{"id":6137,"date":"2026-04-17T14:21:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/?p=6137"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:21:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:21:58","slug":"unicameral-review-second-session-of-the-109th-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/?p=6137","title":{"rendered":"Unicameral Review second session of the 109th Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"The Nebraska Unicameral has wrapped up the second session of the 109th Legislature\u2014and it was a busy one for the state budget. Lawmakers passed mid-biennium budget adjustments (LB 1071 and LB 1072) after extended negotiations to address a projected $646 million shortfall. The final package includes spending reductions, fund transfers, and other adjustments, such as a $50 million reduction from the Tobacco Settlement Fund and a $304 million draw from the Cash Reserve Fund over the biennium. To close the remaining $38 million gap, lawmakers advanced additional revenue and cost-saving proposals estimated to generate $44 million, which could leave a modest surplus. Governor Jim Pillen signed the budget bills with no line-item vetoes.<\/p>\n

NCUL was engaged early in the process to keep credit union priorities moving in LB 717. Key provisions include: (1) clarifying that credit unions are included in the definition of \u201cfinancial institution\u201d for purposes of digital assets and stablecoins; (2) updating the annual credit union wild card\/parity provision (Section 25), which impacts Nebraska\u2019s 10 state-chartered credit unions; and (3) increasing the usury-rate exemption principal-balance cap from $25,000 to $100,000 (Section 26).<\/p>\n

Member protection remained a major focus this session. NCUL-supported legislation advanced in LB 838, strengthening protections for elders and vulnerable adults by allowing financial institutions to designate an authorized contact when there\u2019s an emergency, a loss of customer contact, or suspected financial exploitation. LB 838 also incorporated LB 1118 (social media advertising verification and take-down processes to help deter fraud) and LB 837 (optional rounding of cash transactions to the nearest nickel).<\/p>\n

Overall, four out of five legislative bills supported by the Fraud Free Nebraska Coalition passed this year.<\/p>\n

Additional NCUL-supported fraud measures also moved forward in LB 965 (a Judiciary Committee priority). The bill was amended to include LB 785, which expands the burglary-tools statute to cover unauthorized possession or use of keys\/locks for mail receptacles (including U.S. Postal Service and commercial carrier boxes). Violations would be a Class IV felony\u2014an important step in addressing organized mail theft tied to identity theft and financial fraud.<\/p>\n

Housing priorities supported by NCUL advanced as well. The Legislature passed LB 803 (which includes the First-Time Home Buyer Savings Account Act) and LB 1067, which establishes ongoing funding for the Rural Workforce Housing and Middle-Income Workforce Housing programs. LB 1067 does this by increasing the documentary stamp tax by $1 per $1,000, with the new revenue split evenly between the two funds.<\/p>\n

Finally, NCUL secured an amendment to LB 882\u2014included in the passage of LB 1001\u2014to protect credit union participation in the Save to Win program.<\/p>\n

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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.4″ _module_preset=”default”] The Nebraska Unicameral has wrapped up the second session of the 109th Legislature\u2014and it was a busy one for the state budget. Lawmakers passed mid-biennium budget adjustments (LB 1071 and LB 1072) after extended negotiations to address a projected $646 million shortfall. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncultheaffiliate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}