LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would help Nebraska sex trafficking victims remove criminal convictions from their records has won first-round approval in the Legislature.

Lawmakers voted 27-0 on Wednesday to advance the measure through the first of three required votes.

The measure is part of a push to focus less on punishing survivors and more on targeting traffickers and sex purchasers. It would allow human trafficking survivors to ask a judge to aside their conviction and seal their criminal record for offenses they committed while under a trafficker’s influence.

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln says she introduced the bill because traffickers exert tremendous control over their victims. The victims are usually women and girls who are kept in prostitution through threats, violence and drug addiction.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has vetoed a bill that would give former Nebraska prisoners and jail inmates the chance to have a judge set aside their convictions once they’ve served their time.

The governor said Wednesday that the measure would apply to serious offenses such as murder, arson and human trafficking, and would undermine confidence in the criminal justice system.

Nebraska already allows people who have spent time on probation to petition a judge to set aside their sentences. The bill by Sen. John McCollister of Omaha would expand eligibility to include those who served time in prison or jail.

It would not apply to people with pending criminal charges, sex offenders, those with traffic misdemeanors or felonies, and those who have applied in the last two years.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State Sen. Ernie Chambers has filed a complaint that could trigger a legislative hearing on Nebraska’s lethal injection protocol.

Chambers submitted the complaint Wednesday to the Legislature’s Executive Board.

Chambers contends the Department of Correctional Services has violated state and federal laws and that its lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional.

The complaint follows the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska’s allegations that prison officials may have violated federal laws in obtaining execution drugs.

Prison officials say they were purchased legally. Gov. Pete Ricketts has accused the ACLU of fabricating charges.

Chambers is invoking a law that requires the Executive Board’s chairman or a staff member to refer his complaint to a legislative committee. Chambers says the Judiciary Committee should investigate it.

Chambers sits on the committee. He opposes capital punishment.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would allow higher speed limits on Nebraska highways has won first-round approval in the Legislature, but it won’t apply to Interstate 80.

Senators advanced the measure on a 35-2 vote Wednesday after stripping out a provision that would have allowed speeds of up to 80 mph on portions of the interstate.

The revised proposal would raise the speed limit to 65 mph on certain four-lane highways, up from the current 60 mph. Other expressways and freeways could see their limits increase to 70 mph, up from 65 mph.

The Department of Transportation would set the limits. Sen. John Murante of Gretna, the bill’s sponsor, says it would help streamline Nebraska’s roadways.

Opponents voiced concerns about traffic safety.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Planned Parenthood officials are reiterating their opposition to Gov. Pete Ricketts’ proposed budget because of a controversial provision that would deny federal Title X funding to health clinics if they offer abortions or provide referrals to abortion providers.

Meg Mikolajczyk of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said Tuesday that 28,000 low-income women in Nebraska rely on the health care funding each year. She says the money in question is never used for abortions. Federal law already prohibits it.

The provision was proposed by Ricketts, who says the budget should reflect Nebraska’s status as a “pro-life state.” Supporters say it would ensure clear legal separation between abortion services and other health care operations.

The budget wording has won first-round approval from lawmakers, but two more votes are required.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers moved one step closer to removing licensing restrictions for horse massage therapists as they advanced the bill with significant support.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte said Tuesday the bill would replace burdensome licensing requirements with a registry and certification process. He said it will create career opportunities for rural Nebraskans and provide horses with necessary treatment.

There are no licensed horse massage therapists in Nebraska currently, which Groene said is because of the strict licensing requirements. To become licensed, an individual must first qualify as a veterinarian or human massage therapist, which requires 1,000 hours of training. In addition, 150 hours of animal therapy courses are required, but the courses are not offered at any school in the state.

Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln said the licensing barriers have prevented her friend from opening a business and have made it difficult for her to find someone to massage her horses.

“It’s time that Nebraska ponies up on this issue,” she said.

The bill is part of a broader nationwide push to reduce occupational licensing requirements that have increased over the last 60 years. In 1950, one out of every 20 jobs was licensed, but today one out of every four professions requires a license, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Nebraska has nearly 200 professions that require a license, ranging from potato shippers to doctors. On average, the National Council of State Legislatures found states have about 90 licenses. Four states do not require licenses for human massage therapy.

Many senators said the bill does not go far enough to reduce regulations. Sen. John Kuehn, a veterinarian from Heartwell, said it’s unreasonable to regulate horse massage therapists when farriers, who nail horseshoes into horses’ feet, are unregulated.

Requiring licensing or certification is “just good old-fashioned protectionism,” he said. “The survival of the species that we’re worried about is market share for veterinarians.”

Opponents said the penalty for noncompliance, a felony charge, is too severe. Groene said he is willing to work on changes to reduce the punishment before the bill is debated again.

The bill advanced 38-0 to the second of three required votes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has signed a rule change that will make it easier for military spouses to teach in Nebraska if they recently arrived from out of state.

Ricketts on Monday hailed the rule as a way to lift a regulatory burden on spouses who want to work in the state. It’s most likely to benefit the areas around Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.

The previous rules required teachers to get a temporary three-year teaching license while actively working toward a full-time Nebraska teaching certificate. That didn’t work for many military spouses, who frequently move around the country.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt says the rule change is a common sense approach to accommodate those who want to teach.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Supreme Court Justice John Wright has died at age 72.

Wright died Sunday after a long, undisclosed illness. Chief Justice Michael Heavican said in a statement that Wright’s death leaves a great void on the seven-member court.

Wright was the court’s most experienced member, having served 24 years. He previously served for two years on the Nebraska Court of Appeals and worked for more than two decades as a private practice attorney based in Scottsbluff.

Wright was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1994 by then-Gov. Ben Nelson.

Wright’s death creates an opening that Gov. Pete Ricketts will have to fill. It will be the governor’s fifth appointment since he took office in 2015.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Groundwater regulators in Nebraska could have a tougher time financing water conservation projects after a bill they endorsed died in the Legislature, but some lawmakers say the measure wasn’t necessary and would have led to higher property taxes.

The issue has divided rural senators, pitting those who saw the tax as a way to protect Nebraska agriculture against opponents who fought to kill it in hopes of lowering property taxes.

The measure would have allowed many of the state’s natural resources districts to continue charging 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value to pay for groundwater management projects, a key part of their efforts to comply with state mandates to use less water.

The tax is set to expire June 30, and lawmakers rejected a proposal that would have kept it in place through mid-2026. The tax would have totaled up to $45 on a home with a taxable value of $150,000.

“This is a tax I’ve always felt we should pay,” said Sen. Curt Friesen, a farmer from Henderson who sought to extend the sunset date.

Ten of Nebraska’s 23 natural resources districts have the power to levy the extra tax because the state has declared they’re using too much water or are at risk of doing so. Lawmakers approved the tax in 2004 to help the districts comply with new state requirements amid concerns that Nebraska farmers who irrigate were threatening the long-term water supply.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, who helped sink the bill, said many districts still have the power to impose a separate, $10-per-acre occupation tax on irrigators who are using the water. The 3-cent property tax, by contrast, is imposed on all property owners in a district.

“Everyone has to pay that — the dry land farmer, the rancher, and the little old lady who lives in town,” Groene said. “They didn’t create this crisis, so why should they pay for it?”

Groene said two of the natural resources districts he represents lowered their property tax levies by relying more on the occupation tax. He said he understands the importance of irrigation, but “we’ve got to face reality” and enact policies that will encourage them to become more sustainable.

“The reason our property taxes are high is because we keep putting one straw on the taxpayers’ backs at a time,” Groene said.

The hardest-hit districts are in central and western Nebraska, which rely more than the east on irrigation to water crops.

The tax has helped districts manage their water supply, but now, “that tool is being taken away from us,” said John Berge, general manager for the Scottsbluff-based North Platte Natural Resources District.

Berge said his district is only using two-tenths of a cent — about $115,000 a year — out of its 3-cent taxing authority, but may need to use more in the future as state officials review the area’s water consumption. He said his district has used the revenue to help purchase new water-saving technology and create financial incentives for farmer to use less water.

Once they lose the taxing authority, Berge said district officials might have to reduce the amount of water farmers can use each year.

“Irrigation is not an option out here. It’s a necessity,” Berge said.

Nebraska’s natural resources districts can already charge a tax of up to 5.5 cents per $100 of value.

Most of the districts that have the extra 3-cent taxing authority have only been charging a fraction of what they’re allowed out of concern for property taxpayers, said Dean Edson, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts.

“These people (on the district boards) are really judicious with tax dollars,” Edson said.

Friesen, the Henderson senator, said forcing irrigators to pay the occupation tax doesn’t account for the benefits they provide to the state economy and the hedge they offer in dry years.

“Drive around the state to any area that’s irrigated, and look at the property values,” he said. “There are more grain bins, more buildings. When you look at the benefits of irrigated land to the area, I think it’s unfair to put the tax only on them when they helped create that economic development.”

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Follow Grant Schulte on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — River otters, once endangered in Nebraska, are making a comeback.

A Nebraska Game and Parks Commission reintroduction program that started three decades about is restoring a species that were a common part of the Nebraska landscape before they were wiped out by unregulated trapping or hunting in the early 1900s.

Today, the river otter is on the verge of being removed from Nebraska’s list of threatened species. Estimates indicate there are more than 5,000 otters in the state.

River otters were live-trapped primarily in Alaska and Louisiana and transported to Nebraska from 1986 to 1991. Release sites were the Platte, Niobrara, South Loup, Elkhorn, Calamus and Cedar Rivers.

Biologists monitoring the critters found that their range has been expanding and their survival is high.