Nebraska Senators Reject Bill To Implement Voter-Approved Medical Marijuana Program
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“I would expect intelligent people with good hearts, which I believe this body is, can find a way to provide relief with some medical marijuana.”
By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner
A legislative proposal seeking to help implement Nebraska’s voter-approved medical cannabis laws failed Tuesday, facing a tougher floor fight than four years ago despite widespread support in November.
The latest measure, Legislative Bill 677, failed to garner the 33 votes needed to shut off a filibuster, with the bipartisan effort to stop debate falling 23-22. The regulatory push secured the support of eight Republicans, 14 Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive in the officially nonpartisan 49-member body (State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha, the only other Democrat, was absent from the final vote but had supported the bill).
Republican State Sens. John Arch of La Vista, Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln and Merv Riepe of Ralston declined to take a position and were “present, not voting.”
State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, a Republican with a Libertarian bent who sponsored LB 677, sought to appeal to his conservative colleagues that “on a limb,” everyone could agree that medical cannabis could at least help someone.
“If that’s the case, you believe in medical cannabis, and that’s OK,” Hansen said. “I know sometimes that scares some of us.”
Freshman State Sen. Glen Meyer of Pender was one Republican who heeded Hansen’s call.
“I would hope, and hope’s not a plan, but I do have faith in this body, I would expect intelligent people with good hearts, which I believe this body is, can find a way to provide relief with some medical marijuana,” Meyer said.
The other six Republicans joining Hansen and Meyer were State Sens. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, Stan Clouse of Kearney, Myron Dorn of Adams, Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, Jana Hughes of Seward and Dave Wordekemper of Fremont.
But at the end of the day, Gov. Jim Pillen (R), Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) and Nebraska’s junior U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Pillen’s predecessor, prevailed in their public calls against passing LB 677, peeling off enough Republican senators to stop the bill.
Voters legalized medical cannabis with 71 percent approval in November, for up to 5 ounces of cannabis with a physician’s recommendation. A separate regulatory law secured 67 percent approval.
‘We can always come back’
Leading the charge against LB 677 was freshman State Sen. Jared Storm of David City, who echoed the calls of Hilgers and Ricketts that legislation wasn’t needed to help implement the state’s new medical cannabis laws.
Storm and multiple Republicans said the new Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, which voters created and charged with “exclusive” regulatory authority, should be left to act on its own first, without legislative changes.
“If we have any issues, we can always come back as a body and tweak those issues, not jump off the cliff,” Storm said of Hansen’s LB 677 and an accompanying amendment.
He added: “I don’t want anybody to think that I’m some cold-hearted monster here that does not have sympathy for children and adults that are suffering through pain. But we have to get this right.”
The hesitation also came as Hilgers’ office continues challenging whether the ballot measures were properly placed on the 2024 ballot and an expected future state-led challenge arguing the voter-approved laws violate federal law. The AG’s Office was in court earlier Tuesday asking for a citizen-led lawsuit alleging the same legal challenge to be tossed so Hilgers’ staff can sue.
Hilgers also organized opposition to LB 677 from 53 sheriffs, including the Nebraska Sheriffs Association, and the Police Chiefs Association of Nebraska.
‘Let’s help shape it’
State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, a mental health practitioner, said cannabis would not “leap off the shelves” and corrupt Nebraska youth, as some opponents contended. He said senators sometimes needed to go outside and “touch some grass and just think about what the world is like outside of this room.”
“Let’s not get too concerned about ‘fighting against the will of the people,’” Fredrickson said. “Let’s help shape it. Let’s help put in the right guardrails in place, and let’s help build a system that we can be proud of and puts our patients first.”
Hansen said a strong regulatory system could also save lives from over-reliance on opioids, which State Sen. Dan Quick of Grand Island echoed.
Quick said he thought medical cannabis might one day be able to help his son who has struggled with opioid, drug and alcohol addiction for about 25 years. In that time, Quick said he and his wife have administered life-saving meds to reverse overdoses.
“I think this is an important bill that could help a lot of people, and we need to take that into consideration in what we’re doing,” Quick said.
State Sens. Megan Hunt and Dunixi Guereca, both of Omaha, said opponents also needed to grow up and embrace the modern acceptance of medical cannabis.
“The 1990s have called, and they want their ‘Reefer Madness’ back,” Guereca said. “It is the year of our Lord 2025. Medical marijuana is not controversial.”
‘The will of the people’
Multiple opponents targeted Democrats for their support of LB 677 but opposition to other measures this year to water down voter-approved laws related to paid sick leave and minimum wage. In those cases, 32 of 33 Republicans support changing what voters approved, including Hansen. State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln is the lone Democrat in favor of the sick leave and minimum wage changes, and she proposed the minimum wage tweaks.
“This bill’s unnecessary, inappropriate, undermines the will of the people and implements recreational marijuana,” State Sen. Bob Andersen of north-central Sarpy County said.
Hansen and State Sens. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, Danielle Conrad of Lincoln and George Dungan of Lincoln repeatedly pushed back and noted that backers of the medical cannabis ballot measure asked for LB 677, unlike supporters of the sick leave and minimum wage changes.
Public support for medical cannabis was widespread in November, with majority approval in all 49 legislative districts for legalization and 46 of 49 districts favoring a regulatory system.
Cavanaugh and Dungan said LB 677 was stricter than they would have liked but helped voters whose will Dungan said would “once again be stifled” if LB 677 failed.
Cavanaugh, who offered amendments to make the bill less restrictive, said its negotiated constraints were “in the interest of accessibility, safety, reliability.”
‘Let’s cool our jets’
State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman called out “political theater” and said part of the urgency for passing LB 677 was an effort by supporters of medical cannabis to get around legal challenges.
“Don’t be fooled about the why, about the panic, about why the marijuana proponents are playing on your fear and emotion that we’re going to have mayhem and chaos if we don’t pass 677. If we pass it, we put it in state statute,” Storer said.
Some senators, as well as Hilgers, have said LB 677 could weaken his office’s pending appeal before the Nebraska Supreme Court alleging improper notarizations during the ballot measure process, which a Lancaster County District Court judge widely rejected in November, after the election. Ballot sponsors have also consistently denied wrongdoing.
Some opponents flaunted that decision and said they hope the Nebraska Supreme Court “gets it right,” including State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte, who asked whether LB 677 would incentivize people to “dummy up a bunch of signatures.”
Jacobson and State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse, a lawyer, repeatedly pointed to the fraud-focused case and said Hilgers was protecting the ballot measure process.
“Let’s cool our jets. Let’s slow down the pace,” Jacobson said.
‘This issue isn’t going away’
Conrad and the ballot sponsors have said it is Hilgers and Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s alleged fraud case who are threatening the petition process and seek to “ruin the lives of grassroots activists who peacefully petitioned their government for change.”
Despite opponents’ best efforts, Conrad said, the Legislature had already affirmed the ballot measures with an earlier cleanup bill passed February 21 in a 48-0 vote: LB 1.
Conrad also blasted some opponents for drumming up the very evidence that Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong, a Ricketts appointee, had rejected, including texts among campaign volunteers. Conrad, citing Strong, said she found them “completely out of context, legally irrelevant and cherry-picked.”
“To regurgitate them here on the floor of the Legislature, again, out of context, again, to sling mud, again, to drag moms of sick kids who are petitioning their government to try and find a cure, that says a lot about you,” Conrad said.
Meyer said that even if signatures are ultimately tossed, and the state Supreme Court sides with Hilgers’s appeal, voters’ strong approval would still carry weight.
Many of the same campaign volunteers, including all but one of the main notaries being targeted by the AG’s Office, showed up for the debate. In the early hours of debate, one of the long-time advocates had seven seizures. Her mom helped start the legislative push more than a decade ago.
Some volunteers said that while the defeat of LB 677 was a loss, they wouldn’t stop fighting and would keep showing up.
“This issue isn’t going away. I don’t believe the people will let it go away,” said Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, who described the defeat as an “absolute failure.”
Hansen predicted that LB 677’s defeat could accelerate the push for recreational marijuana, as early as the 2026 election. That would come at the same time Pillen, Hilgers, Evnen, Ricketts and half of the seats in the Legislature are up for reelection.
‘Choke it to death’
Another major theme of the debate was whether the Legislature should step in before the Medical Cannabis Commission has a chance to, as the Legislature has not yet considered or confirmed two final gubernatorial appointees.
Both of those Pillen picks—Dr. Monica Oldenburg of Lincoln and Lorelle Mueting of Gretna—have a confirmation hearing Thursday. Each has consistently opposed the same measures that Eggers and other long-time supporters have fought for. Mueting opposed LB 677 but was “neutral” on a much stricter bill from Storm.
“Why would we as a Legislature start messing with the commission that hasn’t even started doing its work yet?” State Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk asked during debate.
But Hansen said the commission’s broad authority and the apparent lean of the appointees could signal where the regulations ultimately end up, which he said does nothing but hurt patients.
“If they take the reins, they can choke it to death,” Hansen said of the commission.
Four years ago, an earlier medical marijuana bill failed 31-18 in face of Republican opposition. Hilgers, a former state senator, opposed the 2021 bill, too.
But unlike that narrow defeat, LB 677 faced one of the toughest fights for advocates in a decade, even as the 2025 debate came at a different political moment than in 2021. That includes Ricketts no longer being governor. He had said legalized marijuana would “kill your kids.” It also includes overwhelming approval of the ballot measures.
“I think you know in your hearts that people deserve this, and you know in your hearts what’s going to happen if we don’t,” Hansen told his colleagues. “The people voted for you to make a decision, not to push it off to somebody else.”
This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.
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