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Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans Coalition advocates carries turn in petitions to the Secretary of State on June 27. Nebraska lawmakers are considering placing limits on the paid sick leave law that nearly 75% of state voters supported at the ballot box in November. Industry groups and some small-business owners urged a committee of Nebraska lawmakers Monday to support a proposal that would place limits on the law voters approved in November requiring employers in the state to offer at least five days of paid sick leave per year.
Labor unions and other advocates, though, called on lawmakers to reject the proposed limits at a public hearing Monday, casting the bid to narrow the law as an attempt to undermine the will of Nebraskans. Nearly 75% of Nebraska voters who cast ballots in November voted to create the law , set to take effect Oct. 1, requiring employers with fewer than 20 workers to offer at least five days of paid sick leave per year and employers with 20 or more workers to offer at least seven paid days of leave annually.
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At a Monday public hearing at the Capitol, the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee considered a proposal from Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney that would exempt businesses with 10 or fewer employees from the law entirely. Strommen's bill (LB698) would also exempt temporary or seasonal agricultural workers and child workers under the age of 16 from the paid sick leave requirements.
The first-year lawmaker from western Nebraska cast the proposal as one meant to protect small businesses. "Are you comfortable telling your constituents that you have the opportunity to protect jobs but decided not to?" Strommen asked the committee Monday. "Because I think that that's what this comes down to is I'm trying to protect jobs because those small businesses can't absorb the cost.
" Strommen's concerns over what the law could mean for Nebraska's small businesses — and the costs of goods and services they provide — were echoed by a handful of business owners and a slew of interest groups that testified in support of his bill Monday. David Barnes, the volunteer general manager of Valley Foods Cooperative in Lynch — a Boyd County village with a population of around 200 people — said his rural grocery store only intends to employ one full-time worker, with "two to three part-time workers filling in the gaps." In four years of operations, he said, the co-op has never made more than $27,000 — before federal or state income taxes.
"Valley Foods does not need the increased cost due to mandatory sick leave," Barnes said, estimating the law would cost the store $1,200 per year. "We are already running as streamlined as we can." Ansley Fellers, a lobbyist for three industry groups including the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, told lawmakers the paid leave requirements hit small businesses harder than larger companies, who she said "can survive on tighter margins, at least until their competitors are driven out of business.
" "We understand why voters think these new mandates are the right thing to do, but ballot initiatives cannot and do not account for differences between businesses, be it size, industry or locations," she said, calling Strommen's proposal an indication that lawmakers are "willing to balance the ballot with the voice of our state's smallest businesses." A lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business who testified in support of the bill said that half of the organization's Nebraska members surveyed said the requirements would force them to freeze hiring or cut their workforce. But others urged lawmakers to reject Strommen's proposal, noting that the voter-approved law he is seeking to limit won the support of more Nebraskans in November than any other ballot measure or candidate, including President Donald Trump.
Voters backed the proposal in 89 of the state's 93 counties . "Voters weren't bamboozled," said Craig Moody, a small-business owner who was one of three ballot sponsors for the paid sick leave initiative . "They were given a clear choice, and they voted for paid sick leave.
So in light of the extraordinary support from the electorate, I'm forced to ask why we would ever consider scaling back this very popular initiative." Moody said he understands it's the Legislature's role to refine the law but said Strommen's bill "is walking a little bit too far away from what my view is for what the voters were saying." Rene Carrillo, an IBEW Local 265 member who said he personally gathered around 60 signatures to put the proposal to voters last year, said only three voters he talked to had questions.
"Two of them were, 'Where is it going to be paid from?'" Carrillo recalled. "And then the one didn't sign because they were pretty sure that once it got to (the Legislature), it would get squashed, cut or dismantled, which is kind of what this bill here is trying to do." Nine people wrote letters to the Business and Labor Committee in support of the bill, while 294 wrote in opposition, lawmakers said.
The committee took no action on the bill Monday, but Republican lawmakers who hold a 5-2 advantage on the committee signaled support for it, repeatedly describing the law it seeks to change as a "government mandate" and suggesting the ballot drive behind it was funded by out-of-state interest groups. The same committee voted 6-1 last month to advance a bill to classify Uber and other app-based drivers as independent contractors in state law, a move that labor groups opposed. Download the new Journal Star News Mobile App Meet Nebraska state senators making laws in 2025 District 49 Bob Andersen Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2725 bandersen@leg.
ne.gov District 14 John Arch La Vista Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2730 [email protected].
gov District 18 Christy Armendariz Omaha Elected 2022 402-471-2618 [email protected] District 21 Beau Ballard Lincoln Appointed 2023, elected 2024 402-471-2673 bballard@leg.
ne.gov District 25 Carolyn Bosn Lincoln Appointed 2023, elected 2024 402-471-2731 [email protected].
gov District 29 Eliot Bostar Lincoln Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2734 [email protected] District 32 Tom Brandt Plymouth Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2711 tbrandt@leg.
ne.gov District 9 John Cavanaugh Omaha Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2723 [email protected].
gov District 6 Machaela Cavanaugh Omaha Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2714 [email protected] District 2 Robert Clements Elmwood Appt.
2017, elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2613 [email protected] District 37 Stanley Clouse Kearney Elected 2024 402-471-2726 sclouse@leg.
ne.gov District 46 Danielle Conrad Lincoln Elected 2022 402-471-2720 [email protected].
gov District 10 Wendy DeBoer Bennington Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2718 [email protected] District 40 Barry DeKay Niobrara Elected 2022 402-471-2801 bdekay@leg.
ne.gov District 30 Myron Dorn Adams Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2620 [email protected].
gov District 19 Robert Dover Norfolk Appointed 2022, elected 2024 402-471-2929 [email protected] District 26 George Dungan Lincoln Elected 2022 402-471-2610 gdungan@leg.
ne.gov District 20 John Fredrickson Omaha Elected 2022 402-471-2622 [email protected].
gov District 7 Dunixi Guereca Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2721 [email protected] District 1 Bob Hallstrom Syracuse Elected 2024 402-471-2733 bhallstrom@leg.
ne.gov District 16 Ben Hansen Blair Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2728 [email protected].
gov District 48 Brian Hardin Gering Elected 2022 402-471-2802 [email protected] District 36 Rick Holdcroft Bellevue Elected 2022 402-471-2642 rholdcroft@leg.
ne.gov District 24 Jana Hughes Seward Elected 2022 402-471-2756 [email protected].
gov District 8 Megan Hunt Omaha Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2722 [email protected] District 44 Teresa Ibach Sumner Elected 2022 402-471-2805 tibach@leg.
ne.gov District 42 Mike Jacobson North Platte Appt. 2022, elected 2022 402-471-2729 mjacobson@leg.
ne.gov District 5 Margo Juarez Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2710 [email protected].
gov District 31 Kathleen Kauth Omaha Appt. 2022, elected 2022, 2024 402-471-2327 [email protected].
gov District 34 Loren Lippincott Central City Elected 2022 402-471-2630 [email protected] District 33 Dan Lonowski Hastings Elected 2024 402-471-2712 dlonowski@leg.
ne.gov District 41 Dan McKeon Amherst Elected 2024 402-471-2885 [email protected].
gov District 11 Terrell McKinney Omaha Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2612 [email protected] District 17 Glen Meyer Pender Elected 2024 402-471-2716 gmeyer@leg.
ne.gov District 22 Mike Moser Columbus Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2715 [email protected].
gov District 38 Dave Murman Glenvil Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2732 [email protected] District 27 Jason Prokop Lincoln Elected 2024 402-471-2632 jprokop@leg.
ne.gov District 35 Dan Quick Grand Island Elected 2024 402-471-2617 [email protected].
gov District 28 Jane Raybould Lincoln Elected 2022 402-471-2633 [email protected] District 12 Merv Riepe Ralston Elected 2022 402-471-2623 mriepe@leg.
ne.gov District 3 Victor Rountree Bellevue Elected 2024 402-471-2627 [email protected].
gov District 45 Rita Sanders Bellevue Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2615 [email protected] District 39 Tony Sorrentino Elkhorn Elected 2024 402-471-2885 tsorrentino@leg.
ne.gov District 13 Ashlei Spivey Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2727 [email protected].
gov District 43 Tanya Storer Whitman Elected 2024 402-471-2628 [email protected] District 23 Jared Storm David City Elected 2024 402-471-2719 jstorm@leg.
ne.gov District 47 Paul Strommen Sidney Elected 2024 402-471-2616 [email protected].
gov District 4 R. Brad von Gillern Elkhorn Elected 2022 402-471-2621 [email protected].
gov District 15 Dave Wordekemper Fremont Elected 2024 402-471-2625 [email protected] Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.
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