published in March 2024. Lawmakers did not vote to end the practice Friday, but they did move to provide recourse for inmates who face discipline for suspected drug or alcohol violations based on the presumptive tests, which sometimes yield inaccurate results.

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LAWMAKERS WILL DEBATE MARIJUANA BILLS ON TUESDAY

LINCOLN- A bill that would legalize and regulate medical marijuana in Nebraska will finally get its long-awaited day on the floor of the Legislature. Speaker John Arch announced Thursday that state legislators would begin debate over Sen. Ben Hansen's bill (LB677) on Tuesday. The Blair lawmaker's bill, which was deemed a priority by the General Affairs Committee, seeks to implement the language of a pair of successful ballot initiatives passed by a wide majority of Nebraska voters last fall. 

The committee advanced the bill to the floor on a 5-3 vote on May 1, following a long series of negotiations among members. As amended, the bill allows doctors, physician assistants, or certified nurse practitioners licensed and practicing in Nebraska to recommend cannabis to patients who fall under a list of 15 qualifying medical conditions. 

Patients would be able to access and possess up to 5 ounces of cannabis products such as edibles, oils, or other nonsmoking products, as well as up to 2 ounces of cannabis plant products. While the amended form of LB677 does not allow patients to smoke marijuana — a method allowed by the ballot initiative passed by voters — it would allow patients to inhale cannabis through vaporization or atomization.

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STATE LEGISLATURE APPROVES $11.1 BILLION BUDGET FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS

LINCOLN- After grappling with a multi-million dollar projected deficit all session, Nebraska lawmakers passed a balanced budget, signing off on roughly $11.1 billion in general fund spending for the next two fiscal years. The Nebraska Legislature passed both mainline budget bills Thursday, sending them to Gov. Jim Pillen's desk to be signed into law. That doesn't necessarily mean lawmakers are done with budget debates, however. The governor has the power to line-item veto budget bills, and the Legislature retains the ability to override his vetoes.

The approved plan proposes a 0.9% increase to state expenses over the next biennium, which starts on July 1, 2025, and goes through June 30, 2027. It also closes a projected deficit that at one point was as high as $432 million, and will leave about $2.6 million leftover by the end of the cycle. The projected deficit has been in flux all session. It started at $432 million, then dipped as low as $124 million before it shot back up to $396 million due to new economic forecasts.

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BILL TO REDUCE STATE'S INHERITANCE TAX DIES AFTER FAILING TO OVERCOME FILIBUSTER

LINCOLN- A bill to reduce Nebraska’s inheritance tax rates and divert revenue generated through other taxes and fees to counties that use those funds failed to overcome a filibuster Tuesday night. Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, who has introduced several measures to do away with the state’s inheritance tax, fell two votes short of the 33 needed to send his bill (LB 468) to the third and final round of debate. 

The bill remained trapped on Day 78 of the 90-day legislative session, despite the Legislature giving approval to an amendment Clements said addressed concerns raised by several lawmakers. Clements said Nebraska continues to be “on an island” compared to neighboring states that have done away with the inheritance tax, but said he was willing to look for compromises to ensure counties were not harmed. The amendment, which was attached near the end of the four-hour debate, made smaller reductions to the inheritance tax rate while also removing some alternative revenue sources in his original bill. 

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LEGISLATURE ADVANCES PROPOSAL ON PAID SICK LEAVE

LINCOLN- State lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday adding new restrictions to a paid sick leave law Nebraska voters approved last year, and which has yet to be implemented, moving the proposed changes to the final round of debate. The way the voter-approved law is written, businesses with fewer than 20 weekly employees would allow those employees to accrue up to five days’ worth of paid sick leave a year, or up to seven days a year for larger businesses. An hour of leave could be earned for every 30 hours worked.

Employees, under the ballot measure law, can use paid sick leave for themselves or a family member for mental or physical illness, injury or a health condition or for a medical diagnosis or preventive medical care. Paid sick time could also be used during a public health emergency. LB 415 would remove the current law’s blanket sick leave requirements, letting employers offer no paid sick leave to young teens, ages 14 and 15, or to temporary, seasonal agricultural workers and workers at the state’s smallest businesses, those with 10 or fewer employees.

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FORMER STATE OFFICIAL THREATENS LAWSUIT TO STOP ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST FUND TRANSFER

LINCOLN- A former state agency director who successfully sued to halt a transfer of funds from the Nebraska Environmental Trust in 2020 is threatening to sue again. Jon Oberg, who once headed the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, said a governor-proposed, legislatively embraced transfer of $15 million out of the state lottery-funded Trust to deal with the state budget shortfall is illegal, and if approved, would likely spur another lawsuit from him.

“We were hoping that it wouldn’t be tried again, but here we are,” Oberg said. He was referring to a 2020 lawsuit that led to the dropping of a proposal by the Trust to defund $1.8 million in conservation projects and instead award that money to install ethanol blender pumps at Nebraska gas stations. The lawsuit, filed by Oberg and W. Don Nelson, a former chief of staff under then Gov. Bob Kerrey, led to the dropping of the blender pump swap and an awarding of legal fees to Oberg and Nelson.

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