open adoptions

January 20 was the 10th day of the legislative session, which was the final day for bill introduction. In total, 446 bills and 8 constitutional amendments were introduced by senators and committees.

Supreme Court Chief Justice, Mike Heavican, presented his State of the Judiciary address to state senators this past week. He reviewed the work of the Office of Public Guardian, which was created by the Legislature in 2014 to improve the services provided to vulnerable adults in need of guardianships or conservatorships. He touched on the Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative, which focuses on education for judges, guardians ad litem, lawyers, HHS employees and community volunteers. The Chief Justice gave an overview of juvenile justice reform efforts, explaining that with the passage of legislation two years ago, children no longer have to become state wards to access services. He noted a significant increase in the number of children placed on probation and receiving services to reduce recidivism and likewise, a 7.6% decline in out-of-home placements in the past 6 months.

            February 19th marked the deadline for priority bill designations. Every senator is allowed to designate one bill as their personal priority bill. Committees are allowed to designate two bills and the Speaker of the Legislature is allowed to designate up to 25 bills as speaker priority bills. Typically, after the deadline date, bills that have not been designated as priorities do not stand a good chance of being debated, unless they are non-controversial and are chosen for consent calendar.

            I chose LB 744 as my priority bill. It recognizes communication and contact agreements to permit continuing communication and contact after the placement of an adoptee between the birth parents and the adoptive parents in private and agency adoptions. However, the law would make it clear that the existence of, or the failure to comply with such agreements, does not affect the adoption decree, the relinquishment of parental rights, or the written consent to adoption.

            The budget bills were given second-round and final approval this past week. Governor Ricketts now has 5 days (excluding Sunday) to decide whether he’ll use his line-item veto authority to strike specific budget appropriations from the package. His vetoes are due to the Legislature by midnight on Wednesday, March 30. The budget passed by the Legislature did not differ markedly from what the governor recommended.

            My priority bill, LB 744, received first-round approval this past week on a 42-0 vote. Under LB 744, open adoptions would be recognized in state statute, allowing for future communication or contact between birth parents and adoptive parents in private and agency adoptions. However, the law would make it clear that the failure to comply with such an agreement would not affect the validity of the adoption. A recent Nebraska Supreme Court decision stated that until the Legislature acts to approve of these open adoption arrangements in a private adoption context, they will not recognize them and will instead continue to hold that relinquishments signed with the promise of such an open adoption are invalid.