‘I draw the line at withholding food from someone as a form of consequence.’

Yesterday, Governor Pillen vetoed LB319, Senator Victor Rountree’s priority bill to end Nebraska’s lifetime Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) ban for people with certain drug felony convictions.

Today, May 14th, 2025, the Nebraska Legislature voted to pass LB319, by and large ending the lifetime ban on SNAP benefits for people with one set of felony convictions.

Advocacy groups spoke out against the Legislature's vote today to move a criminal and

juvenile justice package from general file to select, with amendments expanding felony offenses and

allowing the detention of children as young as 11 and youth at risk of self-harm.

RISE's Policy & Advocacy team invites you to join us for all of our upcoming events! We have a few ways for you all to get involved with advocacy efforts in the community and at the capitol.

This is the beginning of a biennium, where our unicameral operates in 2-year terms, and this year is the long session with 90 legislative days. This means we will see senators working to address the concerns of Nebraska through the beginning of June.