May 30, 2025

109th Legislature, 1st Session

Legislature Nears the Finish Line

Senators closed out the last full week of work passing 29 bills on Final Reading. This is in addition to 27 bills passed on Final Reading earlier in the week. Today marks day 88 of the 90-day session. The Legislature will reconvene on Monday, June 2, for what is likely the last day of the year. This will include bills advanced this week to Final Reading. Day 90 is scheduled for June 9, but at this point, it appears unlikely that lawmakers will return to the Capitol.

Paid Sick Leave Reform Passes

Included among the 56 bills advanced on Final Reading this week is LB 415, introduced by Senator Beau Ballard (Lincoln). LB 415, as amended, includes LB 698, which was introduced by Senator Paul Strommen (Sidney). The combined measure amends the Nebraska Healthy Family and Workplaces Act, also known as Initiative 436 or the Paid Sick Leave Ballot Initiative, and would do the following: (a) exempt businesses with 10 or fewer employees from being required to comply with the Act; (b) exempt owners, independent contractors, temporary and seasonal agricultural workers, and employees under 16 years old from accruing paid sick time, or counting towards the number of employees; (c) provides a method for providing paid sick leave to employees who are paid by commission, mileage or fee-for-service rather than hourly; (d) clarifies that existing vacation time and paid time off programs could be used as sick leave under the Act; (e) provides that employees do not begin accruing paid sick time until after 80 hours of consecutive employment rather than immediately; (f) provides that paid sick time provided to an employee on or after January 1, 2025, and before October 1, 2025, shall be counted toward an employer's obligations under the Act for calendar year 2025; (g) clarifies that an employer is not required to pay an employee for unused paid sick time upon the employee's separation from employment; and (h) provides additional flexibility for employers to direct how requests for paid sick leave should be made. After a filibuster on Final Reading, the bill advanced on a vote of 33-16.

Term Limit Measure Advanced

Senator Rob Dover (Norfolk) introduced LR 19CA, which would allow Nebraska voters to decide whether to amend the current term limits for Nebraska state senators. Nebraska enacted term limits for state senators in 2006 following a successful ballot initiative. LR 19CA advanced this week on Final Reading and was presented to Governor Pillen. This will place the question to Nebraska voters during the 2026 General Election of whether the Nebraska Constitution should be amended to allow state senators to serve for three consecutive terms instead of the current limit of two consecutive terms.

Minimum Wage Bill Stalls

Two weeks ago, the Nebraska Legislature took a Final Reading vote on LB 258, introduced by Senator Jane Raybould (Lincoln). LB 258 would amend the voter-approved minimum wage law to create a youth and training wage and cap the annual increase at 1.75%. Under current law, the minimum wage is set to increase to $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2026, and increase annually thereafter by the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Midwest Region. After the bill failed on Final Reading due to the absence of a key senator needed for the 33-vote threshold to amend the ballot measure, Senator Beau Ballard (Lincoln) filed a motion to reconsider. The Legislature took up the motion to reconsider last week during another heated and personal debate. Senators approved the motion on a vote of 33-16. However, Speaker John Arch (La Vista) did not schedule any further debate or votes on the bill and promptly moved on with the agenda. This is a procedural irregularity, and it is uncertain why Speaker Arch did not take up the vote. Yesterday, Senator Raybould filed an amendment to a separate bill to attach the provisions of LB 258. When it became apparent to opponents that Senator Raybould was seeking only to provide an opportunity to protest that the bill was not immediately scheduled for a vote following the motion to reconsider, the filibuster subsided, and Senator Raybould withdrew the amendment. It remains unclear why Speaker Arch has not scheduled the bill for a final vote.

All in all, 11 bills with a priority designation were not taken up this session. Those bills will carry over and will likely be scheduled for debate when the Legislature reconvenes in January 2026.

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