Latest news with #MervRiepe
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- General
- Boston Globe
Nebraska is the latest state to ban transgender students from girls' sports
Sponsors agreed to drop the bathroom and locker room ban when one Republican — Omaha Sen. Merv Riepe — declared he would vote against it otherwise. Advertisement The measure was first introduced in 2023 by then-freshman Sen. Kathleen Kauth, but failed to advance as lawmakers angrily argued over Kauth's other bill that sought to bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors under the age of 19. An amended version that banned gender-affirming surgery — but not all gender-affirming care — for minors later passed and was enacted that year. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up On Wednesday, Kauth promised to revive her bathroom and locker room ban next year, reiterating her rejection that people can determine their own gender. 'Men are men and women are women,' she said, and urged voters in Riepe's district to pressure him to support it. Republicans behind the sports ban say it protects women and girls and their ability to fairly compete in sports. Opponents say with so few transgender students seeking to participate in sports, the measure is a solution in search of a problem. Advertisement Fewer than 10 transgender students have participated in middle school and high school sports in the state over the past decade, according to the Nebraska School Activities Association. At least 24 other states have adopted similar bans. President Donald Trump also signed an executive order this year intended to dictate which sports competitions transgender athletes can enter and has battled in court with Maine over that state's allowing transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska denounced the measure. ACLU Nebraska Executive Director Mindy Rush Chipman said the ban 'slams the door shut' for some transgender students to fully participate in their school communities. 'This ban will only create problems, not solve any,' Rush Chipman said, adding that 'the constant targeting of LGBTQ+ Nebraskans must stop.'
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
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
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Sen. Merv Riepe still the center of attention in Nebraska Legislature
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, in his seventh year in the Nebraska Legislature, stands by a portrait in his Lincoln office memorializing his first campaign for the Legislature in 2014, including photos of his two grandchildren. Riepe served in the Legislature from 2015 to 2019, and he returned in 2023 with an independent streak in his service. March 11, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — State Sen. Merv Riepe, the Ralston lawmaker at the nexus of controversy the past three years since returning to the Nebraska Legislature, isn't afraid to go against his Republican colleagues. Riepe returned to the Legislature in January 2023 after losing a reelection bid to his predecessor in 2018. While his first term was more in line with the then-Nebraska Republican Party — which he notes was different, too — his return has positioned him differently, as more of an independent thinker and pivotal vote on many proposals, earning him the short-lived title of 'Hot Merv Summer.' From new abortion restrictions, Medicaid expansion and gender-related care to sports and bathrooms for transgender students, winner-take-all and criminal justice for teen offenders, the 82-year-old Riepe found a spotlight he says he never intended to seek. 'Hell no,' he says when asked whether he sought to often be the key '33rd vote' — the threshold to cut off debate on contentious measures. But he's not bashful in doing so. 'If I'm the 33rd vote to kill something, then I say, 'OK.' If I feel strongly about it, I will do that, regardless of what the consequences are,' Riepe told the Nebraska Examiner during a two-hour interview in his office last month. 'The only rule I've ever had is anyone can say anything about me, just don't say anything about my mom,' he continued. 'I don't want to be on the bench. I want to be in the game.' Nearly two years from when he killed a near-total abortion ban, and more than a year since he withheld a vote a sponsor needed to advance the 'Sports and Spaces Act' to restrict K-12 bathrooms and sports to students' sex at birth, Riepe's more independent flame could burn bright again this week. Tuesday marks a four-hour debate on Legislative Bill 3, which seeks to return Nebraska to 'winner-take-all' for its five Electoral College votes. Currently, just Nebraska and Maine split two presidential votes for the statewide winner and one presidential vote for the winner of each congressional district. Nebraska has split its votes three times — 2008, 2020 and 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris won Riepe's Ralston and Omaha district in November by 2.3% over President Donald Trump. She also won the 'blue dot' in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District. Riepe is the only Republican in the Legislature representing a Harris-won legislative district. Yet Tuesday won't be the first time Riepe has voted on winner-take-all. He supported the change all four times it came up for a vote in 2015 and 2016. He also voted for it last year on a procedural attempt by former State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar to attach the proposal to a different bill. In an April 2024 floor speech on Slama's efforts, Riepe said: 'A vote for winner-take-all might be the one critical vote to keep Sleepy Joe from the White House.' Riepe is four months older than former President Joe Biden. Last September, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., went to the Nebraska Governor's Mansion to give Gov. Jim Pillen backup in the continued push, connecting Riepe and Trump on a brief call. Riepe said Trump praised the governor and added: 'Senator Riepe, I've heard of you.' 'He never heard of me,' Riepe recalled last month with a laugh. 'I'm not so vain that I think that he — it was just what you say when you're schmoozing with someone.' Riepe that day signed on to support winner-take-all that fall, but Riepe said Pillen 'naively' took that signature as indicative of future support, which he called a 'bad assumption.' Pillen and his team shared screenshots of Riepe's past votes and the signature this weekend. 'It's like an Etch A Sketch, you pull it and it's gone, and we start over,' Riepe said. 'I don't consider that a flip-flop. I consider it a situational decision.' What was the difference in 2024? Harris and Biden. Riepe felt strongly that Harris was not 'even remotely qualified' and might be a 'puppet for some behind-the-scene bureaucratic process.' He said he refused to live with the idea that Nebraska's 'blue dot' could decide the election. Riepe gave Trump his vote, both in the pledged signature to Pillen and later at the ballot box. He said he wasn't 'head over heels' for Trump. But he was firmly against Harris. 'To keep her from coming in there if it meant my vote, I would throw myself on the fire to do that,' Riepe said. Riepe said he feels that people in his district want to keep the district model. Civic Nebraska hosted a 'community conversation' Monday night urging Nebraskans to share support for the current electoral method. Riepe said he had planned to attend that event in his district. Maine leaders have vowed to follow Nebraska if winner-take-all is enacted, Riepe noted, which he argued would be a 'sum-zero game.' 'So what have we done? We've just stirred the beehive for no honey,' Riepe said. Riepe described politics as a bell curve where most people fall in the center. He said he doesn't 'subscribe' to what he often considers 'extreme positions' of the NEGOP platform. State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, a farmer in his seventh year at the statehouse, said Riepe brings perspectives that he leans on. He calls Riepe a 'fun guy' with a 'thick hide.' 'He makes up his mind and he sticks with it, I really admire that about him,' Brandt said. 'It would take some very solid logic to get him off of his position.' State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, who was elected alongside Riepe in 2022, described Riepe as a 'fiscal hawk' and said that 'for being the oldest senator, he has the strongest backbone.' Riepe described his political position as 'center, slightly right.' He has often said he's a 'compassionate conservative.' He considers himself moderate but isn't a typical swing vote. Brandt and others have similarly fallen into the 'moderate' category, but he rejected the label. 'I see us as the Republicans,' Brandt said. 'Maybe the other ones are out of step, and maybe we're in step.' Riepe has supported reducing unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks, and he's advancing a criminal justice package backed by Pillen this year to lower the age at which juveniles can be detained or charged as adults. He also helped with property tax negotiations in the summer of 2024 but criticized the fast-paced and ever-changing process as a 'jump-and-the-net-will-appear' philosophy. Riepe, a farm kid who joined the U.S. Navy hospital corpsmen at the age of 17 in 1960 and served until just before his 21st birthday, came back and worked his way through school. He said he always intended to be a hospital administrator, as he did until his retirement in 2008. He held top roles at Bergen Mercy Medical Center and what is now Children's Nebraska. Health care has dominated Riepe's focus in the Legislature, such as: Expanding options for direct primary care. Adding blood testing options for pregnant women to fight syphilis. Funding respite facilities for eligible homeless adults in Lincoln and Omaha. Allowing emergency medical services to care for and transport injured Nebraska K-9s. Riepe also takes a narrow view on expanding Medicaid, opposing an in-progress bill to cap the costs of epinephrine injectors for severe allergic reactions while having previously brought a measure to expand Medicaid coverage to include obesity for potential cost savings. He also opposed a 2023 bill to repeal the state's helmet law for motorcyclists, citing potential Medicaid costs. Partnering with Hughes, Riepe has defended a currently stalled partnership with Iowa for a prescription drug donation program, potentially for Medicaid savings. Riepe also predated Hughes in seeking to combat youth tobacco use and vaping. State Sen. John Fredrickson, a progressive who like Riepe represents a more purple district in Omaha, described Riepe as a 'wildcat' because it can be hard to know where he might land on certain topics. To some that might be 'wishy-washy,' Fredrickson said, yet Riepe is the 'exact opposite.' 'I think he's someone who is curious. We joke that he's Curious George, and he's someone who I hope, when I'm Merv's age, that I am still wanting to learn as much as he is,' said Fredrickson, who is 38. Fredrickson, vice chair of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, said he's a better lawmaker because of Riepe and that the two help one another, especially on an all-male committee for the first time since 2004. Riepe chaired the HHS Committee in 2017 and 2018 and lost a bid to return on a 28-21 vote this January. Riepe's fascination with health also got him reading more about abortion in 2023, leading to his 'change of heart' from LB 626, which sought to ban nearly all abortions after an ultrasound detected embryonic cardiac activity. He viewed that as a 'total abortion ban' before most women know they're pregnant. He signaled his opposition early and pushed for a 12-week cutoff. He has said that if his 2022 election had gone just a few more weeks, citing headwinds after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he might have lost. During the second-round debate on LB 626 in April 2023, Riepe tried to force a vote on his 12-week amendment. Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, instead of putting the motion to an immediate vote as he typically does, ruled there hadn't been 'full and fair debate.' 'I tell you what, I was mad,' Riepe said. Reflecting on the vote last month, Riepe paused and walked over to grab a coffee mug from his office. It bore the German flag and read: 'Never underestimate the power of a stubborn German.' Riepe said his independent streak had started before that LB 626 debate, but the maneuvering around his amendment 'was the straw that broke the camel's back.' 'It made me so angry that they had maneuvered to not even give me a shot,' Riepe said. 'They were that determined to not only kill my bill but in essence shut me up, and that really, that may have been the trigger that made me say, 'Fine, you want to smack me, I'll smack you back.'' When the allotted four hours passed on former Thurston State Sen. Joni Albrecht's LB 626, Riepe withheld his vote, and so entered 'Hot Merv Summer,' a term used by abortion-rights advocates, including on T-shirts, praising Riepe for torpedoing the stricter measure. Riepe said he got one of the shirts and wore it once, to the end-of-session legislative party in 2023. Riepe's non-vote and opposition to LB 626 earned him a censure from the NEGOP, a local billboard from Students for Life Action calling for his resignation, the loss of his Nebraska Right to Life endorsement and an open letter in the McCook Gazette from a southwestern Nebraska county party chair blasting Riepe for an '11th-hour bargain with the Devil.' 'Senator Riepe, you shall be remembered as a shadow of a man, who prized political expediency over integrity,' Bruce Desautels, then-chair of the Hitchcock County Republican Party, wrote in May 2023. 'As went the legacy of Judas Iscariot and General Benedict Arnold, yours shall ever be synonymous with dishonor and betrayal.' Riepe said he didn't feel threatened after that vote but did have people show up at his house and church. Pillen, who supported LB 626, offered security if it became a problem, Riepe said. One of the people that Riepe earned praise from was his son, who told his father: 'It's one of my proudest moments to be your son, that you had the guts to take that kind of a vote.' With a laugh, Riepe said he replied: 'Well, that's good. So I can expect something nice for Father's Day?' Riepe said he wears the censure as a 'badge of courage' that helps in his purple district, and he joked that at least the southwest Omaha billboard featured a nice picture of him. 'Being a stubborn German, give me an ultimatum, I'm just stubborn enough I'm likely to go the opposite way,' Riepe said. Behind the scenes, Riepe continued working with conservatives to find a path forward for abortion restrictions, which became the current law: 12 weeks tied to gestational age. The abortion language was added to LB 574, which on its own prohibited gender transition surgeries for minors and restricted youths with gender dysphoria from accessing certain medications. Riepe said his support for LB 574, beyond abortion, had come after meeting a family who said their two-year-old child was transgender, which he said left him speechless. He said he was concerned that age was too early to know. The new amendment was filed May 8, ending 'Hot Merv Summer' just 11 days later. Abortion and gender care restrictions were combined on May 16, 2023, in what State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha described as one of the worst days of her life. She warned Riepe against supporting the measures and said women and children would die. She told supporters: 'You will have buckets and buckets of blood on your hands.' Cavanaugh said it was heartbreaking and 'really, really, really difficult to move past,' yet Riepe reflected and said he regretted not pushing harder to include fatal fetal anomalies as an exception and not fighting to explicitly repeal criminal penalties against doctors for abortions. Riepe tried to do so in 2024 but had few political allies to help move the measure forward. 'Obviously, I'm still upset. We can't go back and undo it. But there is something in acknowledging our mistakes and trying to do better moving forward,' Cavanaugh said. 'While it was a horrible moment, I think it also resulted in a great deal of growth for him.' LB 574 passed May 19, cementing a summer of, as Riepe offered: 'He's not as hot as we thought.'. Cavanaugh and Riepe both served on the HHS Committee in 2023, where the two had a relationship akin to Statler and Waldorf, two grouchy older Muppets often seen from the balcony of a theater, Cavanaugh said. It was a relationship similar to Fredrickson and Riepe now, rooted, they said, in good policy. 'He's one of the rare animals in here who you can still actually engage in thoughtful policy discussion with and who will come to the table and have those conversations,' Fredrickson said. Legislation impacting transgender Nebraskans would again be debated in 2024, with Riepe placing himself at the center of that debate, too — LB 575, or the 'Sports and Spaces Act' from State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area. While LB 574 and LB 626 were fought publicly, Riepe had privately raised caution in a March 2023 memo to Kauth, suggesting that they leave the fight up to the State Board of Education while quoting a Chinese general that 'The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.' The issue would wait until April 2024, after Riepe had spent months meeting with families and continuing to read. He remarked during the debate that trans students and families were seeking accommodations, not attention. He asked how to know a child's chromosomes by looking at them: 'Are they like shirt sizes? Are they an 'X' and a double 'X' or triple 'X,' and what are they?' Riepe and Brandt were the two Republican senators to be 'present, not voting' on the bill, ending its chances for the year. Riepe maintains his 'leaning' opposition to the latest version of Kauth's bill, the 'Stand With Women Act,' LB 89. It could come up for debate at any time. Riepe has said he holds that position partly because of executive action by Trump forcing schools to restrict sports to students' sex at birth or risk federal funding. Riepe said he wants a national solution, not a state-by-state patchwork. Kauth, who succeeded Riepe as chair of the Business and Labor Committee, said she respects Riepe and 'his right to vote his conscience, whether it's the same worldview as mine or not.' 'We have more in common than we do apart and have worked together on important issues and will do so in the future,' she said in a text. Riepe knows he is the oldest member of the Nebraska Legislature. But he walks in parades and goes door to door in part to prove he has the stamina, he says, and that he can still put two sentences together. 'I'm not some babbling old fool,' Riepe said. 'I'm just an old fool.' Whether Riepe runs for reelection in 2026 is still up in the air, largely depending on his health and whether his wife is agreeable, he says smiling. He feels good where he is at and has communicated to others, including the governor's office, that they're in a 'tough spot' should they try to primary him. 'You can't run someone to the right of me, really, and ever get elected,' Riepe said. 'And you're not going to run somebody on the left.' Should Riepe run and win reelection, he would be 88 by the time he is term-limited at the end of 2030. But should he lose, or decide against running, he won't 'go home and cry.' Instead, he said he'll try to figure out which hardware store he can go to and 'sort nuts and bolts.' Asked how he wants to be remembered, Riepe said: 'He was a decent guy who appreciated some humor and, hopefully, was a reasonable individual who was a good parent, a good husband and things that are above and more important than the Legislature. I don't want them at my funeral saying, 'I know ol' Riepe would have wished he would have spent another session stuck on the floor during some filibuster.'' 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Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nebraska juvenile crime bills spark lengthy, sometimes testy public hearings
Opponents of LB 556 spoke at a news conference in January to protest the Gov. Jim Pillen-backed bill introduced by State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston. At the podium is Nature Villegas, who shared testimony of being detained as a youth. (Courtesy of Chad Green, ChadCRG Images) LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers heard more than seven hours of public testimony Thursday on a trio of bills related to minors and crime — including a controversial proposal that, in part, would allow alleged offenders as young as 11 to be detained. Those addressing the Legislature's Judiciary Committee were wide-ranging: law enforcement, elected officials, nonprofits, educators, moms of victims, Nebraskans imprisoned as youths and more. The lengthiest and most emotional discussion came in response to Legislative Bill 556, which State Sen. Merv Riepe has named his priority this session. The Ralston lawmaker said he introduced the measure at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, with support from Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson. Under LB 556, the age at which a Nebraska youth could be detained for an alleged crime would be lowered, from 13 to 11, and the age at which a minor could be charged as an adult for the 'most serious' felonies would drop from 14 to 12. Riepe said he did not see the bill as punitive, but rather as another option for law enforcement, particularly in Douglas County, where officials told him they are seeing more violent crimes committed by kids at younger ages. He acknowledged the stir caused by age-related changes. 'But your child, your grandchild, is not like the child at issue,' he said. 'We're talking about a very serious set of young offenders who have engaged in serious or repeated criminal activity, offenders who are currently required to be released even if there is a clear evidence they will continue to commit crimes.' Riepe said he viewed the bill as an early intervention effort that would not only protect the public, but also the alleged juvenile offender. State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, a committee member who has been a vocal opponent, challenged Riepe and other proponents on various points. He asked Riepe if he had spent time in communities that likely would be disproportionately affected. 'I can't say I've been up to your community, so I'd have to plead that I haven't done a very good job of that,' Riepe said. Hanson — speaking among the LB 556 proponents who were outnumbered by opponents — told the committee that overall juvenile crime may be down, but that he was focused on the 'escalation' of high-risk juvenile repeat offenders in Douglas County. Hanson told the committee that two juveniles in 2017 committed five or more unique felonies and that the number increased to 36 in 2023 but dropped to 28 in 2024. He described the bill as another tool in the toolbox for dealing with high-risk repeat offenders. Said McKinney: 'We're not talking about screws or building material, we're talking about kids and real-life situations and humans on both sides, whether it's the kid doing the offense of the victims.' Many opponents said the state should put more effort into rehabilitation programs for juveniles, pointing to research that a youth's brain is still developing. Olivia Cribbs, 23, told the committee she was tried as an adult and incarcerated for seven years for crimes committed at age 15. Choking up at times, she recalled suicidal thoughts and other 'psychological damage' and urged more support to encourage change for the youngest of the state's offenders. 'Children are still learning and developing emotionally and mentally, and they deserve equal opportunities for guidance and support rather than harsh punishments,' she said. Kimara Snipes, who testified as an Omaha community leader and someone who has been impacted by gun violence, said 'the real crisis is mental health.' She said she experienced arrest at a young age and recounted how her son's father was murdered, shot eight times by a young person. 'I know the devastation this brings,' Snipes said. 'If we truly care about public safety, we must invest in prevention, mental health resources and community solutions — not more incarceration.' Douglas County Commissioner Chris Rodgers said he expected county taxpayers to incur added expense if the bill were passed. 'We don't have a chronic crisis,' Rodgers said. 'We are not Chicago. We're not Philadelphia.' Bill Reay, president and CEO of Omni Inventive Care, expressed concern about a lack of detail on where and with whom pre-teens might be detained. He said there are better community-based alternatives. 'This bill doesn't talk about what detention would look like for an 11-year-old or a 12-year-old,' he said. State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, a member of the committee, expressed frustration at the 'hyperbole' she's heard surrounding LB 556. 'We're talking about a small percentage here,' she said of those potentially affected. 'It is very frustrating for me when I see the hyperbole that all of a sudden we're locking up an 11-year-old willy-nilly, that's not true. That's not what this bill says.' She said that by the time a youth reaches a point of involvement in such 'horrific' applicable crimes, they're 'screaming for help.' She said she did not see the bill as punitive. Said Storer: 'This is as much for the help of that young individual.' Questions by a few committee members, including State Sens. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha and Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln, both lawyers, indicated an interest in limiting the detention period to perhaps 24 hours for assessment of the youth. Bosn compared it to a 'time out' of sorts, where a judge, law enforcement and family members could discuss what might be the most successful path. The other juvenile crime bills discussed Thursday: LB 407, introduced by State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, would lower to 13 the age at which a youth could face adult penalties for felony charges. However, cases involving kids accused of major crimes, as young as 13 and up to 15, first would have to be handled in juvenile court, which Cavanaugh said is focused more on rehabilitation. Cavanaugh has framed his bill as a 'compromise' of sorts for those wanting adult consequences for younger kids involved in serious crimes and those who favor a more rehabilitative approach. LB 584, introduced by State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha, would ease penalties for certain felony crimes committed by people under age 18. The Judiciary Committee did not take immediate action on any of the three bills. 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