Last week, the Legislature completed its ten days of bill introduction. Click here to view the full list of introduced bills.
Senators also concluded its debate on the rules. One notable rule change is that senators will be limited to introducing 20 bills per session, starting in 2025. An attempt to end the secret ballot process for leadership elections failed, and there was not sufficient time to hold a floor vote on a sliding scale proposal that would essentially lower the threshold to overcome a filibuster.
Hearings and floor debate began this week. Floor debate will take place in the mornings, and hearings will be held in the afternoon. As of now, hearings are scheduled to run through February 29th.
This Week’s Hearings
Yesterday, we testified in support of LB906, introduced by Senator Riepe. As we noted last week, this bill responds to a federal investigation that discovered more than 30 minors were employed to clean Nebraska meatpacking facilities in 2022. Meatpacking continues to be one of Nebraka’s most dangerous industries; this bill takes a step in the right direction by increasing penalties for child labor violations. As our state continues to address labor violations in the meatpacking industry, we urge the state to hold corporate actors accountable for these violations.
There are hearings this week that you can attend in person, stream online, or submit a comment. Here are a few hearings Appleseed will be showing up for and supporting this week:
LB855 (Conrad) – Prohibit school districts from using debt collection agencies to collect outstanding debts on school lunch or breakfast accounts
- Tuesday, January 23, in the afternoon in Room 1525 in front of the Education Committee
- This bill would ban debt collection agencies from collecting unpaid meal debt in Nebraska schools.
LB840 (McKinney) – Creates the Poverty Elimination Action Plan Act
- Tuesday, January 23, in the afternoon in Room 1510 in front of the Urban Affairs Committee
- This bill would require cities across the state to create a comprehensive poverty elimination action plan to address the specific poverty challenges faced across the state and to promote upward mobility and sustainability.
LB945 (Hughes) – Requires that certain documents, information, and materials be provided to children before leaving foster care
- Wednesday, January 24, in Room 1113 in front of the Judiciary Committee
- This bill would require that children leaving foster care receive important documents, information, and materials as they transition into adulthood. Young people exiting foster care often leave with very little information about their own lives, including their own vital documents necessary to obtain a job or enroll in post-secondary education. LB945 seeks to insure young people have access to their own information as they exit foster care by: 1) adding to the list of required items to be provided, and 2) creating a process for youth to request additional information they may need or desire with the juvenile court’s approval.
- Take action: Appleseed supports this bill – submit a comment here by tomorrow at 8:00 AM CST
Stay Up to Date
You can keep up with all the happenings at the Legislature by following Appleseed online:
- Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
- Don’t miss out on our live updates on legislative hearings on Twitter.
- Stop by our blog for opinion pieces, informative updates, and news stories.
We’ll let you know how you can take action to get involved and make your voice heard throughout the session!Want to support our work? Consider making a donation today.