It’s easy to feel daunted by the influx of new bills each year. How do you know where to focus your time and energy? The ACLU of Nebraska is here to help. We’ve narrowed our full legislation breakdown to a list of 2022’s top threats and opportunities. Get informed then get involved. We have the power to ensure our elected leaders protect and advance our rights.
TOP THREATS
Attacks on Abortion Rights
Three bills seek to directly push abortion care out of reach:
- LB933 is a so-called trigger ban. It would ban abortion entirely in Nebraska if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
- LB781 would ban abortion at about six weeks, before many Nebraskans even know they’re pregnant.
- LB1086 adds new restrictions to medication abortion, a safe, effective and FDA-approved method of care.
Sign up to send reproductive rights postcards to your state senator
Contact your state senator with our action form
Classroom Censorship
LB1077 would ban discussion of certain topics related to race and gender in K-12 and higher education classrooms as well as government agencies’ professional development training. It’s censorship, pure and simple, and it would hurt young Nebraskans of color the most.
Contact your state senator with our action form
Denying Health Care Based on Personal Beliefs
LB963 would let health care workers deny care based on personal beliefs, authorizing sweeping discrimination against Nebraskans in need of care.
Find your senator, review tips on contacting elected officials, and then send an email or call their office! Consider writing a letter to the editor to express your opposition.
No New Prison
Governor Ricketts continues to push for a massive new prison in his budget proposal, LB1011. State senators need to hear loud and clear that we need smart justice reform, not more concrete.
Sign up to write postcards
Contact your state senator with our action form
Voting Rights and Democracy
We should be eliminating barriers to the ballot box, not putting up new ones. But regardless of Nebraska’s strong track record of secure elections, some state senators are pushing new restrictions to perpetuate the Big Lie.
- LB785 shortens the window of when ballots can be mailed out.
- LB1123 would outlaw tallying early ballots before polls close, which would ultimately delay results.
- LB1181 adds new mail voting restrictions.
- LR282CA undoes the nonpartisan nature of our Legislature elections.
Find your senator, review tips on contacting elected officials, and then send an email or call their office! Consider writing a letter to the editor to express your opposition.
TOP OPPORTUNITIES
This legislation would make our state a better place for all.
Transformative Investments
State senators are debating the best use of federal COVID-19 relief funds this session. With every proposal, we’re urging them to center racial, gender and economic justice. Ambitious proposals like targeted recovery efforts in North Omaha and South Omaha are examples of plans that would send relief funds to those communities hit hardest by the pandemic and most in need of investment.
Smart Justice
State senators introduced numerous smart justice proposals this session and we need all of them to address our broken system of mass incarceration. One is especially crucial — LB920 would enact several reforms and create a Justice Reinvestment Oversight Task force that is connected to a yearlong study of our prisons.
Voting Rights
Senator Wayne's LB158 would end Nebraska's unjust and arbitrary two year voting waiting period for Nebraskans who have completed a felony sentence, instead allowing them to vote immediately after they have completed terms of the sentence.
Racial Justice
- Senator McDonnell's LB298 would ensure that all work-authorized immigrants can receive the unemployment benefits they've earned.
- Senator Matt Hansen's LB871 would increase meatpacking worker protections by making the Meatpacking Bill of Rights Coordinator a full-time position and increasing meatpacking plant reporting requirements.
- Senator Brewer’s LB872 would ensure Native American students can proudly wear tribal regalia in Nebraska schools and at school events.
- Senator McKinney’s LB814 would require racial impact statements for legislative bills.
- Senator Wishart’s LB929 extends postpartum coverage, supporting maternal health – a major focus for our friends at I Be Black Girl.
LGBTQ Rights
- Senator Michaela Cavanaugh’s LB745 would update marriage language to “spouses” to make it more inclusive to all Nebraskans.
- Senator Hunt’s LB1136 would protect LGBTQ seniors from discrimination at hospitals, assisted living centers and more.
- Senator John Cavanaugh’s LB1245 is a parentage update that will benefit LGBTQ parents.
These opportunities need your support! Find your senator, review tips on contacting elected officials, and then send an email or call their office! Consider writing a letter to the editor to express your support.
WHAT’S NEXT
Now that bill introduction is past us, state senators are holding committee hearings through the first week of March. This is a critical time to act. Refresh your legislative knowledge in one of our most recent blog posts, Legislative Session 101.