As a leader for our cause and in the community, we offer programs and services to raise awareness and make a difference for our mission. These current bills may be at different stages of the process. Check the hyperlinks to monitor bills you are interested in. If you feel the need to reach out to the legislative body, we are happy to help you formulate effective communication, we do it every day!
2026 Nebraska Sportsmen's Foundation Priority Bills (Support)
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Change the administration of the Noxious Weed Control Act from the Department of
Agriculture to the Department of Water, Energy, and Environment and change provisions of
the Noxious Weed Control Act and the Water Resources Cash Fund. Moves the program from NDA to DWEE. Would not allow any funds from WRCF to pay for state agency salaries. -
Change provisions relating to burning permits and the statewide open burning ban. Adds disclosure of whether a burn is a prescribed burn and approximate acres to be burned to the application for a burn permit.
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Provide for natural resources districts to create soil and water programs. Adds disclosure of whether a burn is a prescribed burn and approximate acres to be burned to the application for a burn permit.
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Change a penalty and provide a fee for violating the open burning ban. Provides that violations of land management burning statutes or violations of an open burning ban is a class III misdemeanor instead of a Class IV misdemeanor.
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Change provisions of the Game Law and the State Boat Act.Redefines 'wildlife abatement' to remove the requirement for use of a trained raptor. Adds details on investigative vehicles as part of G&P reporting process. Allows Game and Parks Commission to set and collect fees for educational programs, but specifies cost cannot exceed collections. In other areas removes authority to spend existing fee dollars on similar education programs. Raises from $3 to $4 the clerical fee component for permits/licenses. Replaces specific dollar caps on resident and nonresident lifetime hunting and fishing permits with a new formula: fees cannot exceed twenty times the annual fee for such permits. Removes statutory percentage-based restrictions and reporting requirements on the use of Nebraska Habitat Fund and Nebraska Aquatic Habitat Fund moneys (previously 100% was restricted, now only 25%). Increases various permit, application, and registration fees, including deer, antelope, paddlefish, and motorboat registration. Creates new criminal penalties for unlawful possession, transportation, sale, or trade of wildlife in violation of the Game Law, including felony charges if the value exceeds $10,000 in three years. Changes requirements for personal floatation devices on personal watercraft, specifying that they must be Coast Guard-approved for use on such craft.
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Provide for hangtag permits for motor vehicles under the Game Law. Beginning January 1, 2027, an annual hangtag permit may be purchased by any person with a resident motor vehicle. The fee for the hangtag permit shall be the combined cost of one resident
annual permit, one duplicate annual permit, and a convenience fee. The hangtag permit shall be valid through December 31 in the year for which the permit is issued and only for the vehicle in
which it is displayed. A hangtag permit issued pursuant to this subsection may be transferred between motor vehicles registered by the permit holder in the State of Nebraska. The commission
shall establish a convenience fee for hangtag permits that does not exceed fifteen dollars. -
Change provisions relating to hunting, fur-harvesting and fishing. Amends section 37-314 to change the commission's authority from 'may' to 'shall,' requiring rather than permitting the commission to establish rules and regulations for hunting, fur-harvesting,
and fishing gear. -
Provide for issuance of a combination hunting and fishing permit and certain stamps to
certain veterans. Creates a new special three-year permit ($90) and five-year permit ($135) for Nebraska resident veterans with at least a 10% service-connected disability, as rated by the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs. Expands eligibility for paid special permits to veterans with a lower disability rating (10% or more, instead of the previous 50% or more for no-fee permits). -
Constitutional amendment to create requirements for the use of the Nebraska Environmental
Trust Fund. Would add language to the Nebraska Constitution that award from the NET trust fund shall be for competitively awarded grants and that state agencies must have 50% matching funds from
non-state revenues.
2026 Nebraska Sportsmen's Foundation Bills (Oppose)
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Adopt the Immediate Protection from Abuse Act and change notice requirements under the
Protection Orders Act. Establishes the Immediate Protection from Abuse Act, authorizing law enforcement to issue immediate protective orders after arrest for domestic or sexual assault if there is a perceived threat.
Immediate protective orders are valid up to three days (or until the next court day if courts are closed), with dissolution or modification possible by court review or motion by the restrained person.
Standardized forms for immediate protective orders will be developed by the State Court Administrator, with required content and multilingual options. Immediate protective orders prohibit
contact, threats, entry to residences, firearm possession, and harm to household pets, among other restrictions. Violations of an immediate protective order constitute a Class I misdemeanor for a
first offense, and a Class IV felony for subsequent offenses; law enforcement must arrest violators with probable cause. Amends statutes to include immediate protective orders alongside existing
protection orders in definitions, criminal penalties, firearm restrictions, and privacy of license plate data. Clarifies that if a respondent is present at a show cause hearing where a final protection
order is issued, further service is not required for prosecution purposes. Eliminates the 'course of conduct' definition from the Protection Orders Act as unnecessary. -
Change provisions relating to parking spaces for handicapped or disabled persons, the State
Boat Act, the Motor Vehicle Registration Act, the Motor Vehicle Operator’s License Act, the
Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, and the Nebraska Rules of the Road. Ends special interest plates. Provides for solid black, green, red, and blue license plates. Revenue would go to the DMV cash fund. -
Budget bill number 2. Call to action! Please contact the NSF for additional commentary for letters or testimony. Provide for and change transfers from the Cash Reserve Fund and provide, change, and
eliminate provisions relating to fees, funds, fund transfers, agency powers and duties, and
various statutory programs including the Nebraska Environmental Trust and Nebraska Game and Parks. -
Require persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence or subject to
domestic abuse protection orders to surrender firearms for a period of time. A court shall enter an order requiring a person to surrender all firearms and ammunition in his or her possession when: (a) Issuing a domestic abuse protection order as provided in section 26-115; (b) Sentencing a defendant to a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence as defined in section 28-1206; (c) Sentencing a defendant for a misdemeanor violation of a domestic abuse protection order or foreign domestic abuse protection order as provided in section 26-118; or (d) Issuing an order relating to a foreign domestic abuse protection order as provided in this bill. -
Call to action! Please reach out to the NSF for commentary for letters and testimony. Change provisions relating to limited landowner hunting permits. Allows a Nebraska resident landowner to transfer a deer, antelope, wild turkey, or elk permit to a designee of the landowner for a fee equal to the fee for the original permit.
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Provide for mountain lion hunting permits. Provides for limited permits for landowners or leaseholders to hunt mountain lions which shall not exceed 75% of the regular permits authorized for mountain lion management unit.
2026 Nebraska Sportsmen's Foundation Bills Monitoring
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Provide a cause of action against certain adults for allowing a minor to possess a handgun and create an offense of leaving a loaded firearm in a location accessible to a minor. Makes a parent or guardian of a child, or a spouse of such a parent or guardian, who knowingly allows a child (14 or younger) to possess a handgun or handgun ammunition, except as permitted in subsection (2) of section 28-1204, to be strictly liable to an injured party for all damages resulting from the use or possession of such handgun or ammunition. Establishes a new Class I
misdemeanor offense for failing to secure a loaded firearm in a way that prevents access by a minor under 14, if the minor subsequently accesses and publicly displays or uses the firearm to injure or kill. -
Provide for the operation of all-terrain vehicles and utility-type vehicles between sunset and
sunrise under the Nebraska Rules of the Road. Adds new provision permitting ATVs and utility-type vehicles to operate between sunset and sunrise within cities, villages, and unincorporated villages if equipped with compliant lighting. Specifies headlight requirements: for multiple beam headlights, upper beam must illuminate at least 100 feet ahead and lowermost beam at least 50 feet; for single beam, must illuminate 100 feet ahead and high intensity portion must not project above headlight center. Requires taillight to display a red light visible from at least 500 feet behind the vehicle during nighttime operation. -
Budget Bill number 1. Provide, change, and eliminate provisions related to appropriations for the expenses of
Nebraska State Government for the biennium ending June 30, 2027 -
Eliminate certain sales and use tax exemptions and a renewable energy tax credit and
change provisions relating to the Nebraska Advantage Research and Development Act and
the ImagiNE Nebraska Act. Sunsets a renewable electric generation tax credit of .075 cent per kilowatt-hour on July 1, 2026. Makes section 77-5803 research tax credit nonrefundable. Eliminates waste treatment and
disposal as a qualified activity under the Imagine Act. Repeals 77-2704.62. data center exemption. Eliminates sales tax exemptions for biochips, C-BED energy projects, mineral oil used as dust suppressant, and nonprofits who are purchasing on behalf of other exempt entities. Eliminates a sales tax exemption for cemeteries created under section 12-101. Eliminates sales tax exemption on game birds subject to permit and regulation by Game and Parks. -
Create the Nebraska Youth Pre-Apprentice Conservation Program, provide powers and
duties to the Game and Parks Commission, and transfer funds from the Workforce
Development Program Cash Fund. This legislation establishes the Nebraska Youth Pre-Apprentice Conservation Program, which will employ eligible Nebraska youth facing barriers such as trauma, law enforcement contact, or
academic struggles in conservation projects managed by the Game and Parks Commission. It creates a dedicated fund, mandates a $750,000 transfer from the Workforce Development Program
Cash Fund, and specifies participant eligibility, compensation, and reporting requirements. -
Prohibit bringing weapons or prohibited substances into the State Capitol. Adds section to Nebraska Criminal Code prohibiting weapons and prohibited substances in the State Capitol, with definitions for both terms. Establishes exceptions for law enforcement officers,
qualified retired officers under federal law, and those with prior Nebraska State Patrol approval. Defines 'prohibited substance' to include explosives, incendiary devices, hazardous materials, and
paint/spray paint. Defines 'weapon' to include firearms, knives, brass/iron knuckles, pepper spray, tasers, and stun guns. Sets violation as a Class III misdemeanor, establishing criminal penalties
for unauthorized possession. Requires the Nebraska State Patrol to implement security procedures, including detection of weapons/prohibited substances, in the Capitol by January 1, 2027.
Mandates consultation with executive, judicial, and legislative leaders in setting Capitol security policy. -
Eliminate certain sales and use tax exemptions, impose sales and use tax on certain
services, and change provisions relating to the Nebraska Job Creation and Mainstreet
Revitalization Act. Expands sales and use tax to many items, chartered flights, fishing and hunting services, investment advice, lobbying, local passenger transportation by chartered road vehicles, including
limousines and similar luxury vehicles, real estate management fees, storage and moving services, travel agency services, test laboratory services, molds and dies among many others.
Accelerates the sunset for new applications under the Nebraska Job Creation and Mainstreet Revitalization Act from December 31, 2030, to June 30, 2026. -
Constitutional amendment to provide the right to a clean and healthy natural environment
and that the state and political subdivisions serve as trustee of the natural resources of
Nebraska -
Constitutional amendment to eliminate provisions creating the Board of Educational Lands
and Funds.
