Paid sick leave initiative to appear on Nebraska’s November ballots

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office certified a paid sick leave ballot initiative on Tuesday.

“I appreciate our county election officials carefully reviewing and verifying the submitted signatures in a timely manner,” Secretary of State Bob Evnen said in a Tuesday news release. “I have reviewed the initiative, and it is in compliance with the law.”

In order to be allowed onto the ballot, the petition for a new law seeking has to have valid signatures from at least 7% of registered voters in Nebraska and valid signatures from at least 5% of registered voters in a minimum of 38 counties.

The state confirmed the Paid Sick Leave petition submitted 97,557 valid signatures — more than 11,000 than required — from Nebraska voters statewide. Those signatures were collected from at least 5% of registered voters in 47 counties, according the release.

In Douglas County, petitioners collected 44,453 signatures — more than 26,500 than required.

Nearly double the required number of signatures were collected in Sarpy and Lancaster counties. Petitioners submitted 20,758 signatures for Lancaster County — 10,642 more than required; and 11,804 in Sarpy County, which was 5,520 more than required.

Evnen’s office also reported receiving three official affidavit requests to have their names removed from the petition.

The “Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans” ballot initiative would require employers to offer paid sick leave to their employees, with a minimum requirement of employees earning at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, according to Jill Heggen, a communications chair for Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans.

The initiative would require employees with fewer than 20 employees to provide five days of paid sick leave per year; and employers with more than 20 employees to provide seven of those paid days a year.

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This is a developing story. Stay with 6 News for updates.

See the official tallies for each county

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10/11 Now contributed to this story.

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