There were not the necessary thirty-three votes of state legislators to call a special session of the Nebraska Legislature to address banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state. Senator Ben Hansen and twenty-seven of his colleagues signed on to a petition letter to the Nebraska Secretary of State to hold a special session for the purpose of banning vaccine mandates in the state. Governor Ricketts has indicated on multiple occasions that he is opposed to vaccine mandates but indicated that unless there were thirty-three votes to pass legislation to ban the mandates that calling a special session would be a waste of time and tax-payer funds. The 107th Legislature will convene it’s second session on January 5, 2022 for a sixty-day session when it can introduce and debate the issue. During the sixty-day session, the Legislature will have several key issues on it’s plate including how to spend $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds, prisons crisis, and issues surrounding the state’s foster care system.
