2024 Nebraska Appleseed Legislative Priorities

The Nebraska Legislature introduced almost 600 new bills and proposed constitutional amendments this session and we’re ready to fight for justice and opportunity at the Capitol!

Nebraska Appleseed Priority Bills 

Here are some of the legislative priorities that Appleseed is supporting during the 2024 session. ⤵️

Supporting young people navigating the child welfare system

• LB42 clarifies that certain reasonable childhood independence activities do not constitute neglect by narrowing Nebraska’s broad definition of child neglect under the Child Protection and Family Safety Act and the Nebraska Juvenile Code. (Sen. Ben Hansen)
• LB271 addresses racism and disproportionality within our child welfare system by narrowing who is required to report suspected child abuse and neglect to only include certain professionals, who must be trained in mandatory reporting duties, cultural competency, and community response. (Sen. Terrell McKinney)
• LB945 would require that children leaving foster care receive important documents, information, and materials as they transition into adulthood. (Sen. Jana Hughes)

Expanding food and nutrition access

• LB88 helps Nebraskans support themselves by eliminating the ban on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for people with drug felony convictions. (Sen. Megan Hunt)
• LB99 provides free school meals for all students in Nebraska by adopting the Hunger-Free Schools Act. (Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh)
• LB285 helps more kids have access to healthy meals by requiring that Nebraska schools or districts that serve a certain percentage of students in poverty participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students. (Sen. Lynne Walz)
• LB855 would prevent Nebraska school districts from turning unpaid school meal debt over to debt collection agencies. (Sen. Danielle Conrad)
• LB920 would require DHHS to create a SNAP Restaurant Meals Program that would allow SNAP recipients who are homeless, disabled or elderly, and their spouses, to purchase hot meals at participating restaurants that would provide them at reduced prices. (Sen. Terrell McKinney)
• LB952 would provide summer grocery-buying benefits to low-income families with school-aged children by requiring DHHS to implement the federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) Program. (Sen. Jen Day)
• LB1291 would provide summer grocery-buying benefits to low-income families with school-aged children by requiring the Nebraska Department of Education to implement the federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) Program. (Sen. Danielle Conrad)

Strengthening worker safety, wages, and protections

• LB272 supports Nebraskans injured on the job by reducing Nebraska’s longest-in-the-nation waiting periods for workers’ compensation – the system that helps people recover from workplace injuries. (Reduces the initial waiting period from 7 days to 3 days and the retroactive period from 42 days to 14 days, similar to surrounding states.) (Sen. Tony Vargas)
• LB405 benefits Nebraskans working in large-scale meat and poultry plants by ensuring better transparency and consistent data for policymakers related to an industry with a decades-long track record of alarmingly high injury rates. (Sen. Tony Vargas)
• LB755 benefits workers in Nebraska’s meat and poultry industries by extending our state’s meatpacking coordinator position to full time through the appropriation of additional funds to the Department of Labor. (Sen. Tony Vargas)
• LB906 responds to a recent federal investigation that discovered more than 30 children were employed to clean Nebraska meatpacking facilities in 2022. Large-scale meatpacking continues to be one of Nebraska’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 (rather than individual people like parents). (Sen. Merv Riepe)

Advancing housing justice

• LB8 strengthens tenant protections within our Mobile Home Landlord Tenant Act by requiring mobile home landlords to have good cause to initiate an eviction proceeding, and amending mobile home lien procedures. (Sen. Carol Blood)
• LB248 protects families’ ability to rent housing, regardless of how they would pay their rent, by prohibiting discrimination based on lawful Source of Income (SOI) under the Nebraska Fair Housing Act and creating the Landlord Guarantee Program. (Sen. Tony Vargas)
• LB845 prohibits the eviction of students, legal custodians of students, and employees of schools and daycares during the school year. Children, caretakers, and school staff need and deserve stable housing to flourish. (Sen. Megan Hunt)
• LB1115 recognizes Nebraskans’ Constitutional right to a trial by jury in eviction cases. It also ensures that tenants will be informed of their right and protects against leases that would require tenants to waive their right to a trial by jury. (Sen. George Dungan)

Supporting families navigating the rising cost of living

• LB233 would end the child support penalty in Nebraska’s Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program. This will ensure that child support funds are actually used to support children in Nebraska’s lowest income families. (Sen. John Cavanaugh)
• LB290 puts money in the pockets of families who need it by increasing the eligibility limit for Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), the direct cash assistance program funded by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant. (Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh)
• LB294 and LB1324 would help families fight the cost of living by adopting the Child Tax Credit Act (CTC), which would create a fully refundable tax credit of $1,000 per child under age 18 (LB294) or age 6 and under (LB1324) for Nebraska taxpayers in low-income households. (Sen. Danielle Conrad)
• LB840 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. (Sen. Terrell McKinney)
• LB871 would provide transparency and accountability when it comes to our state’s use of TANF money and allow Nebraska to make the best use of funds available. (Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh)

Ensuring equitable access to healthcare 

• LB62 removes language barriers between patients and providers by requiring that translation and interpretation services are reimbursed under Medicaid. (Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh)
• LB85 saves Nebraska families time and resources by providing for express lane eligibility under the Medical Assistance Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. (Sen. Jen Day)
• LB358 increases reimbursement rates for Medicaid dental services. Increased provider rates is linked to increased provider participation in the Medicaid program, and therefore increased enrollee access to dental services. (Sen. Lynne Walz)
• LB857 seeks to improve Medicaid prenatal care services for at-risk pregnant people, which will help improve outcomes for babies and moms. (Sen. George Dungan)
• LB913 helps Nebraska take a major step forward in ensuring that postpartum health care is available to all women and people who need it, which is critical for keeping babies, families, and our communities healthy. (Sen. Megan Hunt)  
• LB1106 improves access to lactation consulting services for Nebraskans with Medicaid so that newborns and their families have the resources they need. Many Nebraskans face barriers to breastfeeding, including a lack of support and access to resources. (Sen. Jen Day)
• LB1107 improves access to breast pumps for Nebraskans with Medicaid so that newborns and their families have the resources they need. Breastfeeding can provide benefits and improved health outcomes to both babies and moms. (Sen. Jen Day)
• LB1237 specifies data Nebraska DHHS must provide in its annual Medicaid report to ensure transparency and availability of critical information regarding Nebraskans’ access to Medicaid health coverage. (Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh)
• LB1278 requires Medicaid to cover the cost of doulas, who are trained to support families through the labor and birthing process and have been shown to improve health outcomes for both moms and babies. (Sen. Terrell McKinney)

Creating full inclusion for longtime community members

• LB618 fixes a gap in Nebraska by ensuring that all work-authorized Nebraskans can access the unemployment insurance they have earned and their employers have already paid for. (Sen. Mike McDonnell)
• LB918 would ensure longtime community members with DACA who grew up in Nebraska can pursue careers in law enforcement. (Sen. Justin Wayne)

Strengthening democracy

• LB1042 automatically registers people who are eligible to vote when they apply for a driver’s license or state identification card, unless they affirmatively opt out of the registration process. (Sen. John Fredrickson)

Each legislative session presents an opportunity to bring long-lasting, positive change for our communities. Your voice is important in building a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive Nebraska. Here’s how you can get involved and take action during the rest of this legislative session:

• Tell your senator what matters to you:
  • Find your senator.
• Testify at or attend a hearing:
  • You can find the schedule of upcoming legislative hearings on the Unicameral’s website.
• Submit a comment online on a bill:
  • Click on the link above for the bill you are interested in submitting a comment on and choose ‘Submit a comment online’. Visit the Unicameral’s website for more information.
• Watch what’s happening online:
  • You can stream all hearings and legislative floor debate via Nebraska Public Media.

Throughout the 2024 Legislative Session, we will tell you about important moments to take action on key bills.

You can also sign up here to receive our weekly Legislative Update. We’ll let you know when bills will have committee hearings and when they may come up for a floor vote. Plus, we’ll let you know when our State Senators need to hear from you on big issues impacting our communities.