Nebraska legislative session ends for 2026; lawmakers sustain five vetoes

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature adjourned for 2026 Friday, deciding on the final day to sustain five gubernatorial vetoes after 30 lawmakers flipped from support to backing objections across four different bills.

Gov. Jim Pillen, in the lead-up to Friday’s last day of session, vetoed five legislative bills, all from progressive lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan body. Four of the five bills had passed with 31 or more votes, more than the 30 needed to override a veto, and bill sponsors sought to overcome Pillen’s objections. One bill he vetoed had passed unanimously, 49-0.

But the four veto override attempts Friday fell well short of 30 votes. The sponsor of the fifth bill, who had 29 supporters on passage, accepted the fate of her bill.

“I’m grateful to those in the Legislature who sustained my commonsense bill vetoes today,” Pillen said on social media shortly after the votes. “With these carefully selected vetoes, we protected Nebraska taxpayers and prevented new and onerous regulations.”

Five bills vetoed in 2026

In total, Pillen vetoed five bills in 2026, all this week:

• Legislative Bill 839, from State Sen. Victor Rountree of Bellevue, related to multifamily housing projects and accessible housing for people with mobility impairments and hearing or vision impairments. The bill had passed 34-15. The override failed 19-28.

• LB 878, from State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of Omaha, to offer six weeks of paid parental leave for any permanent state employee after the birth of a child or the adoption of an infant up to 1 year old. The bill had passed 41-7. The override failed 21-27.

• LB 929, from State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, to explicitly let managed care organizations cover the cost of co-pays, deductibles and other Medicaid charges. The bill had passed 31-18. The override failed 22-26.

• LB 1029, from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, to clarify reporting requirements of colleges and universities in interactions with businesses or entities from foreign adversarial nations. The bill had passed 29-20. No override was attempted.

• LB 1256, from State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, which was meant to clarify that snow and ice removal and flood management are “emergency management” duties. The bill had passed 49-0. The override failed 23-22.

State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha, chair of the Legislature’s Urban Affairs Committee, told Rountree a saying he learned from former State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha: When a veto comes, “You’re probably fighting for just causes.”

Rountree said he had been told by one senator, “I always vote yes” to pass a bill.

“We vote ‘yes’ even though we don’t believe in it,” Rountree said. “Deception, just deception.”

Flipped votes

Seventeen supporters stood by their original votes on each bill again Friday, including 14 of 15 Democrats, the body’s lone nonpartisan progressive and two of 33 Republicans: State Sens. Tom Brandt of Plymouth and Myron Dorn of Adams. 

Two more Republicans, State Sens. Merv Riepe of Ralston and Dave Wordekemper of Fremont, stayed consistent between passage and the overrides. Wordekemper supported all but the Medicaid bill, as he did before, and Riepe supported the Medicaid and emergency management bills, as he previously did.

The remaining 29 Republicans and one Democrat changed positions at least once on the bills. Of them, four senators flipped support across all four bills, nine lawmakers flipped three times, 10 legislators flipped twice and seven policymakers flipped support once.

State Sens. Stan Clouse of Kearney, Ben Hansen of Blair, Rita Sanders of Bellevue and Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area voted to pass all four bills but later backed Pillen.

Clouse said the governor’s reasoning “made sense” and that a couple of the bills could be tweaked and then return next year.

Brandt said he “thought they were good enough the first time around.” Now in his eighth and final year, Brandt said he wasn’t contacted by anyone on how he would vote.

“The reasons that were given weren’t sufficient for me to change my vote,” Brandt said.

‘Another set of eyes’

State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, who flipped on three of the four bills from support to sustaining Pillen’s objections, said the Governor’s Office is “another set of eyes,” especially on bills that might not pass with a large margin.

Typically, legislative observers and lobbyists have seen bills passing with 30 or fewer votes as most at risk of being successfully vetoed, but bills with up to 35 or 36 votes still face some risk. It’s unusual for a bill that passed with unanimous support to be vetoed, and even rarer for one to fall to a veto in the end.

Murman said he agreed with Pillen’s concerns that the housing bill could add hurdles, especially when Nebraska needs fewer obstacles, not more. Murman said providing maternity leave for all state employees is already a “big step in the right direction,” and on the emergency management bill, Murman said he didn’t want to “risk” raising property taxes.

“Sometimes the Governor’s Office might see some things that we actually missed,” Murman said. “I’m grateful for another opportunity, another set of eyes to look on those bills.”

State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln was the lone Democrat to break from the proverbial pack and be “present, not voting,” on Guereca’s parental leave bill Friday. Bostar said he did so after talking with state troopers, whom Guereca brought the bill for, and in light of Pillen’s request for labor negotiations on requiring negotiations, including possible maternity leave for troopers.

Thanks to Guereca, Bostar said, the door might open to paternity leave for more state employees, too.

‘Abrogation of your duty’

But others saw Friday’s flip-flop votes differently.

State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha called out Pillen’s vetoes as “an attempt to look like he was owning the progressives.” She said conservatives who backed Pillen, especially after a unanimous bill, either didn’t understand what they were voting for or don’t control their votes.

“That seems like something the voters ought to know, but it doesn’t show that you won, and it won’t make anyone cry,” DeBoer said. “It just shows that either you weren’t doing your job in the first three rounds of debate, or you aren’t doing your job now.”

State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse, who changed his position on all but Rountree’s bill, which he already opposed, said DeBoer’s comments were “a little bit over the top.”

But DeBoer said flipping votes is an “abrogation of your duty.”

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, the nonpartisan progressive in her final year alongside Hansen, Murman, DeBoer and nine others, said veto overrides become less about the bill subject and more about the “dignity” of those impacted by the bill and the body itself.

“You are willing to subvert yourselves and get on your knees for a man in another branch of government who has nothing to do with you in your capacity in this work,” Hunt said. “All he has to do is give you a wink and a phone call, and you will do his bidding every time.”

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​This story is provided by States Newsroom, a nonprofit state news network and Blox Digital content partner.