The biggest upgrade for conservatives in the state legislature last year came when Bob Andersen defeated Jen Day in District 49. While running for reelection in 2024, Day tried to position herself as a candidate starting on middle ground and working to attract “Registered independents … tired of the hyperpartisanship and divisiveness that exists in politics.”
This was decidedly different from her tenure in office, however, and Andersen described Day as a “liberal activist.” She was a part of Megan Hunt’s self-described “coven caucus,” and after Joni Albrecht’s heartbeat bill failed to pass a cloture vote in April 2023, Day celebrated on Instagram, sharing a photo of a champagne glass and the words, “cheers, friends.”
Later that year, Day went after Nebraska baseball star Jordy Bahl on social media for attending an event with Riley Gaines. “Wow, the ink barely dry on her agreement to play at UN-L and Jordy Bahl is already using her celebrity as an athlete to promote hateful legislation in her home state alongside NE’s least favorite senator, Kathleen Kauth,” Day posted. “This is a big yikes and I hope the university takes note.”
The backlash was so severe that Day had to delete her Twitter account, creating a new one before running for reelection. In a district that Donald Trump won by over 12 points, however, Bob Andersen was primed to flip the seat, which he did in November.
Drone Security
Now, his first session in the Unicameral is complete. On Thursday last week, Andersen spoke to the Sarpy GOP about some of his legislative successes from this year’s session along with bills he hoped to reintroduce next year.
Among the bills Andersen passed was the Secure Drone Purchasing Act (LB660), which would require drones in Nebraska be purchased from a “secure drone list” by January 1, 2027. This would prohibit the use of drones made in countries like China, which could pose a surveillance risk.
“Across this state and actually throughout the Midwest, most people are flying Chinese drones,” Andersen said. “That’s farmers, that’s ranchers, that’s law enforcement, that’s SWAT. And there is no data certainty of where that information goes. To me, that just seemed ludicrous.”
The move was of particular interest to Brinker Harding, Omaha city councilmember and now congressional candidate, who also attended the meeting. “We had an order in for drones, and thanks to this senator, we found out that the company we had originally selected was Chinese technology. We eliminated that order and we ordered from the U.S.,” Harding said.
Another bill passed was the Foreign Accountability and College Transparency in Sourcing Act (LB378), which would mandate public and private universities to report whether they receive foreign contributions from potential “threat countries,” like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.
Fiscal Transparency
Andersen’s bill for Transparency on City Tax Revenue Collection (LB613) came about when he heard frustration from mayors like Doug Kindig of La Vista. Sales tax funds collected from the state would often come back to cities governments short with no explanation. To examine the state’s books, staff members would have travel all the way to Lincoln. This would be a tremendous hardship in a city like Gothenburg, which is a three-hour drive from the state capital. Even then, those looking at the books would not be allowed to share the figures with their mayor or city council members when they returned.
“He [Kindig] came to me and said, ‘It’s ludicrous,’” Andersen recalled. “He said, ‘They take our tax revenue, give us a check, and it’s not enough money. They don’t tell us why. How the hell do I run a budget? If I’m supposed to get five million back in tax revenue and I get two, where do I get the other three from?’”
Andersen’s bill allows cities to receive financial records electronically three times a year, which they can legally share with anyone who has a proprietary need to know the information.
Stopping the Bleeding on Property Taxes
Some bills did not make it through the legislature, but Andersen plans to reintroduce them in the 2026 session. One was LB424, a bill to limit increases in property taxes. It would cap home valuation increases at either the rate of inflation or 3%, whichever is lower.
This bill was found to be unconstitutional by Attorney General Mike Hilgers when submitted as a law, so Andersen will be reintroducing it as a constitutional amendment. This will not require any more votes to pass than it would to overcome a filibuster.
Funding students, not systems
Another bill to be reintroduced will be on school choice (LB427). This would require the State Treasurer to create educational savings accounts for K-12 students, providing $1,500 annually per student for qualified educational expenses like tuition, textbooks, and tutoring. This would be similar to school choice in Iowa, where the money follows the child.
“I think the parents have the greatest vested interest, and I think they should have the greatest authority and responsibility for how their kids get educated,” Andersen said. “They should be able to pick the school where they want their child to go. And then the money that would educate that child should follow.”
One Sarpy GOP member warned Andersen about the fight the teachers’ unions would put up against the bill. In 2023, the Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) raised and spent more than $5.6 million to defeat a modest school choice program that only offered $10 million.
“They were misleading because they talked about $100 million being taken out of your children’s hands to fund this issue,” the member said. “If you have any expectation that you’re going to win that, you’ve got to do it on a campaign level and convince people that the idea that 10% of the students in this state [who do not attend public schools] are not receiving any state aid is unacceptable and we need to do something about it.”
The Sarpy GOP member also pointed out the low test scores for students graduating from Omaha Public Schools. While the four-year graduation rate is 70.4%, high school proficiency was 17% in reading and 8% in math.
Andersen believes that when the money follows the student, schools will have an incentive to improve. “It’s kind of the capitalistic mentality, right? If you build a good product, you’re going to buy more of it. If your product sucks, guess what? You lose money.”
Ready for Round Two
Andersen concluded his talk by describing the grueling nature of work in the legislature, which included working 14–15-hour days for two and a half months. “If I had any kids at home, which I don’t, I wouldn’t have seen them. I barely saw my wife. And that’s okay because you’re serving a greater cause—you’re serving the people.”
With the perennial drama on the floor between filibusters and posturing for the camera, Andersen takes the whole operation in stride, relating his experience in the military to the legislative fights on the Unicameral floor.
“It’s a handful. It’s something. I have 21 years in the Air Force, deployed all over the world, over 900 days in the Middle East, 3,000 hours on combat support missions, and nothing compares.”