As I begin this week’s article, I want to note that December 29, 2025, marks 50 years of marriage for Julie and me. It has been quite a ride from meeting in college to working together to build a life together that has taken us across the state to pursue opportunities that were placed in front of us along the way. We endured losing our first son (a premature baby) on our 10^th wedding anniversary and experienced the joy of adopting a daughter and a son a few years later. We are now expecting our first grandchild in the new year. I have survived cancer twice and can confirm that having a strong faith is the secret to getting through anything life sends your way. Julie and I are very blessed.

As we begin 2026 and another session of the Legislature, Senators are making final preparations to fine-tune bills they intend to introduce or advance this session. The Speaker has outlined his plan for scheduling bills. First, he plans to require all 2025 Priority Bills to be reprioritized (i.e., designated as a 2026 Priority Bill) to move forward. Given the budget deficit, he also plans to hold any bills that require an “A” bill (bills that need General Fund dollars) and the budget bills until after revenue-generating bills have been considered by the Legislature. Controversial bills that are likely to be filibustered will also be pushed to the end of the session, if considered at all. He knows that we will need a lot of time to hear bills intended to help balance the budget.

Since we are entering the second half of the 109^th Legislature, we will only meet for 60 session days, adjourning mid-April. The first 10 days of the session will be spent introducing new bills, with January 21 being the last day for bill introduction. These bills will be assigned to the committee of jurisdiction by the Referencing Committee, which has the same membership as the Executive Board. The committee chairs will then schedule each bill for a public hearing. Bills can then be sent to the Speaker for scheduling for General File debate.

In terms of bill carrying over from the 2025 session, there are six on Final Reading, six on Select File, and 66 on General File that were not scheduled for debate. Each committee also has bills that received a public hearing, but were not voted out of committee. Debate on carryover legislation will be scheduled even as new bills are introduced and heard in committee. For 2026, committees will begin holding afternoon bill hearings on January 20.

In addition to traditional legislation, the Legislature seems likely to start the session by considering action on other issues. It is expected that there will be a legislative resolution calling for the impeachment of Regent Elizabeth O’Connor and a resolution calling for the expulsion of Senator Dan McKeon. Hearings on each of those situations are sure to be packed, and discussion will likely take a great deal of legislative floor debate should the Executive Board vote to forward them to the floor for legislative action. I am not looking forward to these hearings, but it is part of the job.

Although I will be bringing a few new bills this year, much of my focus will be on some carryover bills that will be indefinitely postponed if no action is taken this session. For example, I intend to pursue a significant amendment to the Ag Data Privacy bill this year that I introduced on behalf of the Governor last session.

That bill was held until this year so we could make some much-needed improvements to the bill. There was a productive stakeholder workshop this fall to get more input, and I feel that we will be ready to move forward with a white copy (replacement) amendment this session. The bill is not the ultimate solution, but it will be a start to setting the guidelines for producer data privacy and how data can be shared. The bill will be more crop-centric this session, and we will continue to explore livestock data privacy in the sessions to come. Given that no other state has data privacy laws specific to agriculture, it is important to get it right. For that reason, I want to eat this elephant a bite at a time, as they say. Our goal is to stay one step ahead of technology developments so that ag producers can protect their data. We have only begun to see how technology will improve and change in agriculture.

It is a pleasure serving as your State Senator. I have enjoyed the challenge and will continue to do my best to serve the interests of District 42. Please continue to reach out to me about issues important to you at mjacobson@leg.ne.gov or 402-471-2729. I pray all of my constituents have a safe and happy New Year!