Bill weakening Nebraska paid sick leave passes, but Dems stall effort to slow minimum wage growth

Yahoo

7 days ago

State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, center, talks with State Sens. Paul Strommen of Sidney and Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area on May 28, 2025. Raybould sponsored a measure to slow voter-approved minimum wage increases while Strommen sponsored a measure to weaken voter-approved paid sick leave. Kauth chairs the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — A majority of Nebraska Democrats and one Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature successfully blocked an attempt to add a proposal to slow the state's voter-approved minimum wage increases to a bill weakening voter-passed paid sick leave.
State Sen. Jane Raybould filed her once-defeated minimum wage proposal as an amendment to Lincoln State Sen. Beau Ballard's Legislative Bill 415 after Speaker John Arch decided not to reschedule her stand-alone bill due to time constraints.
Lawmakers were unable to consider the amendment — which was likely to pass — because Democratic-aligned lawmakers had already filed several motions to filibuster Ballard's original proposal.
Raybould said her reason for wanting to act now had to do with the political dynamics facing her bill if the lawmakers wait. She said it would be harder to reduce pay for young people after the fact.
Raybould's revived proposal, in its current form, would shrink the wage increases by setting the annual increase at 1.75%. It also would create a youth minimum wage and amend a separate state training wage.
Raybould and supporters of her measure said her changes would protect small businesses that could not afford to pay more. Lawmakers against the legislative effort to slow wage growth said they were defending the people's will.
'Despite continued efforts to walk back the voice of the people, I'm glad that we were at least able to fight for everyday working Nebraskans by stopping this attack on minimum wage.' State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln said after the vote.
Raybould pushed back by saying Nebraska lawmakers aren't trying to undermine what voters approved the way Missouri and some other state Legislatures have done in recent months. Missouri recently repealed a paid sick leave law that voters approved just months before.
'We care about our working families,' Raybould said during the LB 415 debate. 'These two bills help our Nebraska families.'
Worker advocates and union leaders have spoken out against the paid sick leave and mimmutin wage changes as attempts to undermine voters. Ballard had previously said he didn't consider Raybould's amendment unfriendly and would have supported it.
'It was worth a swing,' Ballard told the Examiner.
Even though Democratic-aligned lawmakers blocked Raybould's amendment from being considered the GOP majority passed Ballard's proposal 33-15. It adds new restrictions to the paid sick leave law Nebraska voters approved last year, which has yet to be implemented.
LB 415 would remove the voter-approved law's blanket sick leave requirements, letting employers offer no paid sick leave to young teens, ages 14 and 15, and none to temporary workers, seasonal agricultural workers and workers at the state's smallest businesses, those with 10 or fewer employees.
Ballard said the proposal intends to clarify and make the ballot measure 'more feasible' and workable for businesses.
Passage of LB 415 is the latest part of a trend of the GOP-led Legislature pushing back against a handful of ballot measures passed by Nebraska voters. Targets this year include voter efforts to require paid sick leave, raise the minimum wage, repeal school vouchers and legalize and regulate medical marijuana.
Raybould's stand-alone bill will most likely be voted on next session. Though highly unlikely, Arch could change his mind about scheduling it.
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