Nebraska lawmakers end session, leaving taxes for later

Nebraska lawmakers adjourned Thursday knowing they’ll be called back by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen for a summer session to ease soaring property taxes.

A Pillen-backed sales tax expansion failed on the last day of the session after its author, Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, pulled it from consideration because it lacked support.

“Because of this legislature’s inaction this morning, Nebraskans will not see a penny of property tax relief this session,” Pillen told lawmakers as he announced the special session. “It’s unacceptable from my seat.”

The unique one-chamber, officially nonpartisan Legislature’s 60-day session began more collegially than last year, when a measure to greatly restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors generated bitter acrimony and an epic filibuster before passing — along with a 12-week abortion ban.

This session, a lawmaker was reprimanded by the Legislature’s governing board after invoking the name of a colleague while reading a graphic account of rape on the floor.

Here’s a look at legislation that passed this session — and some that didn’t.

TAXES

Linehan’s bill would have shifted the state’s growing property tax burden to sales and other taxes, raising the sales tax by 1 cent and creating an array of new taxes on candy, tobacco, CBD products and digital advertising.

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The bill was stripped of the sales tax increase before it reached a final debate Thursday but still didn’t have enough support to pass, and Linehan pulled it.

Pillen had been unable to find a lawmaker willing to sponsor a bill that would have reduced property taxes 40% while creating the nation’s highest sales tax on goods and services, at 7.5%.

VOTING

A new Nebraska law, enacted Thursday without the governor’s endorsement, eliminates a two-year waiting period for regaining voting rights for those who have served their sentences for felonies, including prison and parole time.

The waiting period was established in 2005. Before that, a person convicted of a felony lost their right to vote indefinitely.

TRANSGENDER RIGHTS

Restrictions on transgender rights drew acrimony late in the session. A bill was resurrected at the 11th hour to restrict transgender students in bathrooms, locker rooms and sports.

Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth’s measure failed by two votes to end a filibuster.

EDUCATION

On the session’s last day, lawmakers passed a bill that repeals and replaces 2023 legislation to divert income tax receipts to pay for private school scholarships. The bill represents the first time lawmakers have passed legislation that would block voters from deciding a ballot measure initiated by constituents.

A failed bill would have held librarians and teachers criminally responsible for providing “obscene material” to students in grades K-12. State Sen. Joni Albrecht introduced the bill to close a “loophole” in the state’s obscenity laws, which prohibit adults from giving such material to minors. But critics panned it as a way for a vocal minority to ban books they don’t like from school and public library shelves.

MALCOLM X

A bill passed to recognize Malcolm X every May 19, the day he was born Malcolm Little in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. The legislation fell short of declaring the day a state holiday. Instead, it sets aside Malcolm X Day to allow Nebraska schools to hold exercises on the civil rights icon.

CHILD CARE

Lawmakers passed a whittled-down bill offering child care works an easier path to child care subsidies after stripping the legislation of its $10 million funding due to budget restrictions. Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson modeled the bill on Kentucky legislation that successfully eased a child care worker shortage.