The 2021 Nebraska Legislative Session is underway. Here are some of the bills affecting children and families thus far:
LB 92: This would change wording regarding state residence in relation to college tuition costs to include those who graduate from denominational and parochial schools existing in the state.
LB 199: This would adopt the Face Surveillance Privacy Act, setting in place limits regarding deliberate government use of facial tracking systems. (Tony Vargas)
LB 210: This bill will require non-accredited schools, including home-schooled families, for the purpose participation in extracurricular activities, to create a standard of behavior and educational merit in order for participation in the activity and report such to the district/school (depending on how each school board writes the policy) in which their child is participating.
LB 230: This would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of protected groups in Nebraska. No protections for religious organizations is provided. (Megan Hunt)
LB 231: This would prohibit “conversion therapy” which includes “efforts to change behaviors and gender expressions” (see Sec 3 (3); pg 6 line 7). This also removes masculine and feminine pronouns from this law.
LB 281: This would require child sexual abuse prevention instruction for students K-5 beginning 2022. This provides a requirement to inform parents of how to talk with their children but does not include a requirement to inform parents in advance of the learning so they may “opt-out” their child if desired.
LB 322: This would create a “School Safety and Reporting System”. Schools may create a threat-assessment team of 5 people who will be trained in intervention and de-escalation techniques for the purpose of limiting the involvement of law-enforcement with regards to students. A Safe2HelpNE report line will be created. This call/text/email is 100% anonymous. Should the system be used to make false reports of abuse for the purpose of tormenting or bullying a student, parent, or educator… law-enforcement will not be able to identify the abuser. “Parents” are not mentioned in the bill. There is no mention of parental notification or involvement. Records are to be “security records” rather than educational records. It is not clear whether parents have access to these records.
LB 643: This would protect the liberty of parents and business owners to accept or decline a vaccination under mandatory directive.
For additional bills that affect children and families, please see: https://nebraskafamilyalliance.org/policy/bill-tracker/
If you would like to keep track of the progression of these bills, click HERE. This will take you to the Nebraska Legislature bill tracking site. Sign up for a free account by clicking “Login” under “eBill Book” then click on “New User”. Once you have set up an account, you may then add bills you want tracked to your account. Make sure you select to receive email notifications if you want to be informed when something regarding the bill is changed or updated.
Would you like to learn about the Nebraska State Constitution? Click HERE.
Would you like to learn about the U.S. Constitution? Click HERE.
