OutNebraska is committed to advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ Nebraskans. We’re tracking a number of bills that impact the lives of our community members. To make it easy for you to get involved, we’ve organized all of this information here for you!
Learn more about how a bill becomes a law in Nebraska with this handy flow chart.
Learn how to testify and submit comment with our guide here.
End of Session Update
Our time in the 2022 Nebraska Legislative Session has ended. What does this mean for the bills we have tracked since January? Some bills have been passed into law. Others, many of which did not make it out of committee, have effectively been killed. If there is a bill you’d like to see again in the future, consider contacting your senator to let them know!
Here’s the LGBTQ+ related bills we followed this session:
Passed into Law
These bills are now law.
SUPPORT LB867 – Funds for HIV prevention and education, as well as for covering the cost of PreP (HIV prevention medication). This bill was amended into the larger American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) bill LB1014 and passed.
SUPPORT LB881Â – Removes sales tax from menstrual hygiene products and makes menstrual hygiene products free to people who are incarcerated (currently, incarcerated people have to pay for things like pads and tampons). This bill was amended into LB984Â and passed.
Defeated or Left On Select File
These bills have been passed onto the second round of debate (called ‘select file’). The time to debate is limited to 4 hours, so we often see more filibusters at this stage. Action: Contact your senator. Find your senator here.
SUPPORT LB121 – We recently joined the call to action for LB 121, which would restore SNAP benefits to Nebraskans convicted of certain drug felonies. Currently, if someone is charged with certain drug felonies, they are banned from SNAP benefits for life, even if they have completed their sentence/parole. SNAP provides food benefits for individuals and families. Every Nebraskan deserves to eat. Tell your senator it’s past time for Nebraska to end this unfair ban and vote to pass the bill!
Defeated or Left On General File
These bills were voted into general file. They did not pass this round of debate.
OPPOSE LB933 – A very extreme abortion ban that would ban all abortion care from time of conception. We were watching this bill in committee, and added this to our watch list after it was pulled from committee to general file. If passed, this bill would most harm low-income families, Nebraskans of color, and rural Nebraskans. It also would criminalize doctors for providing necessary medical care during life-threatening pregnancies. Tell your senator that it’s up to us and our doctors to decide what is best for our reproductive health and vote NO on this bill!
SUPPORT LB158 – Removes 2 year waiting period for felons to vote, which would allow someone who has completed their sentence or probation to vote right away. Tell your senator it’s time to restore voting rights to community member and vote to pass this bill!
SUPPORT LB357 – Ensures youth in foster care and the juvenile justice system understand their rights, and explicitly protects LGBTQ+ youth from discrimination. Tell your senator that youth deserve to know their rights and have their rights protected!
Left In Committee Bills
If a bill has not made it out of committee, it has been “indefinitely postponed.” See the full list below. You can contact the introducer of the bill and ask them to consider re-introducing it or passing it to a colleague to re-introduce it (if the senator is term-limited)
SUPPORT LB869 – Would allow adoptive parents who adopt children older than 8 to take parental leave.
SUPPORT LB814 – Would require the legislature to attach a racial impact report to bills involving the justice system and crimes.
OPPOSE LB1237 – Would create a tax credit for donating to or paying for private school. Private schools are allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, people of color, people of different faiths, etc.
OPPOSE LB1050 – Would allow religious student organizations to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, while still receiving university funding and resources. Religious, political, or ideological student organizations would also be able to sue a public university if they believed they were unfairly denied funding, resources, or recognition. Broad language could potentially allow for the creation and recognition of an “ideological” student group that had hateful views and membership rules (example: a white supremacist group).
OPPOSE LB768 – Would eliminate “comprehensive†sex and health education, as well as make it harder for the State Board of Education to develop and distribute new educational content.
SUPPORT LB745 – Makes language around marriage and on marriage forms gender neutral.
SUPPORT LB1245 – Changes “paternity†to “parentage†and modifies language to better reflect the complexity of birth parents, biological parentage, and legal parentage.
SUPPORT LB1136 – Protection for LGBTQ+ seniors from discrimination in healthcare, senior care, and senior housing.
SUPPORT LB692 – Would allow people whose partner removed their condom to seek civil recourse to help pay for medical treatment or recovery.
OPPOSE LB1181Â – Adds unnecessary voter ID requirement to registering to vote by mail and to early and absentee voting. Voters would have to make a physical copy of their ID to include in their ballot envelop or include a bill mailed to their home in the last 60 days. Cumbersome and unnecessary barrier to voting.
OPPOSE LB963 – Would allow a broad range of medical practitioners to refuse to treat anyone for “ethical, moral, or religious beliefs.†Also applies to pharmacists who could refuse to provide already-prescribed medication and “health care payers†(AKA insurance, employers) who could refuse to cover LGBTQA+ related care, including hormones, transition surgeries, HIV medications, and birth control.
OPPOSE LR278CA – Proposed Nebraska constitutional amendment (which is harder to undo than a law) that would eliminate the State Board of Education and give the governor power to appoint the Commissioner of Education. It eliminates democratically elected school board members and givens too much power to any governor over education in the state.
SUPPORT LB815 – Requires businesses and public spaces to have diaper changing areas in men’s restrooms.
OPPOSE LB1077 – Our state’s “anti-CRT bill.” Would band public schools, public post-secondary institutions (AKA colleges), and government offices from training or teaching about concepts relating to race and sex. This would effectively bar schools and colleges from teaching accurate US American or world history. It would also prevent public entities (schools, government offices) from holding anti-bias trainings. Finally, this bill also would prevent students from earning credit from interning with organizations that advocate for/against local, state, or federal policies/laws.
Bills with Hearings
These are bills that are scheduled to be heard by committee. A committee is a small group of senators that determine if the bill will be heard by the larger legislature. Action item: Submit online comment OR make a plan to testify. Learn how to testify and submit comment with our guide here.
None! All bills have been heard by their committee this session.
Bills Awaiting Hearings
These are bills without hearings scheduled. Every bill gets a hearing in Nebraska, it’s just a matter of “when.” Action step: Stay tuned! Take action when these bills have a hearing scheduled.
None! All bills currently have hearings scheduled, or have already had their hearing.
We will be keeping this page up to date about where bills are in the process. Check back for updates!
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