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A couple of months ago, I outlined two initiative petitions that have been filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State's Oce and are currently in cir culation for the 2026 General Election.
Since then, two additional initiative petitions have been submitted to the Secretary of State: (1) the Cap Annual Property Valuation Assessments Constitutional Amendment and (2) the Reduce Taxable Property Valuation Initiative.
The Cap Annual Property Valuation Assessments Constitutional Amendment proposes to amend Article VIII of the Nebraska Constitution to create a new section.
This proposed constitutional amendment aims to cap annual property valuation increases at 3 percent. This change would provide property owners of Nebraska with more predictability and protection against excessive tax increases from year to year. If ultimately approved by voters, this initiative peti- tion would take eect beginning on Jan. 1, 2027.
The Reduce Taxable Property Valuation Initiative proposes to amend section 77-201 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes. The proposed change to this section of law seeks to reduce the taxable valuation of real, agricultural, and horticultural property by half. Currently under Article VIII, Section 1 of the Nebraska Constitution, the Legislature is authorized to create a distinct property classifica tion for agricultural and horticultural land. This has allowed the Legislature to mandate that agricultural and horticultural land be assessed at 75 percent of its market value, unlike other real property, like residential and commercial land, which is assessed at 100 percent. The Reduce Taxable Property Valuation Initiative would require agricultural and horticultural land be assessed at 37.5 percent of market value and all other real property, like residential and commercial land, be assessed at 50 percent. If approved by voters, this ini- tiative petition would take eect
beginning on Jan. 1, 2027.
People interested in getting more information about both the Cap Annual Property Valuation Assessments Constitutional Amendment and the Reduce Taxable Property Valuation Initiative may consider visiting the sponsors’ Facebook page by searching for the group named Advocates For All Nebraskans (as of this writing, a website has not been established yet).
Additionally, you can visit the Secretary of State's Oce to learn more about the various filed ballot initiatives currently in circulation at https:// sos.nebraska.gov/current-petitions-circulation.
Under our state's constitution, there are dier ent signature threshold requirements in order to get an initiative measure successfully on the ballot. For the initiative striving to reduce property tax by half, approximately 90,000 signatures will need to be submitted. Meanwhile, the initiative wanting to cap annual valuation growth at 3 percent will need around 126,000 signatures because it is a constitutional amendment. In addition to the statewide percentage, all initiative petitions must meet a geographic distribution requirement. The signatures must be collected from at least 5 percent of the registered voters in each of 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.
I invite you to let me know your thoughts. My Capitol oce telephone number is (402) 471-2801 while my email is [email protected]. My mailing address is: Senator Barry DeKay, District #40, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509.
