Lawmakers passed over the bill Wednesday without voting on it after about three hours of debate. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, of Omaha, acknowledged she doesn’t have the votes to advance the bill through a first-round vote.

Supporters say the measure would promote a family-friendly business climate in Nebraska and help workers who need to care for a relative.

Opponents cast the measure as an unaffordable government mandate that would hurt businesses.

Cavanaugh expressed disappointment that opponents weren’t willing to try to find a compromise, calling it a disservice to the public.

Spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said Wednesday that workers are clearing trees and other debris off the Omaha-based railroad’s tracks and have begun repairing them and bridges. Some of the lines run between Nebraska and Iowa or merely within Nebraska.

She says water remains over portions of the tracks between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Kansas City, Kansas. The company is unsure when that line can be reopened. Levees have been breached or overtopped in southwest Iowa.

Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway says it also is confronting flood-related washouts in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State officials say the flooding that swept Nebraska has caused nearly $1.4 billion in estimated losses and damage.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Wednesday that roads, levies and other infrastructure have sustained an estimated $449 million in damage. Damage to private homes and businesses has reached $85 million so far, and farmers have experienced $400 million in cattle losses and $440 million in crop losses.

Ricketts says an estimated 2,067 homes and 341 businesses have been damaged or destroyed in the flood.

Ricketts stressed that the numbers are preliminary and subject to change. The numbers were included in the governor’s request for expedited assistance from the federal government.

The governor says 74 of Nebraska’s 93 counties and 85 of its cities are in a declared state of emergency.

Ronald Mockelman was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. He’d pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer.

Authorities say the marshal was struck in the chest and face while transporting Mockelman on Dec. 13, 2017. He’d been arrested for violating terms of his supervised release in a 2015 case.

Mockelman was sentenced in 2015 for leaving threatening messages for U.S. Department of Transportation workers. He was upset about a nearly $3,700 fine levied because he didn’t have a drug-testing program at his shop near Valley where he was the only worker.

The State Fire Marshal’s office says the Saturday morning fire was an accident caused by a faulty extension cord. Killed in the fire were 39-year-old Crystal Vickrey; 19-year-old Brittney Newsome, 12-year-old Kaden Newsome and 20-year-old Tiara Schwab. Autopsies reveal that smoke inhalation was the cause of death in all four.

Two people were able to get out without injuries. Their names have not been released.

Cordova is a village of fewer than 150 people that’s about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of the state capital of Lincoln.

The University of Nebraska at Kearney released a statement identifying Brittney Newsome as a first-year student at the school.

Members of the Revenue Committee voted 7-0 on Tuesday to advance the measure to the full Legislature for debate.

The proposal by state Sen. Myron Dorn, of Adams, would allow Gage County to impose a half-cent sales tax to pay off the federal judgment in the case of six wrongfully accused people known as the Beatrice Six. Approving the tax would require a two-thirds vote of the county board.

Dorn has said the bill would help the county pay off the judgment faster and keep property tax payers from having to shoulder the whole burden.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those suffering from this natural disaster,” Bill Gross, founder and president of Farm Rescue, said Tuesday.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau estimates that farm and ranch losses in that state could reach $1 billion. The amount of hay needed hasn’t yet been determined, according to the Nebraska Cattlemen rancher group, which also has launched a disaster relief fund .

“Some folks are still battling floodwaters and have not been able to access their hay to determine what was lost,” spokeswoman Talia Goes said. “However, we have heard from some folks that nearly 50 to 100 percent of their hay has been ruined or taken with the raging waters. Also, many folks will battle damaged hay and pasture fields from the water and the debris.”

The first Operation Hay Lift was launched in July 2017 in the midst of devastating drought in the Upper Midwest. The program lasted 10 months, with 75 volunteer truckers hauling nearly 300 semitrailer-loads of hay to 154 ranch families in the Dakotas and Montana. More than 10,000 large, round hay bales were hauled a total of more than 200,000 miles, according to Farm Rescue spokesman Dan Erdmann.

Farm Rescue provides free physical labor for farmers and ranchers dealing with an injury, illness or a natural disaster in six Plains states — North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Montana. The nonprofit’s services include crop planting and harvesting, haying, and livestock feeding. It has helped nearly 600 farm families since starting in 2006 and relies on volunteers from around the country, donations and corporate sponsors.