A new ballot measure seeks to raise the threshold of Nebraska lawmakers necessary to overturn or alter successful voter initiatives.
Currently, two-thirds of the state legislature (33 lawmakers) are required to reject or change any initiative passed by voters at the ballot box. If the Respect Nebraska Voters ballot initiative reaches the November 2026 ballot and passes, four-fifths of the legislature (39 lawmakers) would be required.
The ballot committee filed language with the Secretary of State’s office Thursday for a constitutional ballot initiative. The petition will need to collect signatures from 10% of registered voters statewide, including at least 5% of voters in 38 of the state’s counties, by the first week of July to qualify.
The change to the state constitution would also require the same four-fifths threshold for the passage of new laws affecting the initiative and referendum process. Additional protections would also be placed around the people’s ability to bring initiatives.
This petition may be a solution to angst among voters, frustrated with lawmakers dampening laws recently approved through the initiative process. In the last year, lawmakers advanced a bill undercutting the minimum wage increase approved at the ballot box and took away a voter-approved right to paid sick leave from an estimated 140,000 Nebraska workers. Similarly, a new state commission overseeing medical marijuana, approved by Nebraska voters last year, is severely limiting patients’ access through burdensome new requirements.
“We have seen a lot of anger coming from folks that spent a lot of hours organizing around these issues,” Dawn Essink, a ballot sponsor who collected signatures for the minimum wage and paid sick leave campaigns, told KLIN News. “Paid sick leave passed with over 70% of voter approval. We’re not talking, like, 52%. We’re talking over 70%. There are very few political issues that 70% of people agree on. People are feeling a lot of righteous indignation.”
With the language filed, the initiative will now be reviewed by the Revisor of Statutes office. Once revisions are made and the final language is established, the campaign will host a public launch for the signature gathering phase of the campaign.
“If the legislature had considered voting on some of these issues prior to them becoming initiatives, we wouldn’t have to go through this process,” said Essink. “We only bring forward ballot initiatives that we know are important to the people of the state and they are issues that the legislature has not dealt with.”
The initiative’s sponsors include Essink; Jo Giles, a sponsor of the 2024 paid sick leave initiative and executive director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha and its affiliated 501(c)(4) Lead the Change Fund; and Al Davis, a former state senator and Sandhills rancher. Respect Nebraska Voters Coalition members include the Heartland Workers Center, Voices for Children in Nebraska, and Nebraska Appleseed Action Fund, and others.
“We trust Nebraskans to make decisions at the ballot box,” Giles told KLIN News. “And we want lawmakers to respect the right of Nebraska voters.”