Senators discuss lottery tickets in vending machines, ICE in schools
By Fred Knapp 
, Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Jan. 14, 2026, 5 p.m. ·
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Nebraskans would be able to buy lottery tickets from vending machines, under a bill advancing in the Legislature. And ideas about ICE agents in schools and civics testing for new senators were introduced Wednesday.
Sen. Dan Quick is the sponsor of the bill (LB60) to allow the sale of scratch-off lottery tickets in vending machines. Quick said of the 45 states that have lotteries, only Nebraska and South Carolina don’t allow vending machine sales, which slows up and decreases sales at Nebraska retailers. Quick was asked how sales to customers under age 19, the legal threshold in Nebraska.
“When you come in to purchase a ticket, you have to use your valid Nebraska driver's license. It scans the barcode in the back, and then it verifies your age. If you're not of age, it's not going to allow you to purchase a lottery ticket,” Quick said.
Sen. Rob Clements opposed the proposal, criticizing gambling as a tax on the poor. And Clements, a banker, told a personal story.
“I personally had a loan customer who was unable to make his car payment. (He) came into my office and he had $150 car payments -- all it was. He said, ‘Well, I had $50 that I was going to bring you toward the payment, but instead I bought lottery tickets with it, and if I win the lottery, then I'm going to pay the whole car loan off.’ Well, I never heard from him again,” Clements said.
After about 20 minutes of debate, senators voted 32-10 first round approval of the bill.
Also Wednesday, Sen. George Dungan introduced a bill (LB1034) to prohibit Nebraska schools from allowing immigration enforcement officials to come into those schools without a warrant signed by a judge. Dungan said that while some schools already have such a policy, he wants to make it a matter of state law that schools have the same rights as, for example, homeowners.
“Without a judicial warrant, you do not have to open your door if ICE comes a-knocking. And so this is trying to make sure that we are following the law and that ICE is not allowed into schools without that judicial warrant,” Dungan said.
And Sen. John Fredrickson introduced a bill (LB1066) that would require new state senators take a civics test, like the citizenship exam, within 90 days of being sworn in, and publish the results. Fredrickson said he thinks there has been an erosion of civics knowledge, for example, about the separation of powers.
“I certainly think that you're seeing a lot of overreach from executive branches into legislative branches," he said. "We see this both in appropriations processes, budget processes, as well as influence on the legislative process itself. And the legislative branch is a separate and coequal branch of government to the executive branch, and that's important to be able to assert."
He cited senators switching their votes to not override Gov. Jim Pillen’s vetos on needle exchange and SNAP benefits for convicted felons legislation as examples of undue influence by the executive branch.
Sen. Tanya Storer, who consistently opposed the SNAP bill and was not in the Legislature during the needle debate, nevertheless signed on as a cosponsor of the bill, saying she thinks senators need to be reminded of some other fundamental constitutional principles.
Storer mentioned “individual rights, which very much includes property rights, that was something new and different than any other system of government prior to the United States that allowed people to own -- and you know, it's not just property, it's not just land, it's the means to keep and own what you worked for, what you purchased. And so that's huge, and those are some things that I think we've lost along the way.”
Storer said there are probably no two senators in the Legislature who differ as much politically as she and Fredrickson do. He’s a progressive Democrat from Omaha, and she’s a conservative Republican from Whitman, in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.
Fredrickson says the strange political bedfellows backing his legislation shows a widespread appreciation of the importance of civics knowledge.
“I think that you have members of this institution from the entire political spectrum who believe that we have a very grave and important role. We've taken an oath to the Constitution, and if we are going to be in this role, we need to be able to show to the public that we are well-versed in what that means,” he said.
Storer agreed.
“Being able to co-sign this bill is a great example that, even if you're in very different positions politically, you can still find commonalities on some things. And I think it is -- I think it's awesome that (Fredrickson) brought the bill, and we both agree that history is important, civics are important. So finding those things we can agree on -- those are good days,” she said.
In addition to Fredrickson and Storer, the bill is cosponsored by Sens. Stan Clouse of Kearney and Paul Strommen of Sidney, who are Republicans, and Megan Hunt of Omaha, who’s an independent.
Also Wednesday, Gov. Jim Pillen appointed former Sen. Fred Meyer of St. Paul to succeed former Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst, who resigned Tuesday.
Meyer was previously appointed in 2023 by Pillen to replace Tom Briese, who was appointed Treasurer to fill a vacancy in that spot. But he opted not to run for the post in 2024.
Meyer said he hopes his experience will help him be productive.
“I hope to be part of the team and the Legislature that gets things done and as efficiently and as quickly as possible,” he said.
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