License plate readers in work zones dropped, debate on asking pregnant women if they're being abused continues

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

3 de Febrero de 2026 a las 18:00 ·

Nebraska Capitol (Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News) — Nebraska Capitol. (Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)

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A proposal aimed at keeping highway workers safe from speeding drivers ran into objections in a legislative committee Tuesday. And a stalemate continued over proposed legislation to require asking pregnant women if they’re being abused or trafficked.

Sen. Wendy DeBoer is the sponsor of a bill (LB1176) that would have allowed using automated license plate readers to help capture people speeding through work zones. Under the proposal, drivers would have to be speeding by at least 11 mph with workers present, and warning signs posted. The readers could then be used to relay information to a nearby law enforcement officer, who could stop the driver for speeding.

Justin Hubly of the NAPE/AFSCME state workers union supported the bill. Hubly said two highway workers have been killed in the last two years, and there have been a lot more close calls.

“Every single one of our highway maintenance workers who works on the interstate has a story where they were clipped by a mirror, almost clipped by a mirror, and sometimes they just shrug it off. And I think that's bananas," he said. "If I got hit by a mirror, you'd never see me working on a highway again. And I think many people don't understand the speed at which people are traveling on the interstate, the stopping distances are more great than they realize."

Spike Eickholt, representing the ACLU of Nebraska, opposed the bill. He said 10 years ago, the Legislature set limits on how automated license plate readers can be used.

“They can be for finding missing people, stolen cars, warrants, that sort of thing, and they are not to be used for general traffic enforcement,” he said.

Eickholt also expressed concern that expanding their use could lead to the state together with a private contractor capturing and harvesting motorists’ data.

DeBoer said she thought problems with the bill had been worked out, but since they hadn’t, she asked the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee not to advance it. But Sen. Carolyn Bosn told Eickholt the problem it attempted to address is not going away.

“We do have a problem with these individuals getting injured, and it is our responsibility as the Legislature to try to come up with solutions, and I certainly understand some of the concerns you've raised, but I think we have to really try and figure out a solution to this problem,” Bosn said.

Also Tuesday, debate continued over legislation (LB669) that would require asking pregnant women if they’re being abused or trafficked. Sen. Tanya Storer, who proposed the legislation, summarized how it would work.

“We are adding a provision that the question be asked to them as to whether or not they are in a domestic violence or human trafficking situation. Upon a ‘yes’ answer to that question, if that would be the case, they are then to be given a private location to make a phone call to the national hotlines, and it's the national hotlines because they will immediately connect them with local resources,” Storer said.

As introduced, the proposal would apply only to women seeking abortions. Critics complained that women being forced by abusers to get or remain pregnant should be addressed as well. Storer has an amendment to do that, but it’s opposed by medical groups, including the Nebraska chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Sen. Megan Hunt talked about their objection.

“We are putting new requirements and new rules, new law affecting physicians, into the abortion statute, section 28-325, that affect physicians who don't perform abortions. They were not consulted in the crafting of this legislation. They do not want this legislation,” Hunt said.

With opponents of the bill filing repeated procedural motions to kill it or send it back to committee, senators have not yet gotten around to voting on Storer’s amendment. And Hunt made it sound like she doesn’t think they will.

“So now we're kind of like scrambling to try to fix a bad bill, when, honestly, colleagues, we need to move on. The truth is that I told the speaker. He said, ‘Do you think we'll be able to get to an amendment?’ No, because not until I see an amendment that the doctors can live with,” she said.