LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska lawmaker behind a new law that allows millions in state income tax to go to private school tuition scholarships is now targeting the referendum petition process that could allow state voters to repeal it.
Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan on Wednesday presented to a legislative committee her bill that would simplify the process of enabling people to remove their names from referendum petitions they had signed earlier.
The bill would allow a person to have their name removed by sending a signed letter to the Nebraska Secretary of State. Currently, the only way a voter can remove their name from a petition is by sending a letter along with a notarized affidavit requesting it.
Linehan said she introduced the bill after hearing from constituents that signature gatherers were using misinformation to get people to sign a petition to put the question of whether to repeal her private school scholarship program on the November ballot.
“They were spreading lies about the Opportunity Scholarships Act,” she said.
The new law does not appropriate taxpayer dollars directly to private school vouchers. Instead, it allows businesses and individuals to donate up to $100,000 per year of their owed state income tax to organizations that award private school tuition scholarships. Estates and trusts can donate up to $1 million a year. That dollar-for-dollar tax credit is money that would otherwise go into the state’s general revenue fund.
Opponents launched a petition effort immediately after the law passed last year to put the question of whether the state could use public money for private school tuition on the November 2024 ballot. The number of valid signatures gathered far exceeded the number needed, and Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen approved the ballot measure.
Since then, Linehan has sent a letter to Evnen asking him to declare the ballot initiative unconstitutional and pull it from November’s ballot. Supporters of the ballot initiative have…
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