Effort to let largest Nebraska cities consolidate elections will include Lincoln
LINCOLN — Lawmakers rejected a last-minute amendment Thursday to keep Lincoln city elections in off years, rather than allowing city officials to tie them to statewide elections.
The amendment, from State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, came after concerns from some Lincoln city officials that the amended Legislative Bill 521 could cause problems for the capital city. The original bill from State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha would have allowed just Omaha to move its elections, but when the proposal was amended and attached to LB 521, it added Lincoln.
The amendment to remove Lincoln from the bill failed 16-30. A reconsideration motion failed 18-26. The broader bill advanced by voice vote to the third and final round of debate.
Century-old state laws dictate the election timing for cities the size of Omaha (metropolitan class, 400,000 or more residents) and Lincoln (primary class, 100,001 to 399,999 residents).
Omaha and Lincoln city officials can already advance changes to their city charter to move election timing, but without a law such as LB 521, the changes could not be carried out.
Dungan, who said he just started talking with Lincoln officials shortly before the debate on Thursday, said Lincoln's city charter is 'significantly different' than other cities, such as Omaha. He argued LB 521 didn't necessarily contemplate what to do with elections for Lincoln Airport Authority or Lincoln Public Schools board members.
'I would encourage my colleagues who are not from Lincoln to maybe just defer at this point,' Dungan said.
State Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln asked Cavanaugh if he 'would agree that what's good for the Omaha elections to be on some sort of consistent patterns … that same logic would apply uniformly then in other areas.'
Cavanaugh responded that he would like to see the elections moved but that he would support Dungan's motion. Cavanaugh has said the back-to-back elections can lead to voter fatigue.
Changing the elections could save about $500,000 for Lincoln and more than $1 million in Omaha.
State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, a former member of the Lincoln City Council and Lancaster County Board of Commissioners, said she would have preferred a separate hearing and proposal related to Lincoln, with more local input.
In odd-numbered years, Omaha primary elections are the first Tuesday of April, while general elections are the first Tuesday after the second Monday in May. Omaha city elections are every four years, the year after presidential elections. For Lincoln, the general election is the first Tuesday in May, and the primary election is four weeks prior, every other year.
Omaha's general mayoral election is this Tuesday. Lincoln held its general election this week; its mayor is not on the ballot until 2027.
Of the nine senators who represent parts of Lincoln, the vote fell along party lines. Democratic State Sens. Eliot Bostar, Danielle Conrad, Dungan, Jason Prokop and Raybould, all of Lincoln, supported the carve out. Republican State Sens. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, Bosn, Rob Clements of Elmwood and Myron Dorn of Adams opposed it.
2025 city elections
Omaha primary (April 1): 25.69%.
Omaha general (May 13): (To be determined).
Lincoln primary (April 8): 24.53%.
Lincoln general (May 6): 22.40% (nearly 8,000 early vote ballots, about 4% turnout, will be counted later this week).
2024 statewide elections
Omaha primary (May 14): 26.79%.
Omaha general (Nov. 5): 75.37%.
Lincoln primary (May 14): 15.40%.
Lincoln general (Nov. 5): 78.02%.
2023 city elections
Omaha primary: (N/A)
Omaha general: (N/A)
Lincoln primary (April 7): 33.38%.
Lincoln general (May 2): 46.22%.
2022 statewide elections
Omaha primary (May 10): 31.74%.
Omaha general (Nov. 8): 53.92%.
Lincoln primary (May 10): 33.6%.
Lincoln general (Nov. 8): 57.57%.
2021 city elections
Omaha primary (April 6): 28.50%.
Omaha general (May 11): 32.74%.
Lincoln primary (April 6): 24.86%.
Lincoln general (May 4): 29.34%.
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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Nebraska ed commissioner reflects on literacy, workforce, fed department
Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher. June 20, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — The Nebraska Department of Education is moving ahead on priorities of literacy, chronic absenteeism and workforce development while navigating an ideologically divided governing board and federal uncertainty. The State Board of Education has selected three legislative priorities for the Education Department through 2027, focused on increasing reading proficiency among Nebraska third graders to 75%, halving the number of school staffing vacancies and halving chronic absenteeism. The State Board hopes to accomplish all three goals by 2030. Nebraska Education Commission Brian Maher says such progress might not be 'intuitive' for the average Nebraskan, considering the 4-4 split on the officially nonpartisan board between registered Republicans and Democrats, which appointed Maher beginning July 2023. 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Lynne Walz of Fremont and Lou Ann Linehan of the Elkhorn area, appropriated a few million dollars to employ regional literacy coaches statewide and to mentor teachers in grades K-3 on how to better teach reading. The focus is on training prospective teachers and getting literacy coaches directly in the classroom. Maher said 2015, his last year as Kearney superintendent, was a high-water mark for student achievement, but since then, student test scores have declined. With a focus on the 'Science of Reading,' a methodological research-focused view to teaching reading, Nebraska looks to improve the achievement trend. Maher notes that this was 'by and large' how reading was taught years ago. 'It's a little bit of going back to what we know works,' Maher said. Maher said several educational service units in the state, publicly elected boards to assist and coordinate resources with school districts, have a literacy coach in place. 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NDE's Disability Determination Services also helps determine taxpayers' eligibility for Social Security. The State Board of Education and Education Department are now embarking on creating a strategic plan, which Maher said will likely cover five years. The final result will include feedback after about a dozen forums held statewide earlier this year, including in Nebraska City, Omaha, Valentine, McCook and Scottsbluff. The hope is to get the plan approved by the end of the year and ready to go in January, Maher said. He would like it to focus around literacy, attendance and workforce. 'I think if we do those things really, really well, a lot of other things will fall in place,' Maher said. Maher, who played football at Midland University, echoed longtime head football coach and athletic director for the Nebraska Huskers, Tom Osborne, who used to say that if players can block and tackle well, 'winning will take care of itself.' 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Politico
16-07-2025
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Who keeps a broken agency's $13M endowment?
Presented by Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. Send tips | Subscribe | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben In recent years, CHESTER CROCKER, a former RONALD REAGAN official, has contributed about $40,000 to the private endowment of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the independent agency focused on promoting international conflict resolution, where he once served as board chair. When DOGE entered the organization this year, it sent the entirety of the organization's $13 million private endowment — which counts as donors individuals like Crocker and massive companies like Chevron — to the Treasury Department, according to a DOGE social media post, a copy of the Treasury receipt viewed by POLITICO, and four people familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it. 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Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Yahoo
‘EPIC Option 2.0' seeks to eliminate Nebraska taxes on property, income, inheritances at 2026 ballot
State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard leads a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol on his EPIC Option tax proposals at the Nebraska State Capitol. May 21, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — The petition campaign to eliminate Nebraska taxes on property, income, inheritances and corporations is returning for the 2026 election, hoping to capitalize on recent legislative failures and rising property valuations. The 'EPIC Option' group is back with what supporters are calling 'EPIC Option 2.0' to ban state or local governments from collecting property, income and inheritance taxes after Jan. 1, 2028. Rather than proposing a broad consumption tax as replacement revenue, the Legislature would need to come up with a fix on its own. 'It's time for the people to be in control of this situation, and the only way we can do that is when the people vote,' former State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, a spokesperson for the campaign, said this week. The ballot measure would add to the Nebraska Constitution: 'No governmental entity in the state of Nebraska shall collect property tax, income tax or inheritance tax beginning January 1, 2028.' Erdman said the EPIC team had been considering what to do after falling short of securing the necessary signatures to reach the ballot in 2024. There were hopes the Legislature or Gov. Jim Pillen could do more than 'incremental changes' for property tax relief, said Erdman, who was term-limited in January after eight years. But he said the 2024 special session dedicated to property taxes retroactively raised taxes because of the so-called 'missing year' of income tax credits for property taxes paid. Then, lawmakers failed again in 2025. Erdman tried many times to legislatively pass the EPIC Option. 'Even when we try to do incremental changes, sometimes it winds up coming and biting us in the butt,' Erdman said. State Sens. Bob Andersen of north-central Sarpy County and Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area are continuing work on their own constitutional amendment to tackle rising property taxes and valuations. Kauth's Legislative Resolution 12CA stalled in the Legislature's Revenue Committee this spring. Erdman said he and others can't think of any other option than EPIC and that voters have reached a similar 'tipping point' as in 1966. That's when the Legislature sought to create and use state income and sales taxes to lower state property taxes. In response, voters in 1966 also successfully led a campaign to abolish state property taxes. 'I have spoken with people who circulated that petition in '66 and asked what their plan was to replace the revenue. And they said the outcry of how high taxes were, there was no plan,' Erdman said. 'They said, 'We are tired of paying these taxes.'' Sixty years later, the EPIC approach would be slightly different, providing approximately a one-year window for the state to find a solution if EPIC is advanced to and passed on the ballot. The 2024 EPIC Option team faced resistance from a counter movement named 'No New Taxes Nebraska,' an organization that included former State Sens. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha and Dan Hughes of Venango, former colleagues of Erdman, as well as the League of Nebraska Municipalities, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, Nebraska Hospital Association, Nebraska Realtors and Nebraska Health Care Association. The EPIC Option ballot question committee has raised about $175,000 and spent $140,000 since 2023, according to filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. The No New Taxes group, formed in February 2024, raised and spent $58,165 last year. The group filed in February to dissolve its committee with the NADC. Erdman said his group was continually 'chastised' for pushing a consumption tax plan, criticisms he says were incorrect, so advocates are now looking to force the Legislature to act. 'The revolt is becoming more sustained and longer and, right now, because the valuation hearings protests are going on at the local courthouse, these people are fired up,' Erdman said. 'And rightfully so, because this Legislature, nor any since 1967, has not had the intestinal fortitude to make changes to a broken system to make it fair for the taxpayer.' The campaign would need valid signatures from 10% of Nebraska voters, including from 5% of voters in at least 38 of the state's 93 counties, by July 2026 to reach the November 2026 ballot. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
