Respect Nebraska Voters, the campaign behind an initiative to require a four-fifths legislative vote both to change laws governing the initiative and referendum process and to amend or repeal voter-approved initiatives, submitted more than 186,000 signatures on July 2.
The initiated constitutional amendment would increase the vote threshold from two-thirds to four-fifths to change or repeal an approved ballot initiative. It would also require changes to the initiative process itself to be approved by four-fifths of state legislators and must be "to advance a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means."
There are 21 states that authorize the use of initiated state statutes. Nebraska is one of 10 states that has restrictions on how and when the legislature can amend or repeal voter-approved initiatives, with eight states requiring a supermajority vote or a time requirement and two states requiring voter approval. The 11 other states have no restrictions.
Between 2010 and 2025, Nebraska voters approved nine initiated state statutes. The state legislature voted to amend two. In 2026, the state legislature amended Initiative 433, which voters approved in 2022, increasing the state's minimum wage from $9 to $15. The legislative change authorized the state minimum wage to increase by 1.75% annually, instead of the cost of living, as adopted by the initiative. The change also authorized employers to pay certain teen workers less than the $15 per hour minimum wage.
In 2025, the state legislature amended Initiative 436, which voters approved in 2024. The initiative required Nebraska businesses to offer earned paid sick leave for employees—up to seven days for businesses of at least 20 employees and five days for fewer than 20 employees. The legislature enacted a law excluding individual owner-operators, independent contractors, individuals working for fewer than 80 hours in one calendar year, agricultural seasonal workers, workers under the age of 16, and employees subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act from the eligible list of employees for paid sick leave.
Of the states with initiated state statutes, Oregon and Maine have altered the most initiatives with five each.
Jo Giles, one of the sponsors of the petition, said, “It's about paid sick leave, minimum wage, and other kitchen table issues that impact our family's lives. But it's also bigger than that. It's about our freedom to make decisions about our lives. Too many politicians think they know what's best for Nebraskans, that they know better than the people that elected them. But Nebraskans know what's best for Nebraskans.”
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth (R-31), who chaired the legislative committees that forwarded the changes to the paid sick leave and minimum wage initiatives, argued that maybe the threshold to enact initiatives should be four-fifths as well if that is the requirement to alter them.
State legislatures also enact changes to the initiative and referendum process each year. From 2018 to 2025, 2,737 pieces of legislation related to initiative, referendum, and recall were introduced in state legislatures, with 320 laws enacted. Since 2018, Nebraska has enacted three laws related to ballot measure changes.
To qualify an initiated constitutional amendment in Nebraska, petitioners need to collect signatures equal to 10% of registered voters at the time of the petition filing deadline. According to the latest voter registration report, there are 1,256,903 registered voters as of May 22. The approximate number of signatures required is 125,690 signatures.
Nebraska also has a distribution requirement that requires initiative proponents to collect signatures from 5% of the registered voters in two-fifths (38) of Nebraska's 93 counties. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval. However, the number of affirmative votes cast for the measure must be greater than 35% of the total votes cast in the election.
The deadline to submit signatures was July 2. Two other campaigns filed signatures for potential ballot initiatives that would legalize online sports betting in the state and prohibit male participation on female sports teams.
Nebraska voters are also set to decide in November on a legislatively referred constitutional amendment to change the term limit for state legislators from two consecutive four-year terms (eight years) to three consecutive four-year terms (12 years).
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