Utilities Section
Newsletter League of Nebraska Municipalities
May 2025
2025 Legislature impacts municipal utilities and public works departments By Lash Chaffin, Utilities Section Director As the 2025 Nebraska Legislature wraps up its work for 2025, they have adopted several measures which will impact utilities and public works departments. LB 36 was amended to include several unrelated measures that will affect municipal utilities and public works departments. LB 36 included the provisions of what was originally LB 309. This measure sets forth the initial steps to create a robust system for the recycling of batteries. The measure requires that beginning Jan. 1, 2028, no producer or retailer may sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale in Nebraska, certain batteries or battery-containing products unless the producer of the covered battery or battery-containing product is identified and is a member of a battery stewardship organization (BSO) operated under a battery stewardship plan (Plan) approved by the Department of Environment and Energy (DEE). The BSO Plan must include duties and responsibilities to provide for collection sites, annual reports, and provide for collecting all costs associated with implementing the plan. So, sellers of batteries will be paying for a recycling system for those batteries. The initial program will be limited to the following types of batteries or projects containing a battery: • Batteries that are not capable of being recharged that weigh more 206 S 13th Street, Suite 800 Lincoln, NE 68508 (402) 476-2829 Fax (402) 476-7052
than four and four-tenths pounds but not more than 25 pounds. • Rechargeable batteries that weigh more than 11 pounds or have a rating of more than 300 watthours, or both, but that does not weigh more than 25 pounds or have a rating of more than 2,000 watt-hours. There are exemptions to the initial program: • Computers, monitors, keyboards and mice. • Small scale servers. • Printers, fax machines, and scanners. • Televisions, digital video disc players and recorders, video cassette recorders, digital converter boxes, cable receivers, satellite receivers, portable digital music players, and video game consoles. • Batteries contained in a medical device regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and is not designed or marketed for sale or resale at retail locations for personal use. • Batteries that contain an electrolyte as a free liquid or a product that contains such a battery. • Batteries designed to power a motor vehicle, part of a motor vehicle, or a component part of a motor vehicle assembled by, or for, a vehicle manufacturer
or franchised dealer, including replacement parts for use in a motor vehicle • Batteries in a product that is not intended or designed to be easily removable from the product LB 36 also included the provisions of LB 590 which gives the Nebraska Department of Transportation the authority to operate a mitigation bank or in-lieu fee program by contracting with public and private parties to meet its mitigation obligations for endangered species and other environmental impacts under state and federal law. The current use of a similar concept for wetlands mitigation has been very successful in expediting transportation projects. LB 36 also included the provisions of what was originally LB 344 which replaces an existing law and a law currently on the books set to take effect in 2026 that set the parameters of how municipal water use can be regulated in a Natural Resources District Integrated Management Plan (IMP) in a fully or over appropriated basin. The new language exempts most municipal water use from potential regulation in an IMP except beginning in 2026, that any NEW or EXPANDED customer with an annual use in excess of 25 million gallons could be subject to regulation under an IMP. However, the new language also limits the IMP regulatory scope to some reporting and potential mitigation of the “consumptive” water use by the Continued on page 2 Lash Chaffin Utilities Section Director Jackson Sash Utilities Field Representative