We are over halfway through the legislative session and past the deadline for the selection of “priority bills.” This means that each senator and legislative committee has selected the bills that they want to prioritize for discussion in the remaining days of the session. Several of the issues that we have been working on have been prioritized and will be debated by all senators in the next several weeks, and most of them are bills that we support – with one very important exception.
Priority issues for women and girls:
LB 1060 – Ends Natural Hair Discrimination in the Workplace. Introduced and prioritized by Senator Machaela Cavanaugh (SUPPORT). LB 1060 would promote workplaces free of racial discrimination as it includes natural hair in the definition of race for our Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act. Under this law, it would be illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee’s natural hair. For more information, see our fact sheet and use your voice on social media with these shareable graphics. This bill will be debated in the first round as soon as today or early next week.
LB 627 – Ends employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Introduced and prioritized by Senator Patty Pansing Brooks (SUPPORT). This bill awaits scheduling for the first round of debate this session.
LB 43 – Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights. Introduced and prioritized by Senator Kate Bolz (SUPPORT). LB 43 passed the first round of debate this week, with no opposition. See how your senator voted here. Please reach out to your senator and thank them for their support – or, if they were listed as “not voting,” please ask for their support of sexual assault survivors and LB 43. For more details see our fact sheet.
LB 945 – Requires an annual reporting of untested sexual assault kits in Omaha and Lincoln. Introduced by Senator Machaela Cavanaugh and amended into LB 881, which was prioritized by Senator Matt Hansen (SUPPORT). This bill passed the first round of floor debate yesterday.
LB 814 – Bans a method of abortion – (OPPOSE). This bill puts politics between a woman and her doctor and puts reproductive health care further out of reach for women across the state. This bill is still in Judiciary Committee. For a list of all other priority bills, see here.
How can you use your voice on behalf of women and girls this week?
- Reach out to your senator and ask them to support LB 1060, to end natural hair discrimination in the workplace. This bill could be debated as soon as today or early next week. Please call or email your senator and encourage them to support LB 1060. And share the shareables on social media.
- Thank your senator for supporting LB 43, the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights. See our fact sheet and the link to see how your senator voted.
- Join our friends at OutNebraska at a “Rally in the Rotunda” on March 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the State Capitol in Lincoln to show our support for inclusive workplaces and LB 627, which bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
As always, thank you for all you do to help realize our shared vision of a community and state where every woman and girl has the opportunity to reach their full potential. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need additional information.