LINCOLN —After a marathon voting spree Thursday on the second-to-last day of the 2024 session, Nebraska lawmakers sent more than 100 bills to the governor for his signature.
State senators approved 103 proposals — striking down only one at the introducer’s request —including the elimination of a waiting period for the restoration of voting rights after a felony sentence to authorizing certain schools to allow people to carry a firearm for security.
Lawmakers will return for one final legislative day next Thursday, April 18, and will have eight bills (plus seven appropriations bills) to consider.
The final day is largely ceremonial but could include veto overrides if the governor rejects any bills.
Here is a breakdown of some of the laws going to Gov. Jim Pillen — most would take effect three months after the Legislature adjourns (about mid-July). Some provisions would take effect one day after Pillen gives his approval.
Voter rights and guns in certain schools
LB 20, from State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, would allow people convicted of a felony to have their voting rights restored immediately after completing their sentence, including parole or probation. The current waiting period is two years after that time.
LB 1329, a package of education bills led by State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, chair of the Education Committee, included a provision that would allow some of the smallest school districts in the state to authorize certain people to carry firearms on school grounds.
State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who introduced the original LB 1339, has said emergency medical services may be a large distance away from many rural school districts and there might not be sufficient law enforcement to adequately protect or reach students in time, if needed.
The proposal applies to school districts with fewer than 5,000 residents.
LB 1329 also included:
- LB 855 from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln to prohibit school boards from using a debt collection agency to collect school lunch or breakfast debts or from assessing any interest, fees or other monetary penalties.
- LB 962 from Wayne would prohibit Mercator projection maps in public schools beginning in the 2024-25 school year. A Gall-Peters projection map, similar cylindrical equal-area projection map or the AuthaGraph projection map could be used in classrooms.
Foreign adversary package
A three-pronged set of bills, two of which were introduced at Pillen’s request, are also meant to crackdown on foreign adversaries by restricting agricultural land ownership, requiring affidavits for land purchases around military installations and prohibiting certain foreign contracts.
Those respective bills areLB 1301 from State Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara, LB 1120 from State Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering and LB 1300 from State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln.
Hardin’s bill would require land purchasers around military areas to state they are not affiliated with any foreign government or nongovernment person determined as a foreign adversary. The affidavit would be sent to the attorney general.
DeKay’s bill would make a host of changes to a law that has remained untouched for more than 80 years, including an enforcement mechanism for the first time.
Bostar’s bill, in addition to preparing for a conflict in the land, air or sea area of the Pacific ocean, would prohibit companies from countries of concern from bidding upon state or local procurement contracts for various information, surveillance or networks.
Current federal law defines foreign adversaries as five nations — China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia — and Venezuelan politician Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Child care and criminal justice rights
LB 874, from Bostar, would modify and simplify various child care licensing regulations. Workers could obtain a dual license between state and local ones and transfer their background checks between providers.
An amended LB 856, from State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, would change a Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services rule that prohibited home child care providers from receiving free child care assistance for their own children. All state funding originally sought in the bill was removed during second-round debate at Fredrickson’s request.
An amended LB 253, from Brewer, would establish the first state alternatives to prosecution and incarceration for veterans with a framework from the Council on Criminal Justice Veterans Justice Commission. Wayne, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, helped draft the amendment along with State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn.
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate, chairs the Veterans Justice Commission and endorsed the proposal at a February hearing. Linehan managed Hagel’s 1996 Senate campaign and later served as his chief of staff.
LB 870, from State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, would require law enforcement to notify sexual assault survivors at least six weeks before the destruction or disposal of their sexual assault kits. Current law requires the kits to be preserved for 20 years, and the proposed change would allow victims to request they be preserved for another 20 years.
Survivors would also have the right to be informed of any change in their case’s status, such as being reopened or closed.
LB 1167, from State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha, would require someone arrested without a warrant to be arraigned within one week of arrest in the county where the arrest occurred.
Development in North Omaha
Omaha State Sen. Terrell McKinney’s LB 164 in large part updates a 2021 law that created municipal inland port districts. Those are state-approved areas ruled by independent boards that oversee economic development within the zone and have power to issue bonds to help pay for construction.
At least one aspect of McKinney’s bill is opposed by the Omaha team the state has tapped to develop a business park in northeast Omaha west of Eppley Airfield. Under LB 164, the team would have to obtain a letter of support from the North Omaha inland port district’s governing board before nearly $90 million in grant funds for the project could be released.
That is problematic, said George Achola of Burlington Capital, because the inland port governing board has yet to be formed. Waiting for a letter from a board that doesn’t currently exist would create unnecessary delays, he said.
Along with Burlington, the partnership includes the Greater Omaha Chamber and the Omaha Economic Development Corp. The group has said it is ready to start preparing the site.
McKinney and Wayne have been critical of the process by which the state selected the business park developer. McKinney has said LB 164 was designed in part to increase community input into the park and millions of other economic development dollars headed to North Omaha.
Other bills head to the governor
Lawmakers also sent the following bills to the governor:
- LB 71, from State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, to adopt new K-12 school policies and modernize parental involvement in certain school settings.
- LB 631, from McKinney, for a series of reforms to the Board of Parole.
- LB 903, from DeBoer, to extend the deadline for a State Alzheimer’s Plan to Dec. 31.
- LB 910, from State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, to authorize certain emergency medical services and transportation for K-9s injured in the line of duty.
- LB 934, from State Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln and Christy Armendariz of Omaha, to combat consumer protection violations, deceptive trade practices and child exploitation.
- LB 1035, from State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, to create a prescription drug donation program in partnership with Iowa nonprofit SafeNetRx, which would be the first partnership for statewide distribution outside Iowa.
- LB 1092, from Murman, would require commercial websites where at least one-third of its content is “material harmful to minors” to require some form of online age verification.
- LB 1169, from State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, would move oversight of History Nebraska from an independent board to a “code agency” under the governor.
- LB 1200, from State Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus, chair of the Transportation and Telecommunications committee, includes provisions Fredrickson to require coordination between 911 and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline.
- LB 1284, from State Sens. Lynne Walz of Fremont, George Dungan of Lincoln, Linehan and Conrad, would train teachers in reading literacy and computer science, extend scholarship eligibility for special education teachers, allow dyslexia research grants and fund menstrual products in certain schools.
Nebraska Examiner senior reporter Cindy Gonzalez contributed to this report.
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