Senator Jana Hughes

The subject of my article last week focused on the lack of legal representation in many rural Nebraska counties and legislation that was passed to incentivize attorneys to practice in our rural communities by forgiving their student loans in exchange for their service. This week’s article involves another legal issue: frivolous lawsuits filed against political subdivisions. As a reminder, a political subdivision means any village, city, county, school district, public power district, community college, natural resources district, or other unit of local government.

It is not uncommon for lawsuits to be filed against these political subdivisions. There are many simple reasons and many complex reasons why citizens would utilize the judicial system to challenge an action or decision by a local government entity. This is in fact a critical part of our system of checks and balances.

As with any system, there are those who take advantage of the situation. There have been several lawsuits found to be meritless and thrown out by the courts. LB935 was introduced by Senator Bosn to deter meritless lawsuits, which are primarily filed to harass local governments or their officials. This legislation clarifies that if a case is found to be frivolous by the courts that local government can more readily seek reimbursement for its court costs and attorneys fees, which are ultimately paid for with property taxes.

Testimony at the bill hearing on LB935 revealed that one plaintiff had filed a lawsuit against all 93 of Nebraska’s counties over the same issue. Despite the case ultimately being dismissed, the plaintiff was barred by the court from filing additional amended motions after having filed three such motions seeking ever increasing damages, and the Nebraska Attorney General filing a motion to dismiss arguing the plaintiff lacked factual support and the proper standing, counties were not able to receive reimbursement for all the time and property tax dollars spent to defend themselves.

For every example like this, with weak or no evidence to support its core argument, there are others who may initially have weak evidence but are allowed by the court to proceed. There are many reasons that this could happen. One example is that the plaintiff filing a lawsuit against the local government may not have all the evidence because it has not been required to be shared by the defendant (local government). These lawsuits would not be impacted by LB935, which again is intended to stop frivolous lawsuits from being filed simply to harass local governments and ultimately harm property owners and reduce local government’s resources available to provide services.

As always, if I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My staff members - Matt and Katie - are available to assist you with your needs and they pass along messages, so if you'd like a call back, please let them know!

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 402-471-2756
Facebook: Senator Jana Hughes

I was on the “Seward circuit” yesterday. Thanks to everyone that came out and for all the great questions. Townhall hosted by the SCCDP at 10a and then Rotary at noon.

"Starting January 1, 2026, disabled veterans in Nebraska can receive a motor vehicle tax and fee exemption for one vehicle owned and used for their personal transportation. The new exemption is part of LB650, which passed and was signed into law in 2025."

https://veterans.nebraska.gov/disabled-veteran-motor-vehicle-tax-fee-exemption-goes-effect-jan-1

The event is free but registration is required by June 17th.
For more information, see:
https://www.upperbigblue.org/windbreak-renovation-workshop-landowners

Hope to see you there tomorrow!

I forgot to mention this from last week. Every summer for one week high school students from around Nebraska descend on the Capitol for Unicameral Youth Legislature. They learn what it's like to be a State Senator in Nebraska. They learn about the legislative process and even debate and pass bills! It was fun to speak with them on Thursday.

There were two students from District 24. One heard about the program from a post on my page and the other student heard about it when I was knocking doors in Garland last fall. His dad mentioned how interested he was in the process and I told them about this opportunity.

Nice to speak to the future leaders of Nebraska!

"Governor Jim Pillen, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED), and the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) encourage Nebraskans to register for the 2026 Governor’s Summit. This year’s event will take place Sept. 28-29, 2026, at the Younes Conference Center North in Kearney.

Registration for the Summit is now open at govsummit.nebraska.gov.

The annual Governor’s Summit convenes leaders across the state to strategize how to best grow Nebraska. The 2026 Governor’s Summit will focus on three pillars: (1) building Nebraska’s workforce of the future, (2) investing in the next generation of healthcare, and (3) feeding and fueling Nebraska’s ag and manufacturing future.

This year’s conference will also feature the second annual Governor’s Youth Summit, which will be integrated into the main event on Tuesday, Sept. 29. High school juniors and seniors and college freshmen and sophomores are invited to attend free of charge. Attendees of the Youth Summit will participate in career clusters to explore post-high school pathways. They will connect one-on-one with business and college leaders, gaining privileged access to internship, apprenticeship, and career opportunities."

To sign up for the Youth Summit, go to https://govsummit.nebraska.gov/youth/.

Gov. Pillen Invites Nebraskans to Register for the 2026 Governor’s Summit, Second Annual Youth Summit | Office of Governor Jim Pillen June 10, 2026 CONTACT:   Laura Strimple, (402) 580-9495 Justin Pinkerman, DED, [email protected] Christin Kamm, Dept. of Ag, [email protected]   Gov. Pillen Invites Nebraskans to Register for the 2026 Governor’s Summit, Second Annual Youth Summit   Register for the 2026 G...

Headed out west last week to the Cattleman's Midyear Conference. Wednesday I was able to tour the Sustainable Meatpacking facility in North Platte and the Darr Feedyard (around 50,000 cattle) near Lexington.

Very interesting tours. A few interesting facts about the meatpacking plant:
- 40-45 trucks of cattle a day
- One shift - 5 days/week
- 1500-1600 cattle are processed daily
- Just over 1,000 employees
- they use AI to grade the meat - a camera takes over 100 pics of the meet and then that is used to grade

On Thursday I presented to the Cattleman Tax and Education Committee. We had a great conversation and several members had some interesting suggestions on what Nebraska should do with the looming budget deficit.

The old saying goes, “Everyone hates lawyers until they need one.” Whether this well worn adage is a widely held sentiment or is actually a joke or is not important. Having access to legal counsel is important. The fact that you may not have that access if you live in certain Nebraska counties is no laughing matter.

According to the Nebraska Bar Association, in 2025, 12 Nebraska counties had no active attorneys (this figure excludes judges). 22 of our 93 counties had fewer than 3 licensed attorneys. Polk County in District 24 is among the latter category having only 1 lawyer with an active license. Again, why is this important? Lacking local access to legal representation can drive up the cost and the complexity of dealing with the legal issue at hand.

I and my staff frequently help constituents with casework involving state agencies. Sometimes we are able to resolve the issue. Sometimes we are not able to do so and the issue requires a legal settlement. Issues between citizens and state agencies that cannot be resolved administratively can end up in court. Due to the separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, our office is not able to provide legal advice or representation. Traveling to another county to find an attorney can add greater expense and is time consuming. Having access to local, legal representation is also important for so many other things. An attorney who knows you personally, versus a faceless website, can better serve you when you need to set up a will or a trust, when you need to have a power of attorney document for a family member, as you establish a business or limited liability company, etc.

This year the Legislature approved LB1199 to better incentivize attorneys to practice in unserved and underserved Nebraska communities. LB1199 was introduced by Senator Teresa Ibach and expands the population threshold to qualify for the Legal Education for Public Service and Rural Practice Loan Repayment Assistance Act. This program allows attorneys to be reimbursed for their legal education in exchange for a minimum of 3 years of practice in a county having 3 or fewer licensed attorneys. LB1199 was amended to give first priority to attorneys who locate in counties without any attorneys. This bill was ultimately amended into the Judiciary Committee’s priority bill LB935, which passed with my support, and was signed into law on April 14, 2026.

As always, if I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My staff members - Matt and Katie - are available to assist you with your needs and they pass along messages, so if you'd like a call back, please let them know!

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 402-471-2756
Facebook: Senator Jana Hughes

Hope to see you there next week!