Advocacy News 2026Jan29

Advocacy WIN! 

Governor Pillen has released a statement for DHHS to make changes to the proposed A&D waiver changes. This is thanks to the outstanding advocacy of the disability community, providers and supporters of those utilizing this waiver. For the full press release and the details on the new public comment period, please see the HCBS Blog. 

This Week’s Top 5

Each week of the legislative session, we will break down 5 bills that are important to aging services providers. This is a deeper dive into the issues that are important to our membership and what we are doing about it. 

Updates on previous bills:

• LB832, addressing long-term care services being added into the Medicaid managed care program. There was a hearing on January 23rd. LeadingAge Nebraska submitted comment supporting the amendment AM1724 which would extend the moratorium until 2028. There were also a number of in-person and online testifiers in support of the amendment. This was based on an agreement that we had reached with the Medicaid managed care organizations. At the eleventh hour, the managed care organizations came in opposition to this agreement. This has not been moved forward out of committee at this time. 

• LB437, would repeal the Certificate of Need for nursing homes and other providers. This was introduced in the first part of the session and made it out of the HHS committee to the floor. It was placed on general file with amendments on March 12, 2025. The key committee amendment adopted was AM659, which strikes the original sections and inserts revised statutory language related to the Certificate of Need provisions, including specific definitions and thresholds for requiring certificate approval for long-term care. On January 26, 2026, LB437 was advanced to E&R Initial, and two amendments were adopted—AM659 and AM1732. AM659 revises how CON requirements apply, clarifying thresholds for increases in long-term care or rehabilitation beds that trigger a certificate of need, and reorganizing the statute language and redefining certain provisions previously in the CON. With the amendments included, the CON would remain in place with revisions. LeadingAge Nebraska would be in favor of this with the amendments. This bill should be moving forward to Engrossment and Final Reading if it continues to advance this session. 

• LB845, would combine the Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementia Advisory Council and the Divion of Medicaid and Long-Term Care Advisory Committee on Aging. The total number of members proposed for the combined committee would be 15 members. This bill had a hearing on January 23rd and LeadingAge Nebraska provided testimony in support with an amendment to expand the committee to 17. This came following discussions and agreement with DHHS to expand the committee membership. There has not been an amendment proposed at this time. 
  

Upcoming Hearings: The Appropriations Committee has finished its preliminary Budget discussions and has scheduled hearings on the Budget Bills, all Agency Operations, and relative bills to those agencies. DHHS will be addressing their budget requests along with a handful of bills dealing with Medicaid. Two of those impact LAN members. 

• LB946, states intent for Medicaid funding for assisted living facilities. This would appropriate $7,046,697 for FY2026-27 ($3,104,775 General Funds and $3,941,922 Federal Funds). The daily rate proposed for FY2026-27 would be $78.45 for all waiver providers. This bill is set for hearing on February 9^th. We encourage all interested members to submit their comments online through the comment link by February 8^th. 

• LB1122, will also be heard on February 9^th regarding appropriations of DHHS to nursing facility rates. It proposes $462,480,546 for FY2026-27 to used for rate enhancement and any other purpose related to Medicaid nursing facility services. We encourage all interested members to submit their comments online through the comment link by February 8^th.