Latest news with #LegislativeBill89
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pillen signs law defining male, female for Nebraska K-12 and college sports
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area, left, joins with former student-athletes Payton McNabb (North Carolina) and Riley Gaines (University of Kentucky) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln student-athletes Jordy Bahl (Huskers softball) and Rebekah Allick (Huskers volleyball) for the signing of a bill led by Kauth to require student-athletes wishing to play in competitive sports in Nebraska to play on teams matching their sex at birth. June 4, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's signature Wednesday was the final hurdle to legally requiring that all student-athletes competing in public K-12 or college sports this fall must do so on the team that matches their sex at birth. Pillen's approval of Legislative Bill 89, the 'Stand With Women Act' from State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area, allows it to take effect Sept. 3. That's three months after the Legislature adjourned Monday. Kauth, who joined Pillen for the bill signing, said schools and colleges have been anticipating the legislation. She hopes it won't take that long for them to comply. 'The work is not done. We're going to continue,' Kauth said at the Wednesday signing ceremony. Kauth confirmed that she would try again in the 2026 legislative session to set similar sex-based legal restrictions on school bathrooms and locker rooms, which LB 89 originally sought. State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, one of the 33 Republicans to support LB 89, did so only after those provisions were taken out. He had said he did not want to be part of the 'Nebraska State Potty Patrol.' Riepe previously said LB 89 took care of locker rooms indirectly and that he was against turning the Legislature into a 'vehicle for fear, overreach and culture war crusades.' 'LB 89, as amended, respects that line,' Riepe said during the bill's May 14 debate. 'It focuses on competition, not surveillance. It protects sports, not panic.' Kauth said she would continue working with Riepe on future legislation. Pillen, a defensive back for the Cornhuskers from 1975 to 1978, said sports are 'Life 101,' helping someone learn to get up after getting knocked down, 'dust ourselves off and keep going harder the next day.' Pillen said he remembers life before the landmark federal Title IX protections passed in 1972 and embraced women's sports. He said LB 89 is a 'fair playing ground.' As he told the Nebraska Examiner in April, Pillen said Wednesday that he's confident bathrooms will be addressed 'in the meantime' before Kauth tries again in 2026. 'I have confidence that most of the young boys and men in Nebraska know right and wrong, and they'll take care of whoever tries to go in the locker room or restroom [they're not supposed to], because it is silly that we should be having these conversations,' Pillen said. Asked by reporters what he meant, Pillen said it was 'common sense' that men and boys don't go into female restrooms or locker rooms. He declined to explain what he envisioned but said he was not suggesting violence. 'Never had a thought of promoting violence to any human being ever,' Pillen told reporters. State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, who led opposition to LB 89, said last week that such a position is calling for 'outright physical violence' against transgender youth. 'If I said in the news that I'm going to 'take care of' the governor for doing something I don't like, what do you think would happen? Would I get a visit?' Hunt posted on X, formerly Twitter. Hunt during debate said the law signaled a willingness to 'prioritize political theater over actual governance, that we are willing to criminalize difference, that we will twist Title IX, which was meant to expand opportunity for everybody, into a tool of exclusion.' Under the 'Stand With Women Act,' 'sex' will be defined in state law as whether someone 'naturally has, had, will or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes' either eggs (female, woman or girl) or sperm (male, man or boy) for fertilization. Public school competitive sports would be restricted to students' sex at birth, for males or females only, unless the sport is coed/mixed. Exceptions will be made for sports with no female equivalent team, such as football. Private schools would need to adopt a similar policy if student-athletes compete against public institutions. A student-athlete would need to verify sex at birth with a doctor's note before participating in single-sex sports. Kauth said she envisions such verification coming during a student's physical exam, while opponents such as Hunt say it normalizes questioning someone's appearance. All 245 public school districts in the state, as well as community colleges, state colleges and the University of Nebraska, would need to adopt a policy complying with the new law. Enforcement of the new law would be left up to each school district. Pillen said there would be consequences if schools choose not to comply. Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who pushed for similar laws in many states, joined the bill signing and thanked Pillen for his stewardship and Kauth for being relentless. Kauth first proposed the bill in 2023, when Pillen took office. In August 2023, Gaines spoke to Nebraskans and urged support for Kauth's legislation, calling it 'spiritual warfare.' Just three days after Gaines' speech, Pillen signed a 'Woman's Bill of Rights' administratively defining 'male' and 'female' for state agencies. The executive order remains in effect until a law addressing private female spaces, such as the original LB 89, is passed. 'I don't think there's, truthfully, a more worthy cause than to be here in Lincoln today with you guys, watching as Nebraska becomes the 28th state to protect women's sports,' Gaines said. 'Congratulations to Nebraskans across the state, to women across the state.' Also speaking Wednesday was former high school student-athlete Payton McNabb of North Carolina. She said she planned to play collegiately until a severe injury in her senior year, when a volleyball spiked by an opposing player who was trans hit McNabb's face. Gaines, in her previous Nebraska visit, spoke about the need for locker room protections after she saw male genitalia in a women's locker room. McNabb said she was accused of sexual harassment by a man in a college women's bathroom but was cleared of wrongdoing in January. 'Unfortunately, I've experienced this gender ideology push in more than one way, and it's just not fair,' McNabb said. 'No other girl should ever go through that.' Local college athletes Jordy Bahl (Huskers softball) and Rebekah Allick (Huskers volleyball) also joined the signing. They were present when Kauth introduced the bill in January, which they said wasn't about politics. 'We're trying to defend reality, which is such a crazy fight that we have to fight, and though the opposition may not see it now, I think somewhere deep in their soul, they know,' Allick said, adding that later on, opponents will see the legislation was 'in their best interest.' A lead Nebraska opponent, executive director Abbi Swatsworth of the nonprofit OutNebraska, said she was disappointed Wednesday by the LB 89 signing. Swatsworth noted it comes as many families are celebrating Pride and 'grappling with the reality of this harmful legislation.' 'Despite this harmful legislation, we stand together stronger this Pride. To the youth and their families who are struggling: We are with you. We will continue fighting this fight because you belong — yesterday, today and always,' Swatsworth said in a statement. 'Trans people are brilliant, beautiful and resilient, and they belong here in our state.' OutNebraska also shared support hotline numbers for the Trevor Project (1-866-488-7386), National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988) and Trans Lifeline (877-565-8860). SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lawmakers define male, female in Nebraska law for school sports
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, center, joins Gov. Jim Pillen and First Lady Suzanne Pillen at a Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, news conference. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — All Nebraska student-athletes will soon be legally required to play on interscholastic sports teams based on the student's sex at birth under a legislative bill passed Wednesday at the governor's urging. Legislative Bill 89, the 'Stand With Women Act' from State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area, passed 33-16 after a one-hour debate. Speaker John Arch of La Vista limited the length of time for the third round of debate by labeling the bill as 'controversial and emotionally charged.' Nebraska will join more than two dozen states with similar laws already on the books. While LB 89's passage is good, Kauth said, it's not the finish line. 'We're kind of in a marathon,' Kauth told the Nebraska Examiner. 'We're at mile three or four.' Gov. Jim Pillen after the vote confirmed he would sign the bill into law. He said the 'legislative win' would lead to 'many more victories for Nebraska's female athletes, as we ensure a level and fair playing field for all girls who compete.' State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, who again led opposition to LB 89, said the bill was about 'exploiting women's sports as a proxy to attack transgender people,' particularly children, and a push for 'authoritarianism.' 'It signals that we are willing to prioritize political theater over actual governance, that we are willing to criminalize difference, that we will twist Title IX, which was meant to expand opportunity for everybody, into a tool of exclusion,' Hunt said. 'This bill is not about sports, and it's not about protecting women.' Under the bill, 'sex' would be defined as whether someone 'naturally has, had, will or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes' either eggs (female, woman or girl) or sperm (male, man or boy) for fertilization. Public school competitive sports would be restricted to students' sex at birth, for males or females only, unless the sport is coed/mixed. There would be an exception for sports with no female equivalent team, such as football. Private schools would need to adopt a similar policy if student-athletes compete against public institutions. A student-athlete would need to verify sex at birth with a doctor's note before participating in single-sex sports. Kauth said she envisions such verification coming during a student's physical exam. State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha said seventh grade physicians don't include a 'genital inspection' — which Kauth repeats her bill does not require — and that the bill 'does not specify that the doctor has to adhere to the definition of sex that you put into this.' 'It just says that they have to answer that question,' Cavanaugh said. 'In your rush to get this done, to get something to check a box, you haven't even done it well.' All 245 public school districts in the state, as well as community colleges, state colleges and the University of Nebraska, would need to adopt a policy complying with the new law. Enforcement of the new law would be left up to each individual school district. The bill mirrors the current status quo for Nebraska schools after the Nebraska School Activities Association ended a Gender Participation Policy that had been in place since 2016. Fewer than 10 students had applied and been approved under the policy, which offered a narrow path for transgender students to participate in sports matching their gender identity. The National Collegiate Athletic Association made a similar change earlier this year. Both athletic associations changed their policies following executive orders from President Donald Trump to administratively define sex as binary. Pillen issued a similar executive order in 2023 that continues to apply to most state agencies. Kauth's LB 89 would have originally applied to school and college bathrooms and locker rooms, but at the request of State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, a decisive vote for overcoming a filibuster, the bill was limited to sports. 'Sometimes making incremental steps is the best way to go,' Kauth said May 14, when the Riepe amendment moved forward to keep LB 89 moving. The bill required at least 33 votes to move forward in the face of opposition, meaning Kauth needed Riepe or one Democratic lawmaker in his place. All Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill, as did Hunt, a nonpartisan progressive. State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City, the only LB 89 supporter to speak during the limited debate, said the law 'protects fairness, safety and opportunity for our female athletes.' 'This isn't about exclusion,' he said. 'It's about ensuring our daughters, sisters and friends have a level playing field to compete, succeed and shine.' Kauth said she was 'a bit disappointed' about not being able to address school bathrooms or locker rooms this year but that she would bring those issues back in 2026. She said she and Riepe have discussed what comes next and that he has mentioned he wants to watch and see what happens in the next year, which would help determine Kauth's next steps. Riepe said May 14 that he would not support bathroom restrictions because he was against turning the Legislature into a 'vehicle for fear, overreach and culture war crusades.' 'I did not run for office to become part of the 'Nebraska State Potty Patrol,'' Riepe said during the most recent debate. Pillen, speaking with the Nebraska Examiner in April, said he would accept the pared-back LB 89 'if that's where it ends up.' He said if a boy goes into a woman's restroom, 'the rest of the boys will take care of him.' Kauth said LB 89 would prevent self-policing and that a 'high-trust society' would give faith that someone under her law is on the 'right' sports team, or as in her larger bill, the 'right' bathroom. Some opponents, such as Hunt and Cavanaugh, have said Kauth's bill would lead to questions of whether anyone is allowed in the 'right' bathroom or locker room, regardless of their sex or gender identity, based on their appearance. State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha said that someday soon the 'fog' against transgender Nebraskans would lift and supporters of Kauth's bill would move on to the next 'craze.' However, he said, lawmakers would be left with the 'rubble' and how they voted. 'It's a political football. It's using a community as a pawn, and it's doing so at a time when frankly the house is on fire and it's essentially saying, 'Don't look over here, let's talk about this.' And real people, real Nebraskans, are the collateral damage of that type of activity.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers narrow, advance bill to define male and female in Nebraska law for school sports
State Sens. Merv Riepe of Ralston and Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area meet on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature. April 22, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — A bill seeking to define 'male' and 'female' in Nebraska law advanced Wednesday for K-12 and collegiate sports teams alone, no longer for school bathrooms, school locker rooms or state agencies. State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston ultimately supported Legislative Bill 89, the 'Stand With Women Act,' on the condition that his amendment was adopted to limit the bill to sports. He said the amended bill preserves athletic competition without a 'moral panic' against transgender Nebraskans. 'I did not run for office to become part of the 'Nebraska State Potty Patrol,'' said Riepe, who publicly requested the change last month. Riepe's amendment was adopted 34-8. The bill advanced 33-15. The 'panic,' Riepe said, 'is no different' than when some people justified 'government overreach' to argue that video games make people violent, rock music leads to devil worship and comic books corrupt youth. He said 'reason eventually won out' and 'cooler heads prevailed' in those cases. Under the bill, a student-athlete would need to verify their sex at birth with a doctor's note before they could participate in single-sex sports, which State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area, LB 89's sponsor, envisioned would come during a student's physical exam. Public school sports would be restricted to students' sex assigned at birth, for males or females only, unless coed/mixed. There would be an exception if there is no female equivalent team, such as football. Private schools competing against public institutions would need to do the same. 'Sex' would be defined as whether someone 'naturally has, had, will or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes' either eggs (female, woman or girl) or sperm (male, man or boy) for fertilization. Kauth, who designated LB 89 as her 2025 priority, said her bill was about 'common sense' and 'adherence to biology' while establishing protections for women and girls. She said she was grateful to Riepe, and while she wished the bill could remain in full, she respected Riepe and said, 'Sometimes making incremental steps is the best way to go.' Kauth said she would return in 2026 and try again for bathrooms and locker rooms, which Riepe said he would not support. He said LB 89 indirectly took care of locker rooms and that he was against turning the Legislature into a 'vehicle for fear, overreach and culture war crusades.' 'LB 89, as amended, respects that line,' Riepe said during debate. 'It focuses on competition, not surveillance. It protects sports, not panic.' Gov. Jim Pillen, speaking with the Nebraska Examiner a few weeks ago, said he would accept the pared-back LB 89 'if that's where it ends up.' He said that if a boy goes into a woman's restroom, 'the rest of the boys will take care of him.' Kauth said LB 89 would prevent that self-policing and that a 'high-trust society' would give faith that someone under her bill is on the right sports team, or as in the larger bill, bathroom. Some opponents, such as State Sens. Megan Hunt and John Cavanaugh, both of Omaha, have said Kauth's bill would require policing on whether anyone is allowed in the 'right' bathroom or locker room and would be discriminatory against transgender Nebraskans. Still, opponents to LB 89 did not block Riepe's amendment — State Sens. Jane Raybould of Lincoln and Dan Quick of Grand Island even voted for the amendment, despite not voting to advance the bill later. Progressives, such as State Sens. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, George Dungan of Lincoln and Victor Rountree of Bellevue, instead took time to speak directly to transgender Nebraskans and their families, knowing they couldn't stop the bill. Conrad said that in more than a decade in public life, she'd never seen one group of Nebraskans and their families suddenly 'under attack by their government.' She said opponents would 'lean in with more love and light when faced with darkness.' 'Those of us who stand on the right side of history and in support of human rights will not stop until each member of the human family is afforded equal rights and human rights,' said Conrad, who previously led the ACLU of Nebraska. 'I thank you for your love and compassion in the face of hate and harm.' Rountree said that as a pastor, he would stand with love 'because Jesus loved us all.' State Sen. Dan Lonowski of Hastings, a former public school teacher, said the bill wasn't about discrimination and noted that he would often have LGBTQ students eat in his classroom over lunch because they didn't want to eat in the full cafeteria. He said it didn't matter his political affiliation and that it was about giving those students space. State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte said that if someone wants to be transgender, 'be transgender,' and if they want to play sports, they can, just on the team corresponding to their sex. Kauth and State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman said it was 'shocking' that lawmakers needed to defend women's rights, and Kauth said LB 89 sought to prevent discrimination against women. The pair called out Dungan, who said lawmakers needed to 'shut up' and leave the issue alone. Storer said it was 'gaslighting' to suggest that supporters had 'hate' in their hearts, which she denied. 'I see the faces of beautiful women disappearing, being erased, so they're supposed to step aside, be quiet, sit down, shut up, for fear of being called out for 'hating,'' Storer said. She added: 'You can defend the rights of women and not hate transgender, and I don't hate anyone.' Sen. John Cavanaugh said he didn't think the problem was 'hatred' or 'discrimination,' while he thought there might be some 'misunderstanding' of what 'discrimination' means legally. 'I think this is an unwillingness to get to know people,' he said. Hunt said children just wanted 'the freedom to play with their friends without being politicized.' Dungan said 'all they're asking is to be left alone.' Cavanaugh pointed to the biblical commandment to 'love thy neighbor as thyself,' and that when he met families who would be hurt by LB 89, they were 'just regular Nebraska families.' He said that while with Riepe's amendment the bill is 'less harmful,' trans children would still be hurt. 'If people have hurt your feelings by saying that you are 'hateful' and 'discriminatory,' then I'm sorry,' Cavanaugh said, 'but do not take that out on these children.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Paid sick leave and better health care would help Nebraska women
The Nebraska State Capitol on Jan. 18, 2022, in Lincoln. (Rebecca S. Gratz for Nebraska Examiner) For 35 years, the Women's Fund of Omaha has worked on issues foundational to achieving gender equity. We advocate for public policies that ensure all women and girls can reach their full potential. Our expertise in policy advocacy includes helping to pass legislation that supports survivors of sexual violence, provides pathways to economic security and creates solutions to problems set up by systems that were never meant for us. Unfortunately, very few bills prioritized and championed by legislators this session support women, especially ones like Legislative Bill 89 that claim in name but fail to make any real positive impact in our lives. This so-called 'Stand With Women Act' would, if it becomes law, let politicians decide who is 'male' and 'female' and ban a very small number transgender people from certain bathrooms and sports teams. While some members of the Legislature spend a lot of time saying they 'stand with women' and want to 'protect women,' they fail to pass policies that provide us with paid leave when we are sick or caring for our young children and aging parents. They refuse to center our right to bodily autonomy and continue to restrict access to reproductive health care, inserting themselves into our most personal decisions and stripping us of our privacy. They attempt to overturn our vote to raise the minimum wage, which impacts our ability to pay rent or put food on our tables. They use the weight of the government to tell us what it means to be a woman, while we've been living our lives all these years experiencing the ramifications of their votes. Nebraska lawmakers could be doing so much more to support women in our state and create meaningful change in our lives. But they will fail again if they use the limited days left of this session attempting to pass legislation like LB 89 while claiming to support us. The bill will not protect us. It will not improve our lives in any measurable way. We know who perpetuates gender-based violence in our communities, and we can clearly see who and what systems are impeding our progress. For too long, lawmakers have attempted to distract and divide our energy. The Nebraska Legislature has pretended to care about us while taking away our rights or failing to pass the policies we need to support ourselves and our families, including those we voted for directly on the ballot. To the women of Nebraska and our allies, it's time to remember just what and who we are fighting for: equal pay for equal work, the ability to safely raise our families, the right to decide when and if to become a parent, the privacy to make our own medical decisions, fair workplaces and communities free from violence. To Nebraska lawmakers: We are at a critical point in our state's history, and in our work to protect and advance gender equity. Are you ready to pass meaningful legislation that supports all women? We are beyond ready. Jo Giles is executive director of the Women's Fund of Omaha. She has worked as a policy and training director for the Coalition for a Strong Nebraska and for years in media relations. She serves on multiple boards.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to define male, female in state law advances in Nebraska Legislature
State Sens. Merv Riepe of Ralston and Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area meet on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature. April 22, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — State lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday seeking to define 'male' and 'female' in state law targeted for K-12 or collegiate bathrooms, sports teams and locker rooms. Legislative Bill 89, the 'Stand With Women Act' from State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, advanced 33-16, with all 33 Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature uniting around the measure. LB 89 was introduced on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen as one of his 2025 priorities. Kauth said her bill was a 'testament' to the ongoing fight for women's rights and equality, including in sports, and that it was 'astounding that women are having to relitigate this discussion to hold on to these hard-fought rights.' 'Women's rights to privacy, safety and opportunity should never be considered secondary to the rights of men,' Kauth said. State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a nonpartisan progressive, led the opposition to LB 89. She said supporters had a 'whole crayon box of life' yet were choosing to use only 'two colors' and were acting like 'gender cops.' 'Trans kids existing in a restroom in a fourth grade classroom, it doesn't hurt anyone,' Hunt said. 'But forcing them out, singling them out, humiliating them, that does cause harm. We don't get to legislate someone's identity just because some people feel uneasy.' State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston filed an amendment seeking to only focus on sports. While it did not come up Tuesday, he and Kauth said they would work together on a path forward ahead of the second-round debate. Riepe has repeatedly said that if the bill were limited to sports, it would have his support. Thirty-three votes are needed to shut off debate and invoke 'cloture' after a set amount of time. The bill advances to the second of up to three rounds of debate. It will face up to two hours of debate during the second debate. Under a proposed committee amendment, adopted 33-11, sex would be defined as whether someone 'naturally has, had, will or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes' either eggs (female, woman or girl) or sperm (male, man or boy) for fertilization. Public schools and postsecondary institutions would be required to pass policies complying with the law if they don't already have such language. Bathrooms and locker rooms would need to be designated as 'male' or 'female' only, unless they are single occupancy. Family use bathrooms would have been an additional option. Public school sports would be restricted to students' sex assigned at birth, for males or females only, unless coed/mixed. There would be an exception if there is no female equivalent team (such as football). Private schools competing against public institutions would need to do the same. A doctor would need to verify a student's sex before they could participate in single-sex sports under the amended LB 89. State agencies would also need to generally enforce any applicable rules, regulations or duties according to someone's sex, which Pillen already required in a 2023 executive order that he said would continue until a bill passed detailing single-sex requirements for certain services, facilities or sports — such as LB 89. State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha asked the reverse question to Kauth of young trans children and their families, many of whom he said he met with and feel as though their lives could be 'upended.' He said some parents are thinking of leaving Nebraska 'to keep their kids alive, to keep their kids in their life, to keep them happy.' State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of Omaha said a sign on a bathroom door would not stop someone who wants to cause harm, and State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha questioned the possible economic consequences of the bill. 'To me, the simple solution is to mind your own business,' said Juarez, a former school board member for Omaha Public Schools. Juarez quipped that after the 2025 session, she hopes she doesn't need 40 hours of therapy, referencing Kauth's 2023 bill that put in a requirement of 'gender-identity-focused' therapy for any minor seeking gender-related care. Multiple opponents questioned how the bill could be enforced. Kauth asked what the 'magic number' was for how many women or girls needed to feel scared or hurt before the Legislature should act. 'There is no number of women who should be discriminated against,' Kauth said. State Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk said that as his daughters were growing up they weren't comfortable undressing in the locker room with other girls or one another. He said he didn't know 'how we can say that these other things are fine.' State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City said LB 89 was not about 'exclusion,' which many other supporters echoed. 'It's about ensuring our daughters, sisters and friends have a level playing field to compete, succeed and shine,' he said. State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman said nothing of her support for LB 89 was 'rooted in hate or discrimination,' and she walked through major milestones in women's rights, from the first women's rights convention in 1848 and the right to vote in 1920 to the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. 'I stand in support of LB 89 not because I hate anybody,' Storer said. 'But I stand here in honor of the women that came before me.' State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, the Education Committee chair, said differences between male and female student-athletes were 'settled,' pointing to Nebraska high school track and field records online. He said Title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding, required federal action. Riepe and Tom Brandt of Plymouth, Republicans who declined to vote for a narrower proposal limited to K-12 sports and spaces in 2024, did so this time around. Brandt had previously voiced concern that the 2024 version did not cover parents of young children or caregivers of people with disabilities who were not the same sex. LB 89 provides an additional exception to the bathroom requirements in these cases. Riepe, throughout the 2025 session, has swung between 'leaning' for or against the bill and in January had described himself as a 'doubting Thomas' for the bill. On Tuesday, Riepe said his amendment was a 'personal compromise' that addressed his shared concern of 'preserving' the integrity of interscholastic K-12 sports. However, he said he didn't think that concern justified using state law to 'micromanage' bathrooms or locker rooms and that expecting beer leagues beyond interscholastic was 'unreasonable.' He said the agency section in the bill 'opens a can of worms' that lawmakers needed to further understand. Kauth has said the intention is, for example, prison housing assignments. ''Standing with women,' it sounds strong, it sounds so American, but it's not that easy, and it's much more serious and much more complicated,' Riepe said. Riepe added that an 'attorney friend' of his last week told him: 'When it comes to equal rights, your equity ends where my freedom begins.' If the bill is not narrowed during the second-round debate, Riepe said he is 'prepared' to oppose LB 89. The federal landscape was also very different this time around compared to 2024, with President Donald Trump and his officials threatening to pull federal funding if schools allowed transgender students to participate in sports according to their gender identity, not sex. In response, both the Nebraska School Activities Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association decided to restrict sports participation to student-athletes' sex assigned at birth. The Nebraska association, for example, had a nearly decade-old rigorous Gender Participation Policy that would allow transgender students to apply if they could, in effect, prove their gender identity. Trans girls also had to demonstrate that they had no 'physiological advantage' and had started hormone treatments or completed sex-reassignment surgery. Fewer than 10 students had applied for participation under the NSAA policy before its 'indefinite' end earlier this year, after Trump's order. Supporters said just one student was 'one too many' if it jeopardized other students' opportunities or privacy. Riepe was among senators who favored the NSAA route, and multiple state senators had proposed putting the requirements into law, including State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln. Kauth has repeatedly said that executive orders can be overturned and that the NSAA guidelines were not adequate. 'LB 89 aims to strike a balance between fairness, safety and equality,' Kauth said. 'It's a thoughtful and necessary measure that reaffirms the rights of women and girls in Nebraska to opportunity, privacy and safety.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
