This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

Listen Live
Donate
MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

April 23, 2025 |  By: Associated Press

Nebraska has a bill that could be advanced, but with a caveat

A Nebraska bill that would bar transgender students from bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that correspond with their gender identity has advanced from the first of three rounds of debate, but with a caveat.

Senator Merv Riepe, who helped tank an effort to pass a similar bill last year, agreed Tuesday to provide the 33rd vote needed to break a filibuster against the bill. But only if the bill’s sponsor agrees to support his amendment to remove language that would ban bathroom and locker room use, leaving only the ban on sports participation. That amendment will be introduced in the next round of debate, Riepe said.

“They’ve agreed to it,” Riepe said of the bill’s main sponsors. “They know if they don’t, I’ll kill it in the next round.”

The bill from Omaha Senator Kathleen Kauth is a reprise of one she has introduced repeatedly in recent years. It was billed in 2023 as a companion to another Kauth measure restricting gender-affirming medical care for minors. The medical care bill passed and was enacted, but the bathroom and sports bill failed to advance from committee.