LINCOLN — A state lawmaker seeking a universal homestead exemption for Nebraska homeowners is also proposing tax incentives for new first-time homebuyer savings accounts.

State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha introduced Legislative Bill 151 to create the “First-Time Homebuyers Savings Account Act.” It would allow taxpayers to annually offset a certain portion of federal adjusted gross income into the savings account — $4,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint tax return, or $2,000 for others with the new account. 

The maximum values would increase with inflation starting in 2027. Tax-deductible contributions could continue for up to 10 calendar years, or the date of the account holder’s first withdrawal of funds not related to qualified home purchases.

Cavanaugh said the goal is “to make the dream of home ownership a little bit more realistic for more Nebraskans.”

LB 152, also from Cavanaugh, reintroduces a proposal from the Legislature’s summer special session on property taxes. It would offer tax relief targeting owner-occupied properties — a homestead exemption for the first $100,000 of a home’s value — rather than giving relief to “big out-of-state property owners,” such as Ted Turner or Bill Gates.

Cavanaugh estimated it could provide about $2,000 in targeted relief for average homeowners in Douglas County at less cost than similar relief efforts for all owners, including corporations or those living out of state.

Proposed sales tax expansion

Lawmakers also have begun to introduce measures to expand the state sales taxes to more goods or services that currently aren’t taxed, partly to fund new tax relief programs.

Among those are LB 169 and LB 170, from State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth. State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams is cosponsoring both measures.

LB 169 would extend the tax to two dozen “luxury” items, such as lobbying or dating services, and that Brandt coined as “low-hanging fruit.” The taxes would begin Oct. 1. 

A timeline of the Nebraska Legislature’s summer property tax debate: April 18 to Aug. 21

The items are similar to those identified by former Omaha State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan and Justin Wayne at the end of the summer special session. 

A majority of lawmakers in summer 2024 refused to eliminate some sales tax exemptions, even as the list of possible targets dwindled from more than 120 to 12 by the end of the summer.

Brandt’s list, estimated to bring in $25-30 million annually, includes:

• Pet grooming services.
• Tattoos and body modification services.
• Nail care services.
• Hair care and removal services (but not hair cuts).
• Skin care services.
• Dry cleaning services.
• Local passenger transportation by chartered road vehicles, such as limousines and similar “luxury” vehicles.
• Sightseeing services by ground vehicles.
• Travel agency services.
• Weight loss services.
• Telefloral delivery services.
• Dating services.
• Golf, dance and tennis lessons.
• Swimming pool cleaning and maintenance services.
• Interior design and decorating services.
• Lobbying services.
• Marketing and telemarketing services.
• Chartered flights.
• Massage services.
• Pinball machines.
• Film rentals.
• Certain purchases by museums, including fine art.
• Historic automobile museum sales, leases, rentals, storage or use.
• Admissions to nationally accredited nonprofit zoos or aquariums.

As drafted, the bill would also add sales taxes to household pet veterinary services and to memberships to or purchases by accredited zoos or aquariums. Brandt said that isn’t his intent and that he would amend his bill with help from the Revenue Committee.

In 2024, lawmakers defined massages as part of health care, and Brandt said he and about four or five lawmakers who helped craft the list could find another exemption to remove.

‘A breath of fresh air’

Asked what’s different now from last summer, Brandt said: 17 new senators.

“It’s always good to get a breath of fresh air in the chamber, and I think it’s good that they’ll come in with an open mind, take a fresh look at this, and the fact that we’re starting out $432 million in the hole,” Brandt said, referring to a projected state budget shortfall by summer 2027.

Brandt’s LB 170 would add sales taxes to soft drinks and candy, defined as:

• Soft drinks — Nonalcoholic beverages that contain natural or artificial sweeteners. The bill would not tax beverages with milk or milk products; soy, rice or similar milk substitutes; or that contain greater than 50% of vegetable or fruit juice by volume.
• Candy — Preparation of sugar, honey or other natural or artificial sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruits, nuts or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops or pieces. Such foods that are prepared with flour or that need refrigeration would not be taxed.

Brandt also introduced LB 171, which would pause the state’s multi-year plan to reduce top income and corporate tax rates. Instead of going down to 3.99% by the start of 2027, the top tax rates would freeze at 4.99% for taxable years after Jan. 1, 2026.

“They are forecasting better times ahead, and I certainly hope they’re correct, but on the off chance that that doesn’t happen and they needed to do something, it would be sitting there,” Brandt said of his bill.

Gov. Pillen, lawmakers take aim at youth social media and cell phone use

Other new proposals

Those proposals were among 67 bills or constitutional amendments introduced Monday, as introductions continue through Jan. 22.

Other items introduced Monday include:

• LB 131, by State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of Omaha, would open up state educational savings plans for college to include private elementary and secondary schools.
• LB 137, by State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, would prohibit homeowners associations from restricting the installation of solar panels or pollinator gardens.
• LB 141, by State Sen. Victor Rountree of Bellevue, would require credible reports of child abuse or neglect of a member of a military family to be reported to the appropriate military authorities and any appropriate military family advocacy program established to address child abuse and neglect in military families.
• LB 143, also by Rountree, would require local K-12 schools to accept children of military families for preliminary enrollment, regardless of whether the child has an individualized family service plan, individualized education plan, requires special accommodations or services under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or receives special education.
• LB 147, by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, would allow school districts to suspend students in pre-kindergarten through second grade. The prohibition started in 2023 led by State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha. He had argued that it was hard for young students to bounce back after being suspended and that suspensions disproportionately impacted students of color.
• LB 155, by State Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering, would allow people to use deadly force to defend their vehicles from carjacking, unless they were the initial aggressor.

Lawmaker revives proposal to hold Nebraska schools liable for some child sexual assaults

• LB 165, from State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, would allow municipalities or counties to authorize syringe services programs to distribute hypodermic, sterile syringes to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. The bill addresses one of the concerns Gov. Jim Pillen raised when he vetoed Hunt’s measure in 2024: whether minors could access the programs. One lawmaker who sustained Pillen’s veto, after voting for the bill, co-sponsored Hunt’s measure: State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue. Hunt fell three votes short of overriding the veto.
• LB 189, by State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, would create baseline standards for paid family and medical leave, beginning Jan. 1, 2028.
• LB 190, also by Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, would require the Legislature’s Performance Audit Committee to create a rotating schedule so that all state agencies are audited every five years, rather than on a case-by-case basis.
• Legislative Resolutions 10CA and 11CA, also by Hardin, would impose consumption or excise taxes on all new goods and services, except groceries (10CA), and eliminate all taxes other than retail consumption and excise taxes (11CA). The effort is the “EPIC Option,” to eliminate property, income and corporate taxes.

LINCOLN — The targets of a legal effort arguing that Nebraska’s voter-initiated legalization of medical cannabis is federally unconstitutional have been expanded to include a new regulatory commission, the state treasurer and two state agencies.

Attorneys for John Kuehn, a former state senator, a former member of the State Board of Health and a longtime marijuana opponent, amended his December lawsuit on Friday to include broader swaths of state government overseeing implementation of the new medical cannabis laws.

The lawsuit first targeted Gov. Jim Pillen and Secretary of State Bob Evnen for allowing the measures to go into law, as well as the three ballot sponsors of the effort.

The amended complaint now adds:

• The three commissioners of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, who, by virtue of the voter initiatives, will compose a new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission.
• State Treasurer Tom Briese and Tax Commissioner Jim Kamm of the Nebraska Department of Revenue, who will oversee the new collection of sales taxes on medical cannabis. 
• CEO Steve Corsi of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, whose department handles oversight of medical practitioners.

“In November 2024, taxpayers paid for two statewide votes which together sought to obtain an objective that was unconstitutional, unlawful and impossible: the legalization of the manufacturing, dispensing, and profiting from marijuana products for so-called medical purposes,” the amended complaint states.

Initiative Measure 437, to legalize up to 5 ounces of medical marijuana with a doctor’s written recommendation, passed with 71% of voter support. Initiative Measure 438, to create the state regulatory commission, passed with 67% voter approval.

Laws took effect Dec. 12

Kuehn’s lawsuit argues that the “activist-drafted initiative measures,” whose sponsors include two of Kuehn’s former colleagues in the Legislature, had evaded any judicial review by the time of the vote.

This is the second complaint from Kuehn. His first is being appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong in November rejected arguments that the measures were placed on the ballot illegally. A hearing on the appeal has not yet been scheduled.

Strong is presiding over Kuehn’s latest lawsuit. She was the same judge who rejected his last-minute attempt to block the measures from becoming law. The laws took effect Dec. 12.

Pillen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers have said “serious issues” remain whether the measures are legal under federal law or the Nebraska Constitution.

The core of Kuehn’s argument in the second case remains that no state can legalize marijuana because it remains listed as a federal Schedule I drug, which is defined as having no currently accepted medical use and having a high potential for abuse. Examples include heroin, ecstasy or LSD.

The federal government has been in the process of changing the classification of marijuana to a Schedule III drug, defined as drugs with a moderate to low potential for abuse that can be accessed with a prescription. Examples include ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.

Expanded constitutional argument

The new lawsuit argues that once the laws are fully implemented, the State Treasurer’s Office, Department of Revenue and Department of Health and Human Services would need to unconstitutionally expend public funds and employee time to carry out the laws.

The AG’s Office, which typically defends state officials in lawsuits, declined to comment. None of the new defendants had any immediate comment.

Briese and Kamm, the lawsuit alleges, would need to violate federal money laundering laws because marijuana would be subject to sales taxes, similar to over-the-counter drugs.

And Corsi’s department would need to investigate possible disciplinary complaints against health care practitioners who recommend cannabis to Nebraskans, the lawsuit alleges, to see whether the practitioners followed their scope of practice or professional conduct, which Kuehn argues includes following federal laws. DHHS also would need to expend taxpayer dollars to issue guidance for the measures.

The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission — consisting of Commissioners Bruce Bailey, Harry Hoch, Jr., and Kim Lowe and up to two more members as appointed by Pillen — is required to develop regulations for allowing medical cannabis sales in the state.

By July 1, the new commission must establish criteria to accept or deny applications to license establishments to possess, manufacture, distribute, deliver or dispense medical marijuana. By Oct. 1, the commission must begin granting those registrations.

Until that time, it is illegal to purchase marijuana in Nebraska, and multiple advocates of the measures have expressed displeasure with many doctors refusing to recommend the drug. Advocates have argued the drug could help with seizures, chronic pain and other drug-resistant medical conditions.

The licensing framework is similar to that of the Liquor Control Commission. 

The delegation to the Medical Cannabis Commission is similar to voter-approved gambling initiatives in 2020, which created the Nebraska Gaming Commission. Lawmakers merged that group with the existing Nebraska Racing Commission in 2021.

Briese, a former lawmaker, oversaw legislative efforts to implement voters’ wishes of three gambling-related ballot initiatives as chair of the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee.

Possible legislative tweaks coming

That legislative committee, now led by State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, is expected to consider any legislation to tweak the medical cannabis measures, if introduced this year.

No such proposals have been introduced so far. Bill introductions continue through Jan. 22.

“While we understand and support reasonable rules and regulations – we will NOT support legislative attempts to subvert the will of the people, such as interfering with a health care practitioner’s ability to make a recommendation for alleviation of a patient’s medical condition, its symptoms or side effects of the condition’s treatment,” the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign said Sunday in a statement.

Kuehn’s attorneys argue that the delegation of legislative authority to the unelected medical cannabis commission effectively freezes out “all other legislative or executive efforts to ensure the public’s health, safety and welfare.”

On Thursday, Kuehn’s attorneys sent letters to the regulatory commission members, Briese and the state department directors demanding that they refuse to implement the laws. The move was similar to the December push urging that Pillen not issue proclamations making the measures law.

“No matter is of greater public concern than preventing the government from burdening the taxpayer with the administrative costs of violating federal law,” the amended lawsuit states.

The public officials did not respond to the requests from Kuehn’s attorney based in Kansas City, Missouri.

10th Amendment of U.S. Constitution

Crista Eggers, one of three sponsors for the marijuana ballot measures, said in December that the assertion the laws violate the U.S. Constitution “disregards decades of state-led independence and innovation.”

“Under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, states have the right to address the unique needs of their citizens without undue interference,” Eggers, the campaign manager, said then. “The campaign remains committed to defending Nebraska’s medical cannabis laws to ensure patients and families have access to the care they deserve.”

Nebraska became the 39th state to authorize some form of medical cannabis. Nearly every state has now legalized some form of cannabis or its derivatives. About two dozen states allow recreational marijuana sales and distribution.

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Softball America dropped its preseason top 25 on Monday morning and the Nebraska Cornhuskers are ranked No. 21.

The respect shown by Softball America weeks before first pitch is deserved as the Huskers have reloaded a roster full of homegrown talent. Unlike in years before, the NU roster features 10 Nebraska natives along with Wisconsin transfer Ava Kuszak who played travel ball for Nebraska Gold alongside Jordy Bahl and Bella Bacon.

The SEC dominated with 10 teams in the top 25, including five in the top 10. With strong showings from Duke and Florida State, the ACC boasts five teams in the rankings.

UCLA, now part of the Big Ten Conference, is ranked fifth and is joined by four other Big Ten schools. Oklahoma State ranks fourth, while Texas Tech, Arizona, and Baylor from the Big 12 also make the top 25.

The only mid-major in the top 25 is Liberty from Conference USA.

Softball America Preseason Top 25

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Oklahoma State
5. UCLA
6. Tennessee
7. Texas A&M
8. Duke
9. Texas Tech
10. Florida State
11. Alabama
12. LSU
13. Arkansas
14. Arizona
15. Missouri
16. Baylor
17. Georgia
18. Northwestern
19. California
20. Liberty
21. Nebraska
22. Virginia Tech
23. Michigan
24. Virginia
25. Penn State

Nebraska is scheduled to face eight teams ranked in Softball America’s preseason top 25, including No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 8 Duke, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 15 Missouri, No. 16 Baylor, and No. 18 Northwestern.

The Huskers kick off their season on Thursday, Feb. 6, at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, taking on No. 6 Tennessee at 6 p.m. CST in Clearwater, Fla.

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