This blog post is being updated as bills move through the legislative process. We are now more than halfway through the legislative session. Hearings have concluded, and full-day floor debate has begun. Speaker Arch, state senators and committees have identified their...
Kelly Mackling is clinical nurse manager at the Visiting Nurse Association in Omaha. She testified before the Nebraska Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee in support of LB22, State Senator George Dungan's bill to allow home visiting programs to bill...
Dez Brandt is program manager of Healthy Families America home visiting program in the Panhandle Public Health District. She testified before the Nebraska Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee in support of LB104, State Senator Jane Raybould's bill...
The 109th legislative session is in full swing! State senators have introduced nearly 730 bills and constitutional amendments. Although the Governor has the authority to introduce legislation at any point during a session, with the hundreds of pieces of legislation...
More Nebraska families with young children will gain access to home visiting services thanks to $2.5 million allocated in the state budget bill, LB1412, which Governor Pillen signed into law on April 2. The budget was amended to include additional funding for...
Kelly Crane has worked in the field of prevention and child welfare for more than 20 years and is the state policy specialist for Prevent Child Abuse America, a national organization dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect. Healthy Families America is their...
Bill introduction in the Nebraska Legislature has concluded, and state senators introduced 812 bills during this first session of the two-year biennium. Each bill will be referred to a committee and receive a public hearing, and then may be advanced for debate by the...
State Senator Wendy DeBoer, District 10, introduced LR367, an interim study examining home visiting for Nebraska families, during the 2022 legislative session. She testified on LR367 at a hearing before the Nebraska Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on...
Extensive research has shown us that children’s earliest experiences build the foundation that affects them for the rest of their lives. Parents are their children’s first and best caregivers and teachers during these early years, but they sometimes struggle with...
[First Five Nebraska Policy Advisor Sara Howard testified before the Lincoln City Council in support of Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird's proposal to include home visiting in the city's annual budget. This blog is adapted from Howard's written testimony.] Healthy moms and...
FFN is partnering with several state senators on legislative interim studies focused on early childhood, including the School Readiness Tax Credit, maternal depression and maternal and infant health, home-visiting programs and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).