Gov. Pillen announces priorities for upcoming legislative session

Gov. Jim Pillen's legislative priorities for 2025 include a familiar set of issues for Nebraska lawmakers.

In a release sent out Sunday, Pillen said he would prioritize setting guidelines for transgender participation in sports, rework the way schools are funded to reduce property taxes, ban the sale of lab-grown meat and change the state's electoral vote allocation back to winner-take-all.

"This is by no means an all-encompassing list, but these items are certainly top of mind as we reflect on our past achievements and acknowledge there is still much to be accomplished," he said.

Pillen will have a slim Republican supermajority to work with to accomplish his agenda.

The Nebraska Legislature requires a two-thirds majority vote to override a filibuster to end debate, and registered Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Unicameral have exactly that amount. But if just one Republican defects, legislation would require the support of a Democrat or independent in order to avoid being indefinitely postponed.

During the previous session, a bill from Sen. Kathleen Kauth that would require students to compete in sports and use restrooms matching their biological sex fell two votes short of overcoming a filibuster.

The two Republicans who voted present, as opposed to yes, will both return to the Unicameral for the next session, but Pillen said he would continue to advocate for similar legislation.

The governor also renewed his call to lower property taxes by changing the Tax Equity & Educational Opportunities Support Act, also known as TEEOSA.

In August, Pillen called a special session in hopes of reducing property taxes by 40%, a goal he initially set out ahead of the regular session last winter.

After several weeks of debate, lawmakers passed a less ambitious tax bill reducing them by around 3%.

Pillen also said new legislation will be introduced in 2025 continuing what he’s called a “full-blown attack on lab-grown meats and fake meat.”

Pillen signed an executive order in August prohibiting state agencies from purchasing lab-grown meat. He said he hopes to ban the sale of the product in Nebraska during the upcoming legislative session, joining other states like Florida and Alabama.

The governor also intends to revisit the debate around Nebraska’s unique electoral vote allocation system.

Currently, the state is one of two – Maine being the other – which allocates electoral votes by Congressional District.

In 2024, Donald Trump won the state of Nebraska by more than 20%, but Kamala Harris received one electoral vote for winning the Omaha metro area’s 2nd Congressional District.

Republicans have pushed to change the system back to a winner-take-all allocation multiple times after the legislation was initially passed in 1991.

A recent winner-take-all proposal failed during the regular session in April, but Pillen made a renewed push ahead of the November presidential election.

That effort ended when Sen. Mike McDonnell, a former Democrat who joined the Republican Party in April, said he would not vote for winner-take-all.

McDonnell has been term-limited from the legislature, and with 33 Republicans who can theoretically overcome a filibuster, the issue is likely to return next year.

The 109th Nebraska Legislature will convene for the first time on January 8, 2025.