15-05-2025
Proposal to cap Nebraska's minimum wage increases stalls in dramatic fashion
The legislative seat of State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area remains vacant on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. His absence led to the defeat of a bill seeking to weaken voter-approved minimum wage increasees, LB 258. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers expected to spend two hours Wednesday on a nearly inevitable proposal to slow voter-approved annual increases in the state's minimum wage to a fixed rate, rather than the faster inflation-based bumps passed in 2022.
Lincoln State Sen. Jane Raybould's proposal faced a promised filibuster. Yet even her opponents knew the measure had the votes to be sent to the governor's desk. Wednesday was set to be the latest example in a trend of the officially nonpartisan but GOP-dominated Legislature pushing back against a handful of ballot measures passed by Nebraska voters on paid sick leave, minimum wage, school vouchers and medical marijuana.
But instead of grinding things to a halt, State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln began withdrawing her delay-focused motions to force an unexpectedly quicker vote on the proposal.
Conrad asked for a roll call in reverse order, as one of the 33 lawmakers needed to tweak voter-approved proposals that changed state law was absent.
Under the Legislature's rules, the reverse order vote caused the missing lawmaker, State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area, to be considered 'excused not voting' as his name is lower than on the roll, and votes are typically done in alphabetical order. This caused the bill to fail 31-17.
Raybould, the lone Democrat supporting a slower minimum wage increase, said she thought Conrad and other Democratic-aligned lawmakers were acting in good faith or 'goodwill' as she had the votes for passage.
Instead, filibustering lawmakers celebrated a short-term political victory defending what they called 'the will of the people.' And Raybould and her Republican colleagues were left hunting for a backup plan — a broader bill to which they could attach the contents of her Legislative Bill 258.
The move most likely delays but will not stop the passage of Raybould's proposal. Lawmakers were already discussing amending it onto State Sen. Beau Ballard's Legislative Bill 415, which is aimed at weakening voter-approved paid sick leave protections. Raybould's LB 258 had secured 33 votes with a 'compromise' from State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney.
Currently, the state minimum wage is $9 an hour. If lawmakers do nothing, voters will increase it to $15 next year. Then it will increase each year based on a cost of living measurement, a calculation of inflation for the Midwest region from the previous August.
Raybould's stalled proposal, in its current form, would shrink the voter-approved annual increases by capping the annual increase after next year to 1.75%. It also would create a youth minimum wage and amend a separate state training wage to limit it to workers aged 16 to 19 at 75% of the state minimum wage later this year, rather than at 75% of the federal wage. Training workers can earn that wage for up to the employee's first 90 days on the job.
Under the voter-approved law, workers would see larger wage increases. But Raybould and supporters of her measure said her changes would protect small businesses that could not afford to pay more.
Raybould told reporters she is not comfortable with suspending legislative rules to bring back her bill. She said she would look into whatever options are available to 'get something done this year.'
She added that Sorrentino's absence during the vote was 'a rookie error on his part.'
She didn't specify what options she is considering. Ballard told the Examiner he would be open to adding Raybould's proposal to his paid sick leave bill. He voted present, not voting during the vote, once he realized the votes weren't there, so he could possibly file a reconsideration motion. But statehouse rules don't allow that type of maneuver. He filed a motion anyway, according to the Legislature's website. That could hint at a possible rules suspension to retake the vote.
'There's always next year,' Raybould said.
Or maybe sooner, if an alternative arises.
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