Week of March 10, 2025
The temperature is starting to rise in your Nebraska Legislature as senators and committees have begun designating their priorities for the session, giving us a picture of what legislators might spend their time debating – other than the budget, which is their only required duty – for the remainder of the session. Here are some highlights from last week:
- Sen. Raybould designated LB 258 as her priority bill. It places restrictions on increases to the state minimum wage that were passed into law by voters, including limiting the rate at which wages can increase and establishing a subminimum “training wage” for workers under age 20. This one is sure to see a fight.
- Sen. Kauth prioritized her LB 89, which she calls the “Stand with Women Act”. This is the inflammatory bill that seeks to narrowly define gender in statute, restrict trans students’ participation in athletics, and restrict the use of bathrooms in state-owned spaces for trans or gender-nonconforming people of any age. It’s not yet been advanced by the committee, and as of this writing I am told by staff of committee members that they are unaware of current plans to hold an executive session on the bill; however, Sen. Kauth has apparently been working on amendments in an effort to get it moving, so that could change at any point. If it is advanced to the floor, Speaker Arch would be wise to avoid scheduling this until essential budget measures are handled, lest we see a complete breakdown of collegiality the likes of which we’ve seen result from trans rights policy fights in recent years.
- Sen. Hansen’s LR 25CA to increase senators’ salaries was amended, advanced, and prioritized by the Executive Board. As amended, it creates a legislative compensation commission to determine legislative pay. Fairer pay for senators, who currently make only $12,000 a year, would increase access to public office for more everyday Nebraskans and create a more representative legislature.
Federal Medicaid Funding Change Impacts Budget
After the previous week’s positive budget news with projections from the Economic Forecasting Board showing a significant decrease in our state’s expected deficit for the biennium, Appropriations Chair Clements announced this week that that decreased projection had failed to take into account upcoming federal changes to the FMAP, or amount of Medicaid costs the feds will cover for the state. With a decreased percentage of federal matching funds available for Medicaid, lawmakers will now have to come up with an additional ~$90 million to close the gap. With preliminary Appropriations committee recommendations and an expected shift of funds from the cash reserve, that leaves a remaining $189 million shortfall.
Winner Take All Proposals To See Committee Vote Monday
The plotline receiving perhaps the most attention in the past week was that of a renewed push to change Nebraska’s split presidential electoral voting system to Winner-Take-All, elevated by Sen. Lippincott’s prioritization of his LB3. More fuel was added to that fire when word traveled quickly around that President Trump himself had made a phone call to Governor Pillen to pressure Pillen to get it done. The details and tenor of that private conversation are a mystery, but sources close to Pillen have said his ultimate motivation here comes down to getting in Trump’s good graces for the upcoming gubernatorial primary, in which it’s been long rumored that he’s likely to face a challenge from Trump ally and former endorsee Chuck Herbster.
Delivering on this objective, which Trump has eyed since the “Blue Dot” became a concern for him in the last election cycle, could help Pillen stave off a Trump endorsement of his expected challenger or even full-throated opposition from the President. He may be a true believer in the policy change, but as many have noted, the issue wasn’t seemingly on his or Lippincott’s radar as a priority until then-candidate Trump drew attention to it in his 2024 race to the White House.
That call from Trump apparently prompted Pillen to call on his supporters on social media and via email blast to pressure senators on the Government committee to advance LB 3, and I’m told he and his staff have also been pressuring members behind the scenes.
The bill’s been sitting in the Government committee, presumably waiting for its introducer to demonstrate to Chair Sanders that it has the votes to advance from committee and possibly from 33 members on the floor, in order to avoid what would be a near-certain derailment of the session in debate over a hotly contested issue before essential budget business is handled. But the renewed pressure from Trump and Pillen apparently worked to at least get Sanders to schedule the bill for an executive session vote, which will be held Monday morning. In the same exec session the committee will consider Sen. Dorn’s proposal (LR24CA) that would put a change to Winner-Take-All on the ballot for the voters of Nebraska to decide.
We don’t know what will happen there. Most reliable sources indicate that the Lippincott proposal likely lacks the 33 votes it’d need to survive a certain filibuster, however I’ll hedge that a bit by saying there’s always room between now and the end of session for more pressure tactics to be exerted and deals to be made. As far as the committee vote, no one truly knows but the members themselves. However, there’s a few possible likely scenarios: One is that the likely swing vote out of committee, Sen. Wordekemper, votes for one or both proposals to get them out to the floor for discussion, but then votes against both, or he and possibly other moderates opt to support the Dorn proposal, seen by some as the more palatable option as it allows voters to decide. Another scenario is that he votes with those opposed in committee to keep one or both proposals from getting to the floor, which could be a smart move for him or any other potential swing vote as it could lessen the degree of national attention, pressure, and targeting they’d likely get for weeks if the measure(s) are debated on the floor.
What’s Next
To start Monday, the body takes up the final round of Sen. Hallstrom’s controversial LB 229, the bill to classify certain gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees, thus preventing them from unionizing or having most rights under Employment Law. Last week we saw a taste of what could be a continued filibuster led by Sen. Conrad and reinforced by the presence of the state AFL-CIO and many other labor groups, who were at the Capitol to lobby against LB 229, LB 258, and in support of or opposition to other measures impacting working class Nebraskans. Remember that on Final Reading, cloture can be reached after a maximum of 2 hours’ debate.
Word on the street is that LB 258 could be on the General File agenda sometime this week, and that will surely see a filibuster.
Thursday is the deadline for senators to submit a Speaker Priority Bill request, and Friday is the deadline for senators and committees to designate their priority bills. The Speaker will announce the priorities he has selected next Monday the 17th.
