The Nebraska Unicameral Legislature’s short session is more than halfway complete, and NAPE/AFSCME union members have been active and advocating at the Capitol in Lincoln to make sure our voices are heard.
While much of our focus this session has been on protecting public services from drastic state budget cuts, our NAPE/AFSCME Government Affairs Committee has been monitoring dozens of bills of interest to state employees. We also attend hearings and testify in support and opposition on these bills.
We’ve united together to support bills like LB1176 to help keep our road workers safe in construction zones, LB973 which would require the state to provide free off street parking to all state employees, and LB878 which would expand the paid maternity leave we negotiated into our contract to all state employees.
We’ve also been in favor of bills that provide training and support to our members like LB816 allowing for confidential peer support for our first responder members, LB1055 that would expand training on dementia to our APS workers, LB825 which would require training in domestic abuse for our Behavioral Health Practioneers, and LB744 which would include our State Patrol emergency dispatchers in the Critical Incident Stress Management and Workers’ Compensation Acts.
We’ve united in opposition to bad bills like LB1013 that would harm youth committed to state custody at our YRTCs, NCYF, and Whitehall Campus, LB1213 that would require a licensing process for the already hard to staff position of Child/Family Service Specialist, and LB730 which would require each state agency to monitor the use of restrooms by state employees.
We’ve already won changes to two bills in which we were initially opposed. LB668 would have allowed DHHS to outsource certain case management duties to private contractors. After having successfully lobbied to end outsourcing to St. Francis Ministries, we united to stop this detrimental outsourcing policy from passing. The bill was amended to eliminate the outsourcing language, passed as amended, and was signed into law by the Governor.
We also won a victory on LB397, which would have removed a requirement for public employers to have workplace safety committees in order to qualify for Workers’ Comp Coverage. As a direct result of our advocacy, the bill was amended to continue the requirement that all public employers have workplace safety committees.
The NAPE/AFSCME Government Affairs Committee will continue to monitor bills this legislative session. NAPE/AFSCME members should monitor their email for action alerts, especially as the legislature debates the state budget in March and April. If you missed our virtual legislative update, a recording is available to our members here.