The 2025 long session and 2026 short session, translated into plain English — bills, vetoes, and what they meant for regular Nebraskans.
The 2026 short session (60 days, Jan–Apr) has ended. Next session: January 2027 for the 110th Legislature's long session.
Last session · 2025 long session
109th Legislature · Long Session · Jan 8 – Jun 2, 2025 · 90 days
Nebraska voters showed up in November 2024. The legislature spent the next 5 months undoing it.
Voters passed paid sick leave, medical cannabis, and a minimum wage increase. The 109th Legislature gutted sick leave protections for 140,000 workers, blocked cannabis implementation entirely, and took a run at the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the state handed $1.5 billion in corporate tax incentives to businesses over the next four years. The governor vetoed food aid for people with drug convictions. He also vetoed bed bug inspections for public housing residents. That's the 2025 session.
Passed by voters Nov. 2024
What voters approved: Required employers to provide up to 56 hours/year of paid sick leave. Effective Oct. 1, 2025.
What actually happened
LB 415 quietly raised the employer threshold from 0 to 11+ employees and added sweeping exemptions for agricultural workers, seasonal workers, and workers under 16. 140,000 Nebraskans lost the protections they voted for.
Bill: LB 415 · Source: Nebraska Appleseed
Passed 67–71% Nov. 2024
What voters approved: Established a medical cannabis program. Commission required to begin issuing registrations by Oct. 1, 2025.
What actually happened
A regulation bill failed to get out of committee in April, then failed to overcome a filibuster in May led by Sen. Jared Storm. Gov. Pillen and AG Mike Hilgers actively encouraged senators not to vote. The law voters passed sits unimplemented.
Source: Nebraska Public Media
Passed 58% in 2022
What voters approved: Gradual increase to $15/hour by Jan. 1, 2026. Currently at $13.50/hour and on schedule.
What actually happened
LB 258 advanced 32–17 in April 2025 with amendments that would have weakened the increase. Opponents rallied and the effort stalled — but it signals the legislature is willing to revisit voter-approved wage law.
Bill: LB 258 · Source: Nebraska Examiner
Passed 32–17 · Override failed 24–24
Would have extended food assistance eligibility to people with 3+ drug felony convictions who had completed their sentence or were in treatment — not while incarcerated.
Governor's reasoning
Gov. Pillen called it a 'loophole for habitual offenders.' Override failed 24–24 (needed 30).
Real impact
People who served their time and are in recovery remain cut off from food assistance.
Source: Nebraska Examiner
Passed 34–15 · Override failed 24–24
Required pest inspections every 6 months in Omaha Housing Authority towers where low-income residents had been suffering severe bed bug infestations.
Governor's reasoning
Gov. Pillen called it 'needless duplicative government mandates.' Override failed 24–24.
Real impact
Low-income residents in publicly subsidized housing have no new inspection requirements.
Source: Nebraska Examiner
Meanwhile
$1.5 Billion
In business tax incentives the Nebraska state auditor flagged as available to corporations over the next four fiscal years — the same session that denied food aid to people in recovery and blocked inspections for bed bug-infested public housing.
Source: Nebraska Examiner, April 2025 · Gov. Pillen acknowledged the need to make incentives "more people-focused and less company-focused"
Protected rural hospitals' access to the federal 340B drug discount program. Rural hospital pharmacists were losing ~40% of their savings from manufacturer restrictions.
Rural hospitals operate on margins as thin as 1.4%. This kept many from closing.
Required all Nebraska schools to enact policies limiting cell phone use. Took effect before the 2025–26 school year.
One of the few bills with broad bipartisan support and a clear benefit to kids and teachers.
Requires platforms to give parents tools to restrict their minor children's social media accounts. Passed 46–3.
Strong public support and one of the session's clearest wins for Nebraska families.
Sources: Nebraska Examiner · Nebraska Public Media · Ballotpedia · Nebraska Appleseed
Nov. 3, 2026 · Pillen vs Walz · Property-tax ads
He says he cut property taxes. The Legislature passed a coupon. The levy went back up.
Gov. Jim Pillen is running for re-election against Lynne Walz. The ads are in Omaha and Lincoln feeds, not just rural, and the 2027 plan is a farm buy-down paid with broader sales tax and local levy caps. Homes already pay a higher average rate than ag land. That is not the 40–50% mill-levy cut he touted in 2024. The ad oversells a coupon as a cut.
Full explainer
Who already pays more, what LB 34 actually printed on the statement, and how he’d pay for the 2027 ask — in plain English.
Read the full explainer →What the ads say vs who actually sets the mill rate
What the ad says: Campaign language claims the administration reduced property taxes. The state cannot levy a property tax. Schools, counties, and cities set mill rates.
What actually happened
Lincoln did not cut the mill levy. It printed a credit on the tax statement — a coupon the state reimburses. Everyday homeowners get the school coupon too. The farmer tilt is the older credit, the 75% ag valuation, and the 2027 ask — not a different mill rate the governor set.
Source: Nebraska Examiner
Sen. Brewer · 2024 special session
~30% credit on the school (non-bond) line for all real property. The state reimburses. Locals still levy.
Ad vs record · The ad calls this a cut. Lincoln printed a coupon.
Last action Signed Aug. 20, 2024 · Passed 40–3
Legislature.ne.gov ↗Sen. Briese · 2023
Moved most community-college operating levies onto the state. That shift produced the tiny 2024 statewide dip.
Last action Signed May 31, 2023
Legislature.ne.gov ↗Sen. Brandt · 2026
Would have dropped agricultural land valuation from 75% to 50%. Died in Revenue Committee.
Ad vs record · The farm valuation cut died. It is not a mill rate the governor set.
Last action Indefinitely postponed Apr. 17, 2026
Legislature.ne.gov ↗2024 levy
First statewide property-tax decrease in 26 years — about $6 million vs. ~$5.3 billion total. Mostly the community-college shift.
2025 levy
Up about $285 million to $5,587,369,523.
Where it goes · 2025 DOR
Who pays · 2025 DOR
2025 credits · DOR EO 25-13
School District Property Tax Relief Credit $797,295,209. Property Tax Credit Act $467,132,271 — $119.00 per $100,000 taxable value for non-ag, $142.79 per $100,000 for ag land (120% allocation).
DOR is explicit: credits are not a levy-rate cut.
Source: Nebraska Examiner, Apr. 20, 2026 · DOR pie charts · DOR 2025 credits
State spending cuts. Maybe broaden the 5.5% sales tax to currently exempt goods and services. Hard local spending caps. He said the messaging needs to be simpler and the next fight is 2027. Sen. Tanya Storer called credits “feeding the demon.”
Source: Nebraska Examiner, Jul. 9, 2026 · Apr. 20, 2026
Separate fight — Referendum 435 (Nov. 2024) repealed the private-school scholarship law 57.03%–42.97% statewide (508,140 to repeal vs. 382,921), including Douglas County ~56%. Pillen’s “right fit” / federal $1,700 credit is a 2027 argument, not this levy story.
Sources: LB 34 · LB 243 · DOR LB 34 explainer · DOR 2025 credits · DOR 2025 levy pie charts · Nebraska Examiner, Aug. 20, 2024 · Nebraska Examiner, Apr. 20, 2026 · Nebraska Examiner, Jul. 9, 2026 · LB 814 · Referendum 435 · Ballotpedia
Stay Informed
When the 110th session kicks off in January 2027, you'll be the first to know what's happening in Lincoln — in plain English, no spin.