Governor vetoes five measures

Gov. Jim Pillen issued five vetoes April 16 of bills passed by lawmakers this session. The governor returned the following measures without his signature.

LB839, sponsored by Bellevue Sen. Victor Rountree, would measure and seek ways to increase the number of accessible housing units in Nebraska. The bill passed on a 34-15 vote.

In his veto letter, Pillen suggested LB839 would force builders to opt out of affordable housing programs and that “expensive new regulatory requirements” are the wrong approach to lowering housing costs for Nebraskans.

LB878, introduced by Sen. Dunixi Guereca of Omaha and passed 41-7, would provide parental leave for permanent, full-time state employees who give birth or adopt. The governor’s veto of the bill said employee benefits such as paid parental leave should be negotiated through the collective bargaining process rather than mandated in state law.

LB929, sponsored by Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson, would authorize Medicaid managed care organizations to cover out-of-pocket expenses for Medicaid enrollees. Lawmakers passed the bill 31-18.

Pillen’s veto letter stated that, while the bill does not require managed care organizations to cover cost-sharing, it would encourage Medicaid enrollees to “overuse the system without consequence.”

LB1029, introduced by Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln and passed 29-20, would redefine terms relating to reportable funding from a foreign adversarial source for Nebraska colleges and universities.

The governor argued in his veto of LB1029 that exempting employment contracts, salaries and wages from existing university reporting requirements would make Nebraska an “outlier and a soft target” for infiltration by foreign adversaries, specifically the Chinese Communist Party.

Finally, LB1256, sponsored by Omaha Sen. John Cavanaugh, would include flood management and snow and ice removal in the definition of emergency management functions in state law. Senators passed the measure on a 49-0 vote.

In his veto letter for the bill, Pillen suggested that adding snow and ice removal and flood management to the list of emergency management functions would allow political subdivisions to “circumvent” an existing cap on property taxing authority, which includes an exception for declared emergencies.

Any senator may file a motion to attempt to override a gubernatorial veto. Thirty votes are needed. Consideration of any override motions filed will be taken up April 17, the final day of the 2026 legislative session.