22-03-2025
Bedbug bill aimed at helping Omaha public housing residents gains traction in Legislature
Bedbugs have been a complaint at a dozen Omaha Housing Authority sites. One of the bugs is shown in some bedding. (Stock photo by)
LINCOLN — A now-broader bedbug bill is gaining traction in the Nebraska Legislature as Omaha lawmakers seek to stomp out the blood-sucking parasites and other problems that might creep out public housing residents in the state's largest city.
'What we hear is horrific,' said State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha. 'And we, as a legislative body, can't just sit by and do nothing.'
Boosted to priority status by the Legislature's Urban Affairs Committee, Legislative Bill 287 has been amended and combined with LB 514 to seek quicker and better remedies to bedbug infestation and other concerns voiced by low-income residents of the Omaha Housing Authority, primarily those who live in publicly subsidized apartment towers.
State legislators Thursday advanced to another level in the lawmaking process the reinforced and amended LB 287 in a 29-1 vote.
The proposed intervention follows public outcry by OHA residents and advocates, including a class-action lawsuit led by 17 current or former residents of 10 public housing high-rise apartments represented by attorney and former State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha and two Iowa lawyers that specialize in bedbug cases.
That complaint, filed in Douglas County District Court, seeks death for the bugs, at the expense of the public housing authority, and monetary damages for what the attorneys say could be as many as 1,700 past and present residents. The lawsuit included photos of bedbugs and scabby tenant arms, alleging the infestation dates back to 2016.
Among key elements of the legislation under consideration by Nebraska senators — and resisted by Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and several city council members — is an option for the City of Omaha to step in and regulate OHA in areas such as providing for pest control, inspections, penalties for code violations and requiring monthly updates to the city council.
But State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha told his colleagues that the option allows a city discretion to take more local control. There's been 'a lot of kicking back and forth of who's responsible' and the option, he said, would eliminate the reason the city has given for not engaging more in an oversight role.
'They claim they don't have the authority this bill would grant them,' said Cavanaugh, an Urban Affairs committee member. 'It just takes away their opportunity to say, 'We can't do that.''
In a two-page missive to lawmakers, City Attorney Matthew Kuhse said that even though Omaha's mayor appoints and the city council confirms OHA board members, the housing authority is a separate legal entity and that any additional oversight or regulations should be done by the Legislature.
Kuhse cited the the Nebraska Housing Agency Act, passed in 1999, and said passage of those standardized local housing rules and procedures makes the Nebraska Legislature — not the city — responsible for additional oversight.
'Abdicating that authority to the City of Omaha is not appropriate,' he wrote.
Bedbugs prompt lawsuit, new potential law aimed at Omaha Housing Authority
Jennifer Taylor, an assistant Omaha city attorney who serves on the Omaha Housing Authority Board, spoke earlier to the Urban Affairs Committee, clarifying that she spoke in her capacity as an OHA board member.
She said the OHA is about 90% funded and 'heavily regulated' by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and risks financial cuts if it fails federal inspections on a repeated basis. She said housing units managed or owned by the housing authority' also are to comply with city codes.
Taylor said the OHA has no qualms with being accountable, but noted that its funding comes obligated to specified uses. She said OHA provides third-party and in-house pest control service, but noted that the agency's high-rises — where the bedbug complaints are most prominent — are old and that the agency is seeking funds to modernize them.
'To add one more layer of government oversight just makes things more complicated, difficult, expensive and time-consuming for the housing authority,' she said.
McKinney, however, said the bed bug problem in particular has persisted despite ongoing complaints to OHA and the city about residents suffering from what experts describe as hitchhiking and fast-spreading parasites that cause physical pain and mental anguish.
State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha said the proposed legislation 'gives permission' for Omaha leadership to help remedy problems for the city's most vulnerable residents.
'It is disappointing the city does not see the potential with this,' she said. 'But I appreciate this body and Urban Affairs creating an opportunity for the city to step up and engage, without creating an unfunded mandate.'
To the pushback from city officials, McKinney asked: 'What skin in the game should they have to hold OHA accountable?'
He said the Legislature should take some responsibility, but underscored that the mayor and city council appoint commissioners and are 'closer to the situation than we are.'
McKinney said he targeted the legislation to Omaha, but was open to broadening to other communities and their public housing authorities. Included in the amended bill also was a measure by State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue unrelated to the OHA and involving sanitary improvement districts.
While much of the public criticism of OHA has been about bedbugs, McKinney outlined a few other 'critical issues' he believes still require action, including 'poor living conditions' of residents with public housing vouchers in downtown Omaha.
Among other provisions of the proposed legislation require that OHA:
Before renting a unit, visually inspect it for evidence of bedbugs and disclose to the prospective tenant if a nearby dwelling is infested or being treated for the bugs.
Upon notice that a person suspects an infestation, inspect within 10 days and provide remedial services from a professional pest control company within 21 days.
Inspect or obtain professional service for neighboring units within 10 days of a notice.
Be responsible for the costs of investigating and remediating bedbug infestations.
Omaha lawyer and OHA Chairman David Levy, in a hearing before the Urban Affairs Committee, said he has reached out to state lawmakers and is happy to continue discussions.
'We want this problem to go away as much as anybody else,' he said. 'It's a very difficult problem.'
OHA chief executive officer Joanie Balk has said the agency takes the safety of tenants and treatment of all pests seriously. She said the agency had started to install heat treatment rooms in addition to the pest control teams.
State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney — who was originally a no-vote when the committee advanced the amended proposal to the full Legislature — told lawmakers Thursday he is now a supporter.
Upon further consideration, he said that while the measure could lead to additional responsibility and cost for the City of Omaha, it allows Omaha leaders the option, should they accept, to get more involved with the local housing agency.
'They just can't pass the buck so to speak,' he said.
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