Bill requiring pregnant women be asked about trafficking and abuse fails, tougher penalties for foreign ballot funding heard

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

Feb. 4, 2026, 6 p.m. ·

Secretary of State Robert Evnen testifies Wednesday (Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News) — Secretary of State Robert Evnen testifies Wednesday. (Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)

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A bill that would have required asking pregnant women if they were being abused or trafficked was stopped Wednesday in the Legislature, and the influence of foreign money on ballot questions was the focus of a public hearing.

It was the third and final day of debate on Sen. Tanya Storer’s proposal to require that women seeking an abortion be asked if they were being abused or trafficked. Critics say being forced to become or stay pregnant is a more common form of abuse. So Storer drafted an amendment that would have required all doctors to ask those questions when first consulted about a pregnancy.

Storer, a registered Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, said Wednesday her bill should have bipartisan support.

“This ... should be a bipartisan bill, and I just want to make that really clear,” Storer said.

Sen. Ashlei Spivey, a registered Democrat, agreed on the ends, but not the means.

“I do agree that the issue in front of us around sex trafficking is bipartisan," she said. "Yes, that is a non-partisan issue. The question in front of us … is around, how do we get there? What is the right set of policies in order to address this issue?”

Medical groups opposed Storer’s amendment, saying they were not consulted about expanding the bill’s requirements to all doctors seeing pregnant patients.

Sen. Danielle Conrad, a Democrat, said there had been broad, bipartisan support for previous bills dealing with domestic abuse and human trafficking. Conrad contrasted those bills, supported by domestic violence, law enforcement, faith and civil rights groups, with the list of supporters of Storer’s bill in a public hearing.

“This is a lineup of local and national anti-choice groups, period. Catholic Conference, Family Alliance, Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, Nebraska Right to Life, Innocence Freed, Guiding Grace Motherhood Support Network -- that's it,” she said.

Opponents at the public hearing included Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the Women's Fund of Omaha.

Storer said her bill would do nothing to change access to abortion.

“This is not an anti-abortion bill, this is a pro-woman bill. This is an anti-domestic violence bill. This is an anti-human trafficking bill,” she said.

Storer then moved for cloture, to cut off debate and vote on her amendment and her bill. It takes two-thirds of the Legislature to do that, or 33 votes. She got 31 – all the Republicans except Sens. Merv Riepe who voted no, and Teresa Ibach, who was present but not voting. Being present but not voting is sometimes called a “soft no,” since it has the same effect as a “no” vote. This was the vote on cloture.

All 15 Democrats and one independent, Sen. Megan Hunt, either voted no or didn’t vote. The bill is now dead for this year.

Wednesday afternoon, the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee held a public hearing on a proposal, LB927, to strengthen Nebraska’s law against foreign contributions to ballot initiative campaigns.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers hassued Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss for funneling millions of dollars through Nebraska nonprofits to initiative campaigns such as one requiring Nebraska businesses to provide employees with paid sick leave. A Wyss Foundation spokesperson has denied the charges.

Secretary of State Robert Evnen said he asked Sen. Bob Andersen to introduce the bill for him. Evnen said even though foreign contributions are already illegal, the penalties are not enough to deter them.

“The penalties must have been contemplated by the donors who made the contributions anyway. We're talking about millions and millions of dollars here, and we're talking about penalties in the current law that don't even remotely approach that,” he said.

Currently, the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission can fine violators $5,000 per violation. The bill would raise that to at least $100,000.

Ansley Fellers, representing the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, which opposed the paid sick leave initiative, supported the bill.

“There is not enough money in Nebraska -- there, frankly, isn't enough money in small business in the United States -- to combat the number of dollars being contributed to these things. And I think there certainly isn't enough money in small business to combat Swiss billionaires putting money into nonprofits,” she said.

No one testified against the proposal. Testifying in neutral capacity on the bill, Gavin Geis of Common Cause Nebraska questioned some of its provisions. Geis cited a requirement for ballot campaign treasurers to get an affirmation from donors that they are not foreign nationals and have not received more than $100,000 from foreign nationals in the previous four years.

“If I receive that affirmation, does that absolve me of all guilt if I then certify that that donor was not a foreign actor, does that exclude me from any future guilt in the matter … if they lied to me?” he asked.

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.