LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Monday signed into law new restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care for minors, which opponents vowed to fight until the very end. Legislative Bill 574, proposed by State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, passed 33-15 last Friday on the final round of debate. The measure includes an approximate 10-week […]
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LINCOLN — One day after State Sen. Merv Riepe refused to vote for a six-week, “heartbeat” abortion bill, the Ralston senator said he’s not reconsidering that decision. Riepe said Friday that he had met with Gov. Jim Pillen after the vote. The governor had urged him to reconsider, but the senator said he remains supportive […]
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LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature fell one vote short Thursday of passing a ban on abortions after an ultrasound detects embryonic cardiac activity, at about six weeks into a pregnancy. Republican State Sen. Joni Albrecht’s Legislative Bill 626, fell in a similar fashion as the near-total abortion ban proposed last year. Both lost to Democratic-led […]
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LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers released a legal opinion Tuesday disputing two top concerns about a proposed abortion ban tied to the ultrasound detection of embryonic cardiac activity. The Legislature is expected to begin a pivotal second round of debate over State Sen. Joni Albrecht’s Legislative Bill 626 on Thursday. Hilgers and Solicitor […]
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Meet the state senators deciding policy and leading Nebraska’s legislative branch through 2024. Nebraska’s current 49 state senators are among the most diverse in the state’s history with 18 women, six senators of color and two openly LGBTQ senators. The median age of the Legislature, at the start of the session, was 61 — the youngest […]
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LINCOLN — Nebraska anti-abortion advocates celebrated clearing a major legislative hurdle Wednesday in a decades-long effort to curb what they call “elective abortions,” or abortions by choice. Every Republican in the Legislature and one Democrat, State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, provided the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Lawmakers gave first-round passage to […]
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LINCOLN — As debate begins on a Nebraska proposal to ban nearly all abortions in the state, some medical professionals are worried about how exceptions in the law would be utilized. Legislative Bill 626, proposed by State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, would outlaw abortions at around six weeks when cardiac activity can be detected. […]
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LINCOLN — A legislative bill that supporters and opponents agree would outlaw abortions in Nebraska before many women know they’re pregnant heads into Wednesday’s first round of debate with reportedly just enough votes to overcome cloture — 33 — but no wiggle room. State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston appears to have held together a […]
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LINCOLN — Advocates for a $3 billion package of state income tax cuts pushed back Wednesday against criticism that the proposal only helps the wealthiest Nebraskans. State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the main architect of the proposal, said 32% of state’s top income earners pay 80% of state income taxes, so it only […]
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LINCOLN — The path to passage for a proposed ban on Nebraska abortions after an ultrasound detects cardiac activity ran into a Ralston-sized roadblock on Wednesday. Ralston State Sen. Merve Riepe, a former hospital administrator who supported previous efforts to restrict abortion, proposed amending the restriction in Legislative Bill 626 to instead make abortions illegal […]
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LINCOLN — Defenders of a separately elected Nebraska State Board of Education lined up Tuesday against four legislative proposals aimed at curbing the powers of an increasingly conservative State Board and handing them to the governor. Legislative Resolution 24CA, a constitutional amendment by State Sen. Joni Albrecht, would eliminate the State Board and place its […]
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LINCOLN — As Nebraska state senators prepare for debate regarding abortion, one lawmaker presented a proposal Friday that aims to provide tax credits to private pregnancy help centers. Legislative Bill 606, proposed by State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, would establish the Nebraska Pregnancy Help Act and offer tax credits to incentivize private donations to […]
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OMAHA — The Douglas County Democratic Party this week soundly rejected the leadership bid by a Democratic state senator who could cast the decisive vote to effectively ban elective abortions in Nebraska. The county party’s steering group voted 17-3 Wednesday against a push by State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha to join the central committee […]
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LINCOLN — Despite recent reporting that abortion opponents are two votes short of the super-majority needed to pass a so-called “heartbeat” bill in the Nebraska Legislature, a Planned Parenthood official says the fight is far from over. “We know it will be close, but we have successfully blocked four abortion bans in the past year […]
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LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen’s plan to relieve property taxes paid by farmers and ranches got a rough reception Friday, even from some farm groups. The head of the state’s largest agriculture group, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said Pillen’s plan to shift the valuation method from being based on recent sales of land to its […]
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LINCOLN — Proponents and opponents were given three hours each Wednesday to argue over State Sen. Joni Albrecht’s bill aimed at outlawing abortions in Nebraska after an ultrasound detects fetal cardiac activity. Hundreds in an overflow crowd waited hours to testify for two or three minutes to the seven members of the Legislature’s Health and […]
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Competition soared this month in the sky-is-falling sweepstakes. Among the honorable mentions is U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., who, rather than being serious about serious problems, I found on Twitter making breakfast on a gas stove because, well, gas stoves, you know. Apparently that whole debt ceiling thing is a trifle. Maybe, too, Congress should table […]
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After the introduction of two bills to address LGBTQ and transgender Nebraskans, State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln abruptly called for the Legislature to adjourn “Sine Die” on Tuesday, Jan. 17. The motion means to adjourn without a future date for reconvening and, if successful, would have ended the 90-day session abruptly on its ninth […]
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LINCOLN — State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston on Friday proposed letting voters weigh in on a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the Nebraska State Board of Education and give the governor control over the state Department of Education. This is at least the sixth time since the late 1980s that a similar measure has […]
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LINCOLN — Nebraskans would have about six weeks to decide on ending a pregnancy, instead of the current 20 weeks, under legislation anti-abortion senators plan to propose this session. The bill, expected this week, would ban abortions after an ultrasound can detect a fetal heartbeat. The new proposal would not criminalize either patients seeking abortions […]
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LINCOLN — So much for trying to avoid hard feelings. Two days after state lawmakers put off a potentially crippling debate over legislative rules, a group of Democratic state senators erupted in fury Friday over proposed appointments to committees that they considered politically motivated and in defiance of tradition. Among the complaints: Some incumbent members […]
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