Nebraska lawmakers adjourned for the year on Thursday, wrapping up a particularly contentious session that saw nearly every bill before the body filibustered.
The filibuster effort led by Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh and a handful of allies was a protest over a bill that began as a measure to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors but morphed to also included a 12-week abortion ban.
The effort greatly slowed the work of the Legislature, leading to long days that saw debate routinely stretch into the evening hours and forced leaders to attach bills as amendments in order to get legislation passed.
The tactic appears to have worked.
Trans Health and Abortion:
Easily the most contentious bill of the 2023 session, the bill will prevent people under 19 from receiving gender-affirming surgery and restrict the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers in minors when those restrictions go into effect Oct. 1. It will put the state’s chief medical officer — a political appointee who is an ear, nose and throat doctor — in charge of setting the rules for hormone therapies for minors already receiving that therapy and some teens deemed through an exhaustive process to need such therapy.
The law also imposes an immediate ban on abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. That ban was shoehorned into the trans care bill as an amendment after a separate bill to ban abortion at about six weeks failed to overcome a filibuster.
The passage came despite fierce opposition. A federal background check is still required to buy a gun, but the measure allows people to carry guns hidden in their clothing or vehicle without having to pay for a government permit or take a gun safety course.
Taxes:
Lawmakers passed a slew of tax cuts, including an across-the-board state income tax cut that would slash individual and corporate tax rates gradually to a maximum of 3.99% by 2027. Currently, the top rates are just under 7%. Critics of the tax cut say the plan to slash income taxes for the highest earners immediately, while waiting until 2026 to cut taxes for middle-bracket earners, is unfair.
Another measure increases the amount of a property tax credit offered to property owners on their income tax returns. And another establishes a 3% annual cap — with some exceptions — on how much school districts can increase property tax requests.
In all, lawmakers approved tax cuts amounting to more than $6 billion in tax relief over the next six years, according to Gov. Jim Pillen, who had sought the cuts.
Nebraska state Sen. Justin Wayne speaks during a hearing before the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs committee, on Feb. 22, 2023, at the state Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska lawmakers adjourned for the year on June 1, 2023, wrapping up a particularly contentious session that saw nearly every bill before the body filibustered. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)
Voter Id:
Also passing on the last day of the session was a bill creating several programs related to Nebraska’s criminal justice system. Crafted by Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne, the bill includes expansion of several programs, including a pilot program to establish parole-violation residential housing, a probationer incentive program and problem-solving courts, like drug courts and veterans courts.
The bill also speeds up parole for many prisoners, ensuring they are subject to transitional services rather than being released with no oversight — a practice called “jamming out.” Experts say those inmates who jam out of prison are at higher risk to reoffend.
Earlier in the session, lawmakers approved nearly $400 million to build a new prison to ease severe overcrowding in the state’s prison system. Critics of that appropriation say that without serious efforts to further change tough-on-crime sentencing mandates and create more centers to transition lower-level offenders back into the community, the new prison will be overcrowded on the first day it opens.
The bill does not appropriate taxpayer dollars directly toward private school vouchers. Instead, it allows businesses, individuals, estates and trusts to donate a portion of owed state income tax — up to $25 million in just the first year — to private school tuition scholarships.
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Miscellaneous:
Passed, but Vetoed:
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen gutted several bills passed this year with line-item vetoes amounting to more than $140 million. One veto was a child welfare rate increase, amounting to $6 million. Another amounted to $20 million over two years that would have funded middle-income housing developments in urban areas and workforce housing in rural Nebraska, areas where officials have said a shortage of affordable housing has led to businesses being unable to fill open jobs.
Also vetoed were pay raises for legislative staff, increases to Medicaid payment rates for hospitals and nursing homes, funding for a pilot program related to childhood trauma and gun violence, and $3 million to fund a Lincoln housing facility for pregnant or parenting teens.
