LINCOLN — Nebraska policy-makers have talked “ad nauseam” about a statewide housing and worker shortage and the need to do something about it, State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln said Monday, echoing the sentiment of several colleagues.

On a 32-8 vote, the Legislature advanced legislation designed to take a step toward improving housing access and affordability, which supporters describe as integral to luring more talent to the state.

As amended, Legislative Bill 1067, championed by State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse, now moves to a second round of legislative debate. The measure would increase the $2.32 state documentary stamp tax by $1 for every $1,000 of property cost and split the new revenue between two housing funds: one that helps develop workforce housing in rural communities, and another that promotes dwellings for middle-income workers in Nebraska’s three largest counties.

Under the new rate, the seller of a $300,000 house would pay a stamp tax of about $300 more, of about $996 instead of $696.

The doc stamp tax hike, which is applied to state real estate transactions, would expire in five years under an amendment approved 38-2. The amendment also lowered Hallstrom’s originally proposed increase.

Hallstrom said he anticipates the amended LB 1067 to generate about $16 million a year for the two programs, officially called the Rural Workforce Housing Fund and the Middle Income Workforce Housing Investment Fund. Each provides competitive matching grants to nonprofits for housing construction and renovation.

Co-sponsored originally by Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha, LB 1067 in February was prioritized by Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha, a designation that helps ensure a bill reaches full debate stage.

Notably, the legislative proposal specifies that the new revenue can only be used for the two programs. It amends language that had allowed the Pillen administration to sweep money out of a third housing pot, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and into places like the state general fund and behavioral health services. Gov. Jim Pillen previously diverted money from the affordable housing fund to the rural and middle-income funds.

“This has been a problem in recent years in that we have robbed Peter to pay Paul,” said Hallstrom, a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.

He called the state’s return on investment from the state housing funds “astonishing.”

The Nebraska Realtors Association is opposed to the bill. Julie Joeckel, chief executive, said the organization supports affordable housing but considers the proposed hike a transfer tax carried “on the backs” of home sellers.

Voting no on LB 1032 were Sens. Bob Andersen of Sarpy County, Rob Clements of Elwood, Ben Hansen of Blair, Brian Hardin of Gering, Mirv Riepe of Ralston, Tanya Storer of Whitman, Jared Storm of David City and Brad von Gillern of Omaha. All are Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.

Clements, who chairs the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, said he believes the increase in the doc stamp tax is a benefit to “a few people — at the cost of other people who are required to pay it.”

“I’m more interested in having the free market govern homebuilding,” Clements said.

Storer said an increase in the doc stamp tax makes housing transactions more expensive, though she said she is a fan of the rural workforce housing program.

“How we pay for that is really what I’m struggling with,” Storer said.

Said Andersen: “The challenge is we keep piling small increases on top of small increases on top of small increases that eventually become big increases.”

Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus, on the other hand, described the increase as “so miniscule” that he didn’t “see it stymieing any purchase.”

Moser said he’d like to see the focus turn to questionable homebuilding regulations that increase the cost of housing.

Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk, who advocated for passage, argued that the housing bill is perhaps the most important that lawmakers will debate this year.

While State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte said he was conflicted, he was persuaded by the amendment that lowered the initially proposed tax increase. He said “getting more housing units out there is a good thing,” and saw the programs as offering an incentive that could “tip the scale” for prospective housing developers in rural communities.

McKinney said he has been hearing about a “housing crisis” in rural and urban Nebraska since he was elected to the Legislature in 2020. Without housing, he said, workers won’t come.

“You can’t say on one hand we have a crisis but not try to address the crisis,” he said.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/09/measure-aimed-at-nebraska-housin...