Senator Jana Hughes

06/05/2026

As most of you are aware, 2026 is an election year. The primary elections were held on May 12th. The general election will take place on Tuesday November 3, 2026. In addition to seeing candidates for public office at parades, events, and maybe even at your front door, you will likely encounter people out gathering signatures for ballot initiatives and/or constitutional amendments. There are currently 12 initiatives and constitutional amendments circulating. In order to be placed on the ballot, each initiative must gather the sufficient amount of signatures, have those signatures verified, and submitted to the Secretary of State within 90 days of the adjournment of the Nebraska Legislature. The Legislature adjourned on April 17th. In order to meet this requirement, all petitions with signatures must be submitted by July 16, 2026.

I will share a description of each ballot initiative and constitutional amendment that end up qualifying to be on the November ballot in a later newsletter. This newsletter will focus on what the petition gatherers, known as circulators are required to do when asking for your signature. For this information, I’m going to share directly from the Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s pamphlet about this process:

The Circulators: There are a few rules that the circulator of a statewide initiative or referendum must follow:
• Circulators must be at least eighteen years of age.
• The circulator must witness each signature added to the petition he or she is circulating. This means that a circulator may not leave the petition at a location and return later when the petition is full.
• Each petition contains an oath that the circulator signs stating that the circulator has read the object statement on the petition to each signer of the petition.
• There are few specific restrictions on where a circulator may gather signatures. There may be time and place restrictions on public property so as not to disrupt activities at those locations. Circulation on private property is at the discretion of the property owner. State law prohibits the gathering of signatures within 200 feet of a polling place.
• The circulator may not offer or give anything of value to a potential signer to get them to sign the petition. It is a crime to do so, with a penalty of up to a year in jail and /or a $1000 fine.
• A circulator may be paid to circulate a petition or may be a volunteer. If the circulator is being paid to circulate the petition, he or she must use a form that discloses to the signer that the circulator is being paid. If the circulator is a volunteer, the form must contain the volunteer disclosure. As mentioned before, this disclosure must be in 16 pt. type and must be in red ink.
• When the circulator is finished collecting signatures on the petition form, he or she must sign the oath on the form. This oath must be signed in the presence of a notary public. The circulator should read the oath carefully, as there are criminal penalties for falsely swearing to the oath.
• Once the petition form is completed, the petition form should be returned to the sponsors of the petition. While the Secretary of State will accept the completed petition and forward it to the sponsors, it is preferable that the petition be returned directly to the sponsors.

I hope that you find this information helpful. If you encounter any circulator violating any of the requirements listed above, please contact the Elections Division of the Secretary of State to report the issue.

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

06/05/2026

Busy week. Yesterday Sen. Stan Clouse and I spoke to eep Nebraska Beautiful. I gave an update on the Battery Recycling program that will be starting in 2027. Sen. Clouse discussed some work he is doing on recycling tires and we listened to the attendees about concerns and suggestions they had.

Today I was fortunate to get a tour at Kelley Engineered Equipment in Gretna. They are working on a piece of equipment for the Ft. Laramie Canal Project. Impressive workplace. I loved that their core values are all based on scripture.

06/02/2026

State Treasurer Joey Spellerberg held an informational lunch today in Seward. He is going around the state sharing information on the following:
- Nebraska's unclaimed property
- The First-time Homebuyer Savings Account (that was just passed this year)
- Expansion of the Nebraska's Educational Savings Plan (NEST) to include skills based training and credential programs
- The Enable Savings Plan which serves individuals with disabilities

These programs are worth looking into and if you have questions please contact his office at
https://treasurer.nebraska.gov/contact.aspx

05/29/2026

As I’ve gone door-to-door visiting with constituents I’ve had some questions as to why Nebraska doesn’t have a bicameral legislature like everyone else. I also came across a recent article about Kansas, which has a bicameral legislature. Kansas, even with its one party supermajority in both its House and Senate, has some pretty petty disagreements that have nothing to do with policy. For perspective on our unicameral legislature, I wanted to reshare a newsletter I sent out last year:

Nebraska is unique among states in having the nation’s only unicameral legislative system. The Nebraska Legislature has only one chamber whereas all the other 49 states have a bicameral system. Nebraska’s citizens are commonly referred to as the “second house.” Nebraska leans heavily on its second house on everything from attending public hearings bills in the Legislature, to proposing ballot initiatives, and constitutional amendments.

I’m occasionally asked the question as to whether Nebraska should be like every other state and revert back to a bicameral legislature, which we had until it was changed by a constitutional amendment approved by Nebraska voters in 1934. Ever since the Unicameral met for the first time in 1937 that is how our Legislature has operated.

Looking back at the history of why this change was made there were two predominant reasons. The first reason being cost. Having two legislative bodies effectively doubles the size and cost of the legislative branch. Further, the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Reynolds vs. Sims affirmed the “one person, one vote” principle embodied in the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Equal Protection Clause ensures that all legislative districts must represent nearly equal size populations. The one and only exception to this is the United States Senate, where each state is provided two Senators by the U.S. Constitution. So if we were to revert back to a bicameral legislature, we’d effectively have two legislative bodies that looked similar, although representatives in the Senate could represent a different size population than that in the House.

The second reason Nebraskans chose to switch to a unicameral system was due to frustration with the original bicameral legislature. The Nebraska House and Senate infrequently agreed on a single bill and when they did so they only accomplished it by putting legislation into what is called a conference committee. The conference committee were hand-picked members selected by the leadership of each chamber, who often met behind closed doors and made decisions that each chamber could only approve or reject and not amend. Differing versions of bills passed by both chambers were frequently changed into something completely different by this small group who met in secret. The results were regularly unpopular among voters and even the legislators themselves. Does this sound familiar? The U.S. Congress regularly utilizes conference committees when they pass different versions of similar legislation.

I’ve also been regularly approached by state legislators from other states who share their envy of our system. They comment on how quickly we are able to pass legislation and how involved the public is in the process. Nebraska, Colorado, and North Dakota are the only states that require every bill introduced to have a committee hearing. Of these three states, Nebraska is the only one that requires a public hearing that allows citizens to come in person and testify in support, in opposition, or in the neutral capacity to every single bill introduced. The Nebraska Legislature isn’t perfect but I’d put it up against any other state in terms of citizen involvement, efficiency, effectiveness, and cost to the taxpayer.

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

05/28/2026

Hope to see you there next Tuesday!

05/28/2026

Big night last night. Seward kicked of the 4th of July celebration. All the "royalty" were present.
Mr Firecracker: Brady Boldt and Caden Meyer
Miss Independence: Reese Meyer and Kora Carr
We even had an appearance from Betsy Ross and George Washington!

Gerald Meyer and Jonathan Jank received "Admiralships" in the Nebraska Navy. A well deserved recognition of their service work in the Seward Community.

The Grand Marshall for the 4th of July 2026 and recipient of the annual "Nebraskan's Friend Award" will be Kay Orr. She served as Governor from 1987-1991.

The Volunteer Service Organization winner this year is The Seward Kiwanis Downtown Flag Committee.

Gerald Meyer also received this years Seward County Community Service Award.

The evening was concluded by holding and hands and singing God Bless America.

Get that red, white and blue out and wear it proudly!

05/28/2026

We’re the only state with an A for protecting children in a variety of ways with the work we’ve done in the Legislature!

Huge news! The Children's Rights Scorecard, a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind scorecard that grades states on how well their laws protect children in a variety of areas, gave Nebraska the highest score in the nation!

We have worked to prioritize children in Nebraska's laws for years, and the Children’s Rights Scorecard proves that the hard work is paying off. Your prayers and support are making a difference, and we won't stop until children are made the top priority on every page of our state’s laws. Them Before Us

05/25/2026

Enjoy Memorial Day as we honor the brave men and women that served our U.S. Military.

“We don't know them all, but we owe them all.” — Unknown

05/24/2026

Memorial weekend marks the first parade of the summer! Gresham Nebraska hosted their Gresham Days. Perfect weather and a big turnout!

05/24/2026

The legislative research office put together this map of Nebraska by county showing the percent voter turnout for the primary election on May 12. Seven out of the top 10 counties with the highest voter turnout in the Nebraska's 2026 primary election were mail-in-ballot counties.

Throughout the state, there are 11 counties that vote through mail-in-ballots only.

For Dist 24 - Polk county had the highest turnout at 43.54%