2024 General Election Ballot Measures
There are six statewide ballot measures that have been certified by the Nebraska Secretary of State for the 2024 general election on Nov. 5, 2024. Five of these are initiatives, with one veto referendum relating to a bill passed by the Nebraska Legislature. Two measures, Initiative 434 and Initiative 439, are competing abortion petitions. Included among these is Initiative 436, which would statutorily enact mandatory paid sick leave for employees of Nebraska businesses. The full text of the ballot measure is as follows:
Shall a statute be enacted which: (1) provides eligible employees the right to earn paid sick time for personal or family health needs; (2) entitles employees of employers with fewer than 20 employees to accrue and use up to 40 hours of such time annually and those employed by employers with 20 or more employees to accrue and use up to 56 hours of such time annually; (3) specifies conditions regarding paid sick time; (4) prohibits retaliation against employees for exercising such rights; (5) adopts documentation requirements; and (6) establishes enforcement powers and a civil cause of action for violations?
Under Initiative 436, small employers (fewer than 20 employees) would be required to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. Large employers (20 or more employees) would be required to provide 56 hours of paid sick leave. Unlike the other measures, this would place this law in statute, not in the Nebraska Constitution. The Nebraska Legislature would be able to make changes as it deems necessary in the future. Key provisions of Initiative 436 are as follows:
A summary of the other five ballot measures is found below:
Initiative 434 – “Protect Women and Children”
Ballot Text: Shall the Nebraska Constitution be amended to include a new section which provides: “Except when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest, unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters.”
Initiative 434 would retain Nebraska’s current 12-week abortion ban by placing the current statutory restrictions in the Nebraska Constitution. Exceptions would exist for medical emergencies that threaten the mother’s health, or from pregnancies resulting from sexual assault or incest.
Referendum 435 – Partial Repeal of LB 1402 (Educational Scholarship funding)
Ballot Text: Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402, enacted by the Nebraska Legislature in 2024, provides for $10 million annually to fund education scholarships to pay all or part of the cost to educate eligible students attending nongovernmental, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska. Shall Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402 be repealed?
During the 2024 Legislative Session, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 1402, which repealed the Opportunity Scholarship Program (LB 753 (2023)), which provided a tax credit for donations to scholarship granting organizations for students attending private K-12 schools in Nebraska. Instead, LB 1402 provides $10 million in direct funding for students to attend qualifying private K-12 schools in Nebraska. A vote for Referendum 435 would repeal the appropriation, and thereby no such funding or scholarship program would exist.
Initiative 437 – Medical Marijuana (Part 1)
Ballot Text: Shall a statute be enacted that makes penalties inapplicable under state and local law for the use, possession, and acquisition of an allowable amount (up to five ounces) of cannabis for medical purposes by a qualified patient with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner, and for a caregiver to assist a qualified patient with these activities?
Due to Nebraska’s “single subject rule” for petition measures, the medical marijuana petitions are split into two different measures. The first, Initiative 437, would eliminate state and local penalties for the use, possession, and acquisition of up to five (5) ounces of marijuana “for medical purposes” by qualified medical patients or their caregivers. Medical marijuana must be prescribed by a physician, an osteopathic physician, a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner licensed under the Nebraska Uniform Credentialing Act.
Initiative 438 – Medical Marijuana (Part 2)
Ballot Text: Shall a statute be enacted that makes penalties inapplicable under state law for the possession, manufacture, distribution, delivery, and dispensing of cannabis for medical purposes by registered private entities, and that establishes a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate such activities?
Initiative 438 is the second portion of allowing medical marijuana in Nebraska. While part one deals with possession, Initiative 438 deals with manufacture, distribution, delivery and dispensing. It creates the “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Act”, which establishes the “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission” to oversee regulation of medical marijuana and provides details for the foregoing.
Initiative 439 – “Protect the Right to Abortion”
Ballot Text: Shall the Nebraska Constitution be amended to include a new section which provides: “All persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions. Fetal viability means the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the patient’s treating health care practitioner, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”
This is the competing Constitutional amendment to Initiative 434 and would render Nebraska’s current 12-week abortion ban unconstitutional. It would allow a right to seek abortion until “fetal viability” as determined by the treating health care practitioner, or to protect the mother’s life or health.
Shall a statute be enacted which: (1) provides eligible employees the right to earn paid sick time for personal or family health needs; (2) entitles employees of employers with fewer than 20 employees to accrue and use up to 40 hours of such time annually and those employed by employers with 20 or more employees to accrue and use up to 56 hours of such time annually; (3) specifies conditions regarding paid sick time; (4) prohibits retaliation against employees for exercising such rights; (5) adopts documentation requirements; and (6) establishes enforcement powers and a civil cause of action for violations?
Under Initiative 436, small employers (fewer than 20 employees) would be required to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. Large employers (20 or more employees) would be required to provide 56 hours of paid sick leave. Unlike the other measures, this would place this law in statute, not in the Nebraska Constitution. The Nebraska Legislature would be able to make changes as it deems necessary in the future. Key provisions of Initiative 436 are as follows:
- Employers that provide other paid leave sufficient to meet the requirements of the measure (e.g., paid time off) would not be required to provide additional paid sick leave.
- Sick leave would be able to be used for an employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, condition, or care, as well as that of a family member, or during public health emergencies.
- Accrued paid sick leave must be carried over to the following year or paid out to the employee.
- Special provisions are included for closure of the business, closure of an employee’s child’s school or childcare provider, or necessity of quarantine during a public health emergency.
- Paid sick leave may be used in hourly increments or the smallest increment the employer’s payroll system utilizes for absences or other paid time off.
- Employers may require reasonable documentation for use of paid sick leave for more than three consecutive workdays.
A summary of the other five ballot measures is found below:
Initiative 434 – “Protect Women and Children”
Ballot Text: Shall the Nebraska Constitution be amended to include a new section which provides: “Except when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest, unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters.”
Initiative 434 would retain Nebraska’s current 12-week abortion ban by placing the current statutory restrictions in the Nebraska Constitution. Exceptions would exist for medical emergencies that threaten the mother’s health, or from pregnancies resulting from sexual assault or incest.
Referendum 435 – Partial Repeal of LB 1402 (Educational Scholarship funding)
Ballot Text: Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402, enacted by the Nebraska Legislature in 2024, provides for $10 million annually to fund education scholarships to pay all or part of the cost to educate eligible students attending nongovernmental, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska. Shall Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402 be repealed?
During the 2024 Legislative Session, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 1402, which repealed the Opportunity Scholarship Program (LB 753 (2023)), which provided a tax credit for donations to scholarship granting organizations for students attending private K-12 schools in Nebraska. Instead, LB 1402 provides $10 million in direct funding for students to attend qualifying private K-12 schools in Nebraska. A vote for Referendum 435 would repeal the appropriation, and thereby no such funding or scholarship program would exist.
Initiative 437 – Medical Marijuana (Part 1)
Ballot Text: Shall a statute be enacted that makes penalties inapplicable under state and local law for the use, possession, and acquisition of an allowable amount (up to five ounces) of cannabis for medical purposes by a qualified patient with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner, and for a caregiver to assist a qualified patient with these activities?
Due to Nebraska’s “single subject rule” for petition measures, the medical marijuana petitions are split into two different measures. The first, Initiative 437, would eliminate state and local penalties for the use, possession, and acquisition of up to five (5) ounces of marijuana “for medical purposes” by qualified medical patients or their caregivers. Medical marijuana must be prescribed by a physician, an osteopathic physician, a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner licensed under the Nebraska Uniform Credentialing Act.
Initiative 438 – Medical Marijuana (Part 2)
Ballot Text: Shall a statute be enacted that makes penalties inapplicable under state law for the possession, manufacture, distribution, delivery, and dispensing of cannabis for medical purposes by registered private entities, and that establishes a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate such activities?
Initiative 438 is the second portion of allowing medical marijuana in Nebraska. While part one deals with possession, Initiative 438 deals with manufacture, distribution, delivery and dispensing. It creates the “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Act”, which establishes the “Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission” to oversee regulation of medical marijuana and provides details for the foregoing.
Initiative 439 – “Protect the Right to Abortion”
Ballot Text: Shall the Nebraska Constitution be amended to include a new section which provides: “All persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions. Fetal viability means the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the patient’s treating health care practitioner, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”
This is the competing Constitutional amendment to Initiative 434 and would render Nebraska’s current 12-week abortion ban unconstitutional. It would allow a right to seek abortion until “fetal viability” as determined by the treating health care practitioner, or to protect the mother’s life or health.