Number of new laws should be noted in Washington

Yahoo

19-05-2025

The Nebraska State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
The Nebraska Legislature last week sent 31 bills to Gov. Jim Pillen for his signature to transform them into state laws. If you're keeping score at home (Pro tip: You should be.), that's nearly six times more than the U.S. Congress has sent along to the president to become federal law as of this writing.
And one of those was a simple continuing resolution, which meant Washington pols couldn't agree on how to fund the government, so they did some can-kicking down the road towards a place called Do Nothing Congressville.
Federal lawmakers would do well to emulate the Unicameral's 2025 output. That said, the measures that landed on Pillen's desk — despite earning enough votes to arrive there — surely came with a variety of opinions about either their efficacy or their expedience. Some good. Some not so. A couple stinkers.
Obviously, the governor could veto any of them. Suffice to say, however, that the ideas and principles contained within those 31 were something enough state senators liked.
A drone's eye view of the proceedings reveal what you might expect: We're against smut, illicit drugs and thieves, and we're for interruption-free school days and lowering property taxes.
Some were even legislative slam dunks, passing 49-0. Still others were big vote getters such as LB 383, which requires you to be at least 18 to establish a social media account and prohibits the use of AI to generate pornographic images of minors. We're also about to codify what many school districts already do: ban cell phones in public schools during the day, and to just say no to sales of lab-grown meat, making sure our cheeseburgers have parents other than petri dishes.
Among the senators' handiwork was a dead aim at assorted crooks and ne'er do wells who use ATM and gas pump skimmers and their felonious brothers and sisters in the business of shoplifting for profit: stealing and then reselling or fencing the pilfered goods. One bill, LB 230, regulates the sale of tianeptine, known as 'gas station heroin,' sold as a dietary supplement but which can be dangerous, even deadly.
A two-year budget closed a looming deficit for now, and some property tax relief may be on the way, but some other high profile subjects were left in committee or on the legislative chamber floor for lack of votes. Such is a representative form of government.
Senators also found a number of devils in the details of trying to mitigate the will of Nebraska voters by tweaking the minimum wage law, which voters approved at the ballot box. Playing footsie with ways to diminish the wishes of voters never plays well in the Legislature, despite new and creative ways to dress up the idea.
Even LB 89, among the session's most contentious proposals, the 'Stand With Women Act' has — thankfully —moved away from policing bathrooms and locker areas to address only the 'fairness' issue through a gender lens in high school and college athletics. That alone is one of modern society's stickiest wickets, so getting off the toilet and locker snide was a reasonable step for legislators.
Nevertheless, to my knowledge, during the entire discussion and debate of LB 89, little if any evidence was provided that men were regularly using women's bathrooms in Nebraska … or anyplace else for that matter. While I've read of no particularly solid, universal solution to the transgender athletes and competitive sports conundrum, the incessant attention the Legislature has paid to this issue — not uncommon among state legislatures — can work against those in the transgender community as they feel put upon and devalued.
Finding legislation that addresses these issues without such side effects would be a real legislative triumph. Thinking it can be done is a start.
Finally, if we really want to stand with women, we should do so comprehensively. To their credit, lawmakers did just that when they voted 49-0 for LB 78, which gives housing support to survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking.
Protecting young women from unfairness on the playing fields or intruders in their private spaces may be one thing, but in a state where, according to the World Population Review, over a third of Nebraska women have experienced domestic abuse, including intimate partner violence, standing with women should include working to reduce that number, too.
The Legislature will still add to the pile on the governor's desk. To the state's Congressional delegation and the other 430 elected to do the people's business: Take note.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX