Agriculture & Rural Nebraska

We Support: 

● Preserving the livability, economic viability, sustainability, and culture of our rural communities, family farms and ranches, and small businesses. 

● Providing property tax relief to family farms by taxing their real estate solely on its ability to produce income. 

● Restoring Fair Market competition for purchasing seed, feed, fertilizer, and supplies. 

● Restoring Fair Market competition to sell crops and livestock. 

● Safeguarding a strong, sustainable export strategy of Nebraska’s agricultural products. 

● Mandatory country-of-origin labeling. 

● Strong Farm Bill programs. 

● Raising the payment cap on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrolled farm ground to reflect current production values. 

● Efforts to ensure that farm subsidies and disaster relief benefit actual Nebraska family farmers and ranchers. 

● The Right to Repair: Producers and their mechanics should have the right to fix the equipment they use to produce agricultural products. 

● Ensuring that farmers have control over the data produced by their equipment and implements. 

● Protecting landowners’ rights to manage their land in a lawful manner. 

● Labeling of all food products produced through artificial genetic modifications. 

● Investments and research for the improved profitability of Nebraska agriculture. 

● Continued investment in innovative research to maintain Nebraska as a leading agricultural state. 

● Livestock and crop diversification. 

● Empowering local markets and regional food hubs to sell fresh local products. 

● Locally accessible healthcare, including timely and reliable ambulance services. 

● Fully funded local rural public schools. 

● Public-private partnerships such as agrivoltaics, etc. and incentives for the economic revival of rural Nebraska, 

● Laws requiring businesses that have received tax relief or subsidies, and then abandon facilities to be responsible for community impacts. 

● The establishment of local co-op or individually owned slaughter/packing/cold storage facilities across the state. 

● Expansion of voluntary programs for sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. 

● Investing in research and development to support climate-resilient, sustainable, low-carbon, and modern agricultural methods. 

● Increasing organic farming in our state. 

● The development of the hemp industry, including processing capacity for food, fuel, medicine, and fiber/paper. 

● Regenerative agriculture using conservation methods. 

● Statewide high-speed broadband internet. 

● The construction of divided highways including the completion of the expressway systems throughout Nebraska. 

● Programs to help farmers recover from difficult growing seasons or natural disasters. 

● Access to credit at reasonable terms and interest rates. 

● Strengthening international trade. 

● Research, development, and deployment of advanced biofuels. 

● Net-Zero emissions. 

We Oppose: 

● Tariffs that negatively affect the agricultural community in our state. 

● The concentration and monopolistic control of U.S. agricultural production, processing, and marketing by multi-national corporations. 

● The use of grain or livestock as bargaining chips in trade wars, which worsen financial outcomes for farmers and ranchers. 

● Subsidizing large agribusiness. 

● Invasive data collections by farm equipment manufacturers. 

● Foreign and non-family corporate ownership of farm and ranch land. 

● The use of eminent domain by non-governmental entities. 

● Unreasonable barriers on land owners' usage of their property to generate electricity. 

Education

We Support: 

● Fully funded public education, at all levels, to meet the needs of all students. 

● The Nebraska Constitutional provision that all public schools shall be free of compulsory religious instruction. 

● Public schools providing specialized educational programs such as vocational training programs. 

● Retired teachers covering one substitute for a medical illness or maternity leave per semester without a retirement benefits penalty. 

● Local control of public schools through direct election of school board members. 

● Direct election of members to the Nebraska State Board of Education (NSBOE).

● Changing Nebraska state statute to revise the appointment process for vacant seats on the NSBOE and permitting vacancies to be filled by the board. 

● Public tax dollars going only to public schools. 

● Fair and equitable compensation and benefits for teachers, faculty, and staff members. 

● Alternative and flexible methods to obtain substitute teaching credentials through accredited institutions and programs. 

● A broad curriculum featuring core subjects (English, math, science, social studies and world languages) and the arts, physical education, technology, vocational education, and school supported extra-curricular activities. 

● Civics education as a graduation requirement. 

● The establishment of a media literacy curriculum for K-12 by the State Board of Education. 

● Academic freedom that embraces critical and independent thinking for students and faculty and ensures academic freedom of speech. 

● Requiring human relations training for teachers. 

● Strong co-curricular programs. 

● Accessible, high quality libraries and information systems. 

● Age appropriate, comprehensive, and inclusive sex education. 

● A fully funded early childhood program available at no cost to every child in the State of Nebraska. 

● Affordable and equitable access to Nebraska’s public post-secondary educational institutions. 

● Reform of the student loan program and a system of student loan forgiveness. 

● Investment in behavioral and mental health professionals to assist students and staff in their social and emotional well-being. 

● Free access to healthy and nutritious meals to pre-K through 12 students.

● A safe educational environment that is conducive to learning and free from all forms of bullying, harassment, or violence. 

● Limit class sizes using research-appropriate student-to-teacher/faculty ratios. 

● A ban of firearms at educational institutions with exceptions for sanctioned school sponsored shooting clubs, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) students, emergency responders, and for select school resource officers. 

● Initiatives to break the school-to-prison pipeline. 

● The enforcement and full funding of both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for students, families, faculty and staff with disabilities. 

● Queer students, families, and staff. 

● The enforcement of Title IX to ensure all education programs that receive federal funding are free of gender and/or sex discrimination or harassment. ● Increasing the resources and programs for students, families, and staff of all languages and cultural, economic, and racial backgrounds. 

● Development of comprehensive policies to combat gender-based discrimination, harassment, and violence. 

● Re-issuing federal guidance from the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to prevent the disparate disciplinary treatment of BIPOC children and children with disabilities in educational settings. 

● Supplying sufficient funding to employ guidance counselors, social workers, nurses, and school psychologists rather than turning to law enforcement to resolve disciplinary issues. 

● Science-based vaccination requirements. 

● School accreditation and certified staff. 

We Oppose: 

● Banning books. 

● Charter schools. 

● Voucher programs. 

● Arming teachers. 

● Mandatory religious instruction in public schools. 

● Using test results to determine the quality of a school and its teachers. 

Environment

We Support: 

● Development of clean, sustainable, and affordable energy generation. 

● Peer-reviewed and credible research based on scientific consensus. 

● Protecting waterways within and bordering our state, including our most precious resource, the Ogallala Aquifer. Mni Wiconi. L’eau est la vie. “Water is      life”. 

● Clean air and clean water as basic rights of all people. 

● Water conservation by citizens and industry. 

● Statutes and regulations that impose meaningful water conservation standards on agricultural, urban, and industrial water uses to ensure continued 

   quality and access. 

● Implementing legislation to regulate data centers and enforce closed loop cooling for data centers. 

● Establishing a more robust assessment process to assess pollution violations with penalties which are enforced to prohibit industrial dumping of waste     products. 

● Being a good neighbor to those who use the water downstream. 

● Meaningful consultation with communities impacted by siting, decommissioning, and land reclamation decisions to ensure that large corporations do   

    not disproportionately benefit at the expense of local communities and to ensure that the communities that host projects reap a meaningful amount 

    of the wealth generated as a result of the projects in their communities. 

● Sensible zoning regulations which do not restrict renewable energy projects but respect reasonable setbacks and protections. 

● Strengthening protections for our natural and cultural resources, increased access to parks and public lands for all Americans, protection of 

    endangered and native species and wildlife, and harnessing the immense ecological and social potential of our public lands and waters. 

● A successful public power grid. 

● Providing consumers the flexibility to install renewable energy projects without overregulation from Public Power Districts (PPDs), state and local 

    governments. 

● Maintaining Nebraska as an all public power state. 

We Oppose: 

● Continued dominance of fossil fuels. 

● Unsustainable development of AI, in particular through the harmful effects of data centers on the local water supply and increased energy demands. 

● Proposed climate solutions that poorly balance the costs imposed on local communities against any benefits yielded as a result of the proposed 

    climate solution. 

● All efforts to politicize scientific results. 

Guns

We Support: 

● Freedom of speech. 

● Freedom of the press. 

● Freedom of and/or from religion. 

● Right to peaceably assemble and protest. 

● Right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

We Oppose: 

● Any and all attempts to limit the provisions of the 1 st Amendment. 

● Any infringement on the separation of church and state. 

Healthcare

We support: 

● A robust, science-based, and thoroughly integrated public health system to support the state and the country with any future pandemic outbreaks. 

● Expanding the current healthcare system to Medicare for All. 

● Expanding Medicaid coverage in Nebraska. 

● Full funding for the Children’s Health Information Program (CHIP). 

● Expansion of all available reproductive choices for all Nebraskans and increased healthcare access for individuals and their newborns to decrease the maternal mortality and fetal mortality rates in Nebraska. 

● Increased access and funding to rural health clinics, critical care hospitals, community hospitals, health centers and nursing homes. 

● Mental health as an essential part of health and healthcare and that access to supportive interventions should be available to all Nebraskans. 

● Medical cannabis as a prescribed treatment for medically diagnosed conditions. 

● Reduced prescription drug costs. 

● Full access to healthcare, resources, and community HIV prevention and testing programs. 

● Expanded rehabilitation and destigmatization for persons struggling with drug addiction. 

● Government negotiations for better prices on healthcare and prescriptions. 

● Healthcare that is affordable and does not result in bankruptcy or significant hardship for individuals and families. 

● Education regarding HIV/AIDS. 

● Healthcare cost transparency with itemized disclosure of hospital procedure costs, for pre-op comparison, and insurance reconciliation.

 ● Public health funding and Affordable Care Act subsidies to purchase health insurance. 

● The right of individuals to make end-of-life decisions without government interference. 

We oppose: 

● Any and all attacks on our health benefits. 

● Using Social Security or the Medicare Trust Fund for other than its original purpose. 

● Denials to life-preserving medical care, medications, or medical supplies due to cost or pre-existing conditions. 

● Any local, state or federal laws that impede a person’s right to a safe and legal abortion and other reproductive care. 

Labor & Economy

Nebraska Democrats support labor unions as they protect and empower the workforce. We recognize their historical contribution by laying the foundations to the rights that workers have today. We support the formation of unions and collective action to further the rights of employees while standing in opposition to anti-union labor practices, policies, and potential or actual legislation or court judgments. Nebraska Democrats support the repeal of Right-to-Work and oppose At-Will employment. Nebraska Democrats support Project Labor Agreements. 

Nebraska Democrats are pro-Worker, pro-Farmer, and pro-Railroad Worker, and call for improvements to worker safety, working conditions, protections, and benefits across all categories and classes of employment. Nebraska Democrats particularly support each worker receiving a minimum of one week of paid sick leave per year. Each worker should receive paid family leave of no less than twelve weeks. 

We insist that markets and employers must pair human dignity with enterprise and that full-time employees must receive a wage that enables them to live without government assistance. 

We need a skilled, responsive workforce with globally competitive education and trade skills. We support apprenticeship programs. Nebraska Democrats support training programs for displaced workers. We need to adapt to the age of technology, recognizing we have more people than work, and we must create jobs for more employees. We conclude that more skilled manufacturing is needed to address the structural unemployment gap in the United States. 

Nebraska Democrats are in favor of tax breaks and stimulus for small businesses and startups. We support further stimulus to those areas where unemployment is high or where job creation is low. We believe corporations should pay taxes; taxation should not be shouldered only by individuals and working families. 

We support publicly funded childcare centers to allow low and middle-income Nebraskans to work unencumbered from the high cost of childcare. 

We believe that artificial scarcity harms our economy and is a deceptive business practice. Fair trade and free markets cannot truly be free and fair if prices are manipulated through supply control. 

Nebraska Democrats support Social Security increases based on appropriate indices that accurately reflect seniors’ lives and seniors’ needs. 

At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we believe the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes. Democrats will claw back tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, eliminate tax breaks for big oil and gas companies, and crack down on inversions and other methods companies use to dodge their tax responsibilities. We will make sure that our tax code rewards businesses that make investments and provide good-paying jobs here in the United States, not businesses that walk out on America. We will end deferrals so that American corporations pay United States taxes immediately on foreign profits and can no longer escape paying their fair share of U.S. taxes by stashing profits abroad. We will then use the revenue raised from fixing the corporate tax code to reinvest in rebuilding America and ensuring economic growth that will lead to millions of good-paying jobs.

LGBTQ+

Nebraska Democrats support the civil and human rights and safe environments for all people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expression. Nebraska Democrats support the development and maintenance of safe environments in our schools for youth from all identities and backgrounds. 

Nebraska Democrats support a ban on Conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ individuals. Conversion Therapy is known as a practice in which it tries to change the sexuality of the individual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual interventions. Several organizations have stated that conversion therapy and its practice is very harmful to LGBTQ+ individuals. Therefore, a ban on the use of Conversion Therapy is needed to protect the basic human and civil rights of LGBTQ+ Nebraskans. 

Nebraska Democrats celebrate marriage equality. We do not believe that religious freedom equates to any right to discriminate. Democrats will fight to pass the Equality Act in Congress, to the extent that it amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit, and the jury system. Under Title VII, we want LGBTQ+ to be considered a ‘protected class.’ 

We support legislation that grants equitable access to employment, housing, and accommodations, including gender-neutral bathrooms in schools and public places. In addition, Nebraska Democrats oppose any favor given in child custody cases when the basis is on a parent’s/guardian’s gender identity or sexual orientation. 

Nebraska Democrats desire to improve access to informed services and address the high rates of suicide by LGBTQ+ individuals. We believe LGBTQ+ individuals should have access to safe, affordable, and affirming health care, including mental health services, preventative medicine, sexual and reproductive health care, and equity of access to available resources and support. 

Nebraska Democrats respect and honor all who serve and have served in our armed forces. We support the inclusion, and appreciate the service, of transgender individuals who have served and who want to serve in the US military. We oppose any ban restricting or terminating the service of Trans service members. We believe service should be based on qualifications and ability rather than personal identity. 

Nebraska Democrats acknowledge the epidemic of violence against the transgender community, particularly transgender Women of Color and transwomen who are immigrants. Nebraska Democrats stand in unequivocal opposition to transphobic violence, especially when intersected with racism. Nebraska Democrats support legislative solutions to address this including a ban on the gay/trans panic defense and the addition of gender identity to Nebraska hate crimes laws.

Rural Economic Development

Nebraska Democrats believe in a strong, prosperous future for our rural communities. Rural issues are our party's issues. Nebraska Democrats embrace several key areas of rural economic development: economic revival, housing, community schools, local health care access, and defending small business. 

Nebraska Democrats engage rural votes by focusing on economic revival via private-public partnerships, expanding small businesses with low and no interest loans, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, expanding access to affordable broadband services, and renewing retail shopping districts. Nebraska Democrats support expanding affordable housing, particularly for seniors and young people. Community schools are the bedrock of local community life and must be preserved. We strongly support access to local hospitals, community clinics, senior care, and mental health facilities. Your zip code should not condemn you to substandard care. Nebraska Democrats also believe in promoting small businesses. Too often, big corporations and big box stores put small enterprises out of business on Main Street. We advocate for economic incentives to help local enterprises first survive, then thrive.