As you prepare for the 2026 Legislative Session, I want to let members, staff, and others interested in the upcoming session know how I will be handling carryover legislation that remains on the floor at one of the three stages of debate.

In the last few weeks, I have been asked about the scheduling status of 2025 priority bills which were not completed last year. I have decided to not place a scheduling preference on any of the carryover 2025 priority bills. Currently, there are nineteen 2025 priority bills on the floor. These bills are at various stages of debate with different levels of readiness for scheduling and several with a likelihood of lengthy debate. Time spent on these bills will be time taken away from debate on our 2026 priority bills.

My 2026 focus as speaker will be to allow time for debate on as many of our 2026 priorities as possible, and of course, the mid-biennium budget. To accomplish that end, I have decided to “start fresh” in 2026 by focusing on 2026 priorities. A 2025 priority bill will need to be reprioritized in order to be scheduled during the 2026 session, time permitting.

Additionally, I will not be scheduling carryover bills currently sitting on select file or final reading unless one of these bills is designated a 2026 priority. These carryover bills were not completed last year due to issues other than lack of time. I do not intend to spend worksheet order debate time on bills that have already been proven problematic. Any bill sitting on select file or final reading, however, is eligible for designation as a 2026 priority bill, in which case it will be scheduled for floor debate, time permitting.

Heading into the session, Nebraska has a projected deficit of $471.5 million below the minimum reserve for the current biennial budget (FY2025/26 and FY2026/27). Given the size of this projected shortfall, I anticipate the Legislature will be devoting a significant amount of time to making mid-biennium adjustments to the state budget to re-establish a 3% General Fund minimum reserve. Similar to last year, this will likely include bills addressing the revenue side, including bills to change fees. These bills will be referenced to the appropriate subject matter committee and will need to be heard on the floor prior to taking up the budget package.

With respect to scheduling carryover bills currently on general file, I will be scheduling the worksheet order bills in the following order: bills with all committee members present and all voting to advance to general file, bills with all committee members present voting to advance to general file (some members may be absent), followed by bills with no dissenting votes to advance to general file (one or more members voting PNV). If floor time remains before taking up 2026 priority bills, I will schedule the remaining general file bills in worksheet order.

During the sixty-day session, the available time for public hearings and full day floor debate is shortened. Public hearings will begin on January 20, the Tuesday following the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Full day floor debate will begin on March 3, 2026 giving us only a handful of full days of debate before the budget bills will be heard on general file (exact date to be determined later).