Advocates seeking an amendment to the Nebraska Constitution to “protect” citizen-initiated laws submitted more than 186,500 signatures Thursday in hopes of reaching the November ballot.

The proponents, known as Respect Nebraska Voters, argue that increasing the threshold to tweak or overturn voter-passed laws — such as casino gambling, caps on payday lending, medical cannabis legalization and regulation, minimum wage increases and guaranteed paid sick leave — is necessary because of state lawmakers’ interference in 2025 and 2026.

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If successful, the threshold of state senators needed to change voter-approved laws would increase from 33 of 49 lawmakers (two-thirds) to 40 (four-fifths). That would be for any changes, including positive ones, for laws that voters have approved since 2004 and into the future.

“Too many politicians think they know what’s best for Nebraskans, that they know better than the people that elected them,” said Jo Giles, one of three sponsors of the campaign. “But Nebraskans know what’s best for Nebraskans, and after we vote, politicians should listen.”

Under the group’s proposal, only legislation to facilitate and “safeguard” voter-enacted laws, and which “advance a compelling state interest by the least restrictive means,” could be passed by the Legislature after a successful ballot measure at all. That could set up new legal challenges.

The effort also constitutionally seeks to prevent the Legislature from making ballot measures tougher to run. The changes would not address constitutional signature gathering requirements.

“Such laws may include neutral, ministerial and administrative laws necessary to facilitate the fair, orderly and efficient administration of these powers, but no law shall be valid that conditions, restricts, burdens or otherwise impairs the exercise of these powers,” the proposed constitutional amendment states.

The campaign needs roughly 126,000 of its signatures to be valid for the measure to reach voters. That bulk total must include at least 5% of registered voters in at least 38 of the state’s 93 counties. The deadline for local county officials to validate signatures is early September.

‘This should be an easy yes’

Giles, the executive director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha, was previously one of the sponsors of the 2024 petition effort to guarantee some paid sick leave for nearly all Nebraska workers. She and other supporters lamented that lawmakers exempted some teen workers and agricultural employees from approved paid sick leave protections, for instance, changes Giles’ campaign said removed guaranteed paid sick leave for 140,000 workers.

This spring, lawmakers locked annual minimum wage bumps at 1.75% each year, rather than the cost of inflation as voters approved in 2022, and created a “youth minimum wage” that dips below the current $15 minimum wage. The youth wage takes effect July 18.

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City leaders in Lincoln passed an ordinance restoring the 2022 ballot language, and Omaha could soon follow suit. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is suing to block the city’s effort.

Employers can still choose to offer more paid sick leave or pay higher than the minimum wage.

Mike Gage, the president and secretary-treasurer of the Nebraska State AFL-CIO, said Respect Nebraska Voters “ensures the voices of working people are heard and respected.”

“If you work for a living, you know what it means to work toward a just and fair livelihood, and if you work for a living, this should be an easy yes,” Gage said.

Tay’Viana Robinson and Ta’Miyah Wright, two 16-year-old Omaha students who both work at Step Up Omaha on career readiness and workforce preparation, said Respect Nebraska Voters would show their future votes matter and can make a difference for the next generation.

“Just because someone is too young to vote doesn’t mean that their needs should go overlooked,” Tay’Viana said.

Not the ‘right solution’

As advocates hope to turn to November, some state lawmakers and advocates behind other voter-approved measures, including gambling and medical cannabis, have expressed concern that the proposal could have unintended consequences.

State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, who will be term-limited come January after eight years, said in a Monday Facebook post that her lack of support for Respect Nebraska Voters seems to “surprise” some people she’s spoken to. She was among lawmakers who pushed back on the minimum wage and paid sick leave changes, which passed with the minimum 33 votes needed.

Cavanaugh said Respect Nebraska Voters’ proposal is seeking to respond to a “very real concern,” that the Legislature has, at times, “undermined the will of the voters.”

“I share that concern. It deserves serious attention,” Cavanaugh wrote. “I don’t believe this particular initiative is the right solution.”

She specifically pointed to hesitation about Medicaid expansion, which voters opted the state into in 2018, and the legalization and regulation of medical cannabis, two laws approved in 2024 after years of roadblocks in the Legislature, and on the third petition attempt.

Cavanaugh warned it’s difficult enough getting to 25 votes for “uncontroversial bills.” At the same time, “significant coalition-building” is required to get to 33, the same number of votes needed for contentious bills to get around filibusters.

Lawmakers wishing to change voter-approved laws have been required to get 33 votes since the 2005 legislative session, after voters approved the restriction in the 2004 election.

“Raising the threshold to 40 votes would make many necessary reforms nearly impossible,” Cavanaugh wrote. “That matters.”

Why advocates go to the ballot

Giles said that the first path for advocates has always been to go through the Legislature. Yet after lawmakers have “discounted” ideas, supporters of various measures, from gambling and medical cannabis to labor protections, go to the ballot box. Sometimes, advocates pursue more expansive language than would have been authorized in a more conservative Legislature.

“I would say to lawmakers that they have missed opportunities to work with the second house to bring forth meaningful and collaborative legislation,” Giles said Thursday.

If successful, the proposal would lock in what lawmakers just changed on minimum wage and paid sick leave, with the potential to permanently lock out some teen workers and other exempted employees from the benefits that voters had previously given them, absent another petition campaign.

Of that risk, Giles, as she did in January, said it’s one they remain determined to take.

“We wouldn’t be here today if lawmakers were actually working together to support the will of the people,” Giles said. “We believe that when this passes in November that it puts that in place for lawmakers to do that collaborative work and come together and figure out ways to support what their constituents want.”

‘Truly unforeseen circumstances’

Former state Senator Al Davis, a retired Sandhills rancher and another sponsor of Respect Nebraska Voters, said Thursday that there may be “rare circumstances” where changes make sense.

“But that should be reserved for truly unforeseen circumstances, and after a law has been given the opportunity to work,” Davis said.

State Senator John Cavanaugh of Omaha, Machaela Cavanaugh’s brother from midtown Omaha, tried to implement changes around medical cannabis to that end. He sought a one-page change to legally and professionally protect medical providers who want to recommend medical cannabis, an issue that has arisen in the past two years.

Since the laws took effect in 2024, advocates have said opposition from state leaders has meant few, if any, cannabis recommendations have come from doctors in the Cornhusker State.

A recommendation is necessary to legally possess up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis at one time. An in-state recommendation will also be needed to access eventual licensed dispensaries in the state, under regulations the governor and attorney general approved this week.

Yet Cavanaugh’s measure fell short. A more comprehensive bill to help implement medical cannabis in 2025 also failed, including the same physician protections, garnering just 23 votes.

Giles said her campaign’s view is that the constitutional amendment would protect medical cannabis as voters passed. Pressed further, she said their proposal “technically” is written to go back to 2004, but supporters are “intending for this to be forward-facing.”

Asked about some families and advocates behind the 2024 campaign, some of whom have expressly said the ballot measure could hurt them, Giles said: “We are happy to continue to have conversations with them” and work on education.

“But we do believe that this initiative respects the majority of voters across our state, and it is an opportunity to look upstream, to really fix a structural issue to ensure that when people vote at the ballot box, it is respected,” Giles continued.

‘Trust in our system’

State Senator Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, the longest current-serving lawmaker in her 12th year, helped pass minimum wage increases via the ballot in 2014. The registered Democrat led the fight against the labor changes and previously expressed hesitation with Respect Nebraska Voters. She suggested a potential existing “remedy” for voters: a referendum campaign.

A referendum asks voters statewide to reverse all or part of newly passed legislation. A campaign would need signatures from 5% of registered voters, rather than 10% for a constitutional change, if collected within three months after a legislative session ends.

Giles said one of the reasons against a referendum was that it’s not “sustainable” with a potential back-and-forth between lawmakers and voters, leading to more time and resources needed.

Said Giles: “We’re going with something that is more secure in our Constitution, that requires lawmakers to respect our vote, and, also, if it’s in the Constitution, that means only the people can change it.”

Cavanaugh had also brought up concern about whether the funds invested in petitions could be better spent in legislative races, where one vote could have stopped the changes to voter-approved minimum wage and paid sick leave protections.

In 2024, supporters and opponents of more than six different petition campaigns spent well over $41 million combined. In contrast, legislative candidates directly spent roughly $9.5 million that cycle. Another $1.8 million in legislative campaign spending came from two legislative candidates using campaign funds to support abortion-related petition campaigns.

Giles, responding to reporters, said one could look at the issue from an electoral position, or to fix a “structural problem within our constitution,” as Respect Nebraska Voters hopes to do.

Dawn Essink, a leader with Omaha Together One Community and a ballot sponsor alongside Giles and Davis, was among supporters of the recent labor petitions. Getting choked up, she said Thursday that the issue is about community and ensuring everyday Nebraskans “aren’t shut out of decisions that affect our lives.”

“More than 186,000 Nebraskans signed to restore trust in our system,” Essink said. “Every single one of us wants to restore that simple idea, and when the people vote, that vote matters.”