Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s K-12 schools would be required to teach students from elementary to high schools about human development under a new bill proposed Tuesday in the Legislature.
Legislative Bill 213, from State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, was one of 66 proposals introduced on the fifth legislative day. Holdcroft’s bill would require the State Board of Education, by March 1, 2026, to adopt measurable content standards for human embryology as part of the state’s science education standards. Teachings would need to begin by August 2026.
The curriculum must cover the stages of human embryonic development and include high-definition videos showing the development of the brain, heart, sex organs and other vital organs.
The State Board of Education has not adopted health education standards, and Holdcroft, when asked, said his bill is not about sex education, which embroiled the board more than three years ago, partly leading to significant changes in board membership and public attention.
“That’s why we call it human development, not sex education,” Holdcroft said. “Part of the bill is that if parents think that’s too much for their child, well, then they can opt-out.”
Holdcroft said LB 213 aims to raise understanding among young children, such as by first or second grade, of what is going on in a mother’s womb and “hopefully start to build some knowledge of the importance of the unborn.”
His goal for the legislation is similar to that of laws in other states where lawmakers mandated viewings of videos like “Meet Baby Olivia,” which was produced by an anti-abortion group and walks through the stages of human development from conception to just before birth.
He said such efforts rarely go much beyond showing the development of the embryo and fetus in the mother’s womb.
Health-related measures
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha reintroduced multiple health care-related bills from her first two years as a lawmaker, including:
- LB 202 to prohibit discipline against a health care provider’s license to practice medicine or surgery as a result of the person expressing an opinion in a public or professional forum. Kauth said some providers have not spoken out on certain topics, such as those related to COVID-19 or gender dysphoria, out of fear they will be “shunned and silenced and censored.”
- LB 204, the Biometric Autonomy Liberty Law, to require private entities to get users’ written consent before either collecting, storing or selling biological characteristics, such as fingerprints, voice prints, retina or iris images or other unique identifiers. Kauth said, each day, people are asked “more and more and more to give away the rights to your face, to your fingerprints, to your breath, to your emotions, how your body moves, and people don’t realize that. They just breeze through a 300,000-word disclosure and say, ‘Oh, it’s fine.’”
A third bill, LB 203, would require health department directors to get written approval from a majority of local elected representatives, primarily county board members, before issuing community-wide directed health measures in which there is no “epidemiological link.” Such measures would need to be ratified at the next regularly scheduled meeting of a local board.
The bill is a response to backlash that health officials in Lincoln and Omaha faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which led to a recall campaign against Lincoln officials and a lawsuit against the health director in Omaha for issuing a mask mandate without the city council’s approval.
“If you’re talking about removing someone’s rights, that can only be an elected representative, because then we have a chance to unelect them,” Kauth said, referring to her LB 203.
Suicide awareness, disaster area penalties
LB 217, from State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, would require that all staff serving in the child welfare system of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and employees of child-placing agencies receive suicide awareness and prevention training.
That was a recent recommendation of the Office of Inspector General for Child Welfare.
“When you think about our youth in foster care, these are some of the most vulnerable kids in the state of Nebraska,” Fredrickson said. “It’s incumbent upon us as a state to ensure that we’re doing everything to ensure their safety and well-being.”
LB 206, from State Sen. Brad von Gillern of Omaha, would bump up criminal penalties by one degree for a list of 10 offenses, if committed in an emergency or disaster area. This includes assault, robbery, arson, burglary or theft, criminal mischief or trespassing.
The bill is in response to the “war zone” tornadoes that tore through eastern Nebraska, including in the Elkhorn area that von Gillern represents, that led to looting and other crimes.
“It just seems to strike a chord that people believe that if you steal from somebody, that’s bad,” von Gillern said. “If you steal from somebody that’s just been through a horrible disaster, it’s even worse.”
Bill introduction continues through Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Other new bills
Among other legislation introduced Tuesday was:
- LB 196, by State Sen. Jared Storm of David City, would allow snowmobiles and other snow-removal vehicles to operate between sunset and sunrise.
- LB 207, also by von Gillern, would increase the $150 fee for commercially registered alternative fuel vehicles weighing more than 7,500 pounds, such as Amazon delivery trucks, to $450. Motorcycles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles would be $75, and any other alternative fuel vehicle would be $150. The goal is to make up for the lack of state revenue from fuel taxes that are used to maintain roads.
- LB 212, by State Sen. Dave “Woody” Wordekemper of Fremont, would tax cigars, cheroots and stogies at 20% of their purchase price, up to a maximum of 50 cents.
- LB 220, by State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, would require certain legislative proposals to include an impact note describing what the potential effects of new laws could be on persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
- LB 221, also by Cavanaugh, would set an approximate nine-month process by which the Legislature could fill vacant gubernatorial appointments to boards or commissions.
- LB 224, by State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of Omaha, would offer 12 weeks of paid maternity leave to state employees.
- LB 226, by State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha, would set up a process to set aside and expunge records related to convictions and adjudications for certain concealed weapon offenses that existed before Sept. 2, 2023. That was the date that a new state law took effect allowing people to carry concealed weapons without having first completed training or obtained a permit.
- LB 233, by State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, would require in vitro fertilization to be covered by health insurance for state employees. It could be limited to four completed egg retrievals and to individuals who have been unable to conceive or produce conception or sustain a successful pregnancy through less expensive and medically viable treatments or procedures that are otherwise covered.
- LB 258, by State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, would slow annual increases in the state’s minimum wage after Jan. 1, 2027, when it reaches $15 an hour. Rather than increasing automatically by changes in cost of living, the wage would increase to the lesser of 1.5%, rounded to the nearest cent, or the cost of living. The bill also would create a lower baseline $13.50 youth minimum wage, for teens aged 14 or 15, and a training wage for employees aged 16 or 17 at $13.50 through Dec. 31, 2026. After that point, the training wage would be 75% of the general minimum wage.
- Legislative Resolution 12CA, also by Kauth, is modeled after California’s Proposition 13, which passed in 1978. The Nebraska version would lock in property valuations for tax purposes at no more than 1.5% above its “full cash value, or the initial purchase or construction value of a property after 2025. That valuation could increase annually at the rate of inflation, but by no more than 2%. Valuations for existing properties would be locked in at the 2027 level. If approved by the Legislature, voters would weigh in at the November 2026 election.
- LR 13CA, by State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse, would allow voters to outlaw counties from imposing an inheritance tax on someone who inherits money or property after someone in Nebraska has died. Lawmakers have been looking for replacement funds to offset the loss in tax revenue for counties if the tax were to go away.