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LEGISLATIVE BILL 781
Approved by the Governor April 14, 2026
Introduced by Ballard, 21.
A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to motor vehicles; to amend sections 18-1737,
60-201, 60-3,193.01, 60-462.01, 60-4,132, 60-501, 60-2705, 60-2909.01,
75-365, 75-369.03, 75-392, and 75-393, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025;
to adopt updates to federal law and update certain federal references; to
change civil penalties against certain motor carriers; to repeal the
original sections; and to declare an emergency.
Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
Section 1. Section 18-1737, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended
to read:
18-1737 (1) Any city or village, any state agency, and any person in
lawful possession of any offstreet parking facility may designate stalls or
spaces, including access aisles, in such facility owned or operated by the
city, village, state agency, or person for the exclusive use of handicapped or
disabled persons whose motor vehicles display the distinguishing license plates
issued to such individuals pursuant to section 60-3,113, such other handicapped
or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons whose motor
vehicles display a handicapped or disabled parking permit, and such other motor
vehicles which display a handicapped or disabled parking permit. Such
designation shall be made by posting aboveground and immediately adjacent to
and visible from each stall or space, including access aisles, a sign which is
in conformance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices adopted
pursuant to section 60-6,118 and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 and the federal regulations adopted in response to the act, as the act and
the regulations existed on January 1, 2026 2025.
(2) The owner or person in lawful possession of an offstreet parking
facility, after notifying the police or sheriff's department, as the case may
be, and any city, village, or state agency providing onstreet parking or
owning, operating, or providing an offstreet parking facility may cause the
removal, from a stall or space, including access aisles, designated exclusively
for handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled
persons or motor vehicles for the transportation of handicapped or disabled
persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons, of any vehicle not
displaying the proper handicapped or disabled parking permit or the
distinguishing license plates specified in this section if there is posted
aboveground and immediately adjacent to and visible from such stall or space,
including access aisles, a sign which clearly and conspicuously states the area
so designated as a tow-in zone.
(3) A person who parks a vehicle in any onstreet parking space or access
aisle which has been designated exclusively for handicapped or disabled persons
or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons or motor vehicles for the
transportation of handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or
disabled persons, or in any so exclusively designated parking space or access
aisle in any offstreet parking facility, without properly displaying the proper
license plates or handicapped or disabled parking permit or when the
handicapped or disabled person to whom or for whom, as the case may be, the
license plate or permit is issued will not enter or exit the vehicle while it
is parked in the designated space or access aisle shall be guilty of a
handicapped parking infraction as defined in section 18-1741.01 and shall be
subject to the penalties and procedures set forth in sections 18-1741.01 to
18-1741.07. The display on a motor vehicle of a distinguishing license plate or
permit issued to a handicapped or disabled person by and under the duly
constituted authority of another state shall constitute a full and complete
defense in any action for a handicapped parking infraction as defined in
section 18-1741.01. If the identity of the person who parked the vehicle in
violation of this section cannot be readily determined, the owner or person in
whose name the vehicle is registered shall be held prima facie responsible for
such violation and shall be guilty and subject to the penalties and procedures
described in this section. In the case of a privately owned offstreet parking
facility, a city or village shall not require the owner or person in lawful
possession of such facility to inform the city or village of a violation of
this section prior to the city or village issuing the violator a handicapped
parking infraction citation.
(4) For purposes of this section and section 18-1741.01, state agency
means any division, department, board, bureau, commission, or agency of the
State of Nebraska created by the Constitution of Nebraska or established by act
of the Legislature, including the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska state
colleges, when the entity owns, leases, controls, or manages property which
includes offstreet parking facilities.
Sec. 2. Section 60-201, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
60-201 For purposes of the adoption by reference of federal law and
regulations contained in the Motor Vehicle Certificate of Title Act, the Motor
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Vehicle Registration Act, the Motor Vehicle Operator's License Act, and the
Nebraska Rules of the Road, when a provision of any of such acts refers to the
date specified in this section, such date is January 1, 2026 2025.
Sec. 3. Section 60-3,193.01, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended
to read:
60-3,193.01 For purposes of the Motor Vehicle Registration Act, the
International Registration Plan is adopted and incorporated by reference as the
plan existed on January 1, 2026 2025.
Sec. 4. Section 60-462.01, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended
to read:
60-462.01 For purposes of the Motor Vehicle Operator's License Act, the
following federal regulations are adopted as Nebraska law as they existed on
January 1, 2026 2025:
The parts, subparts, and sections of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, as referenced in the Motor Vehicle Operator's License Act.
Sec. 5. Section 60-4,132, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
60-4,132 The purposes of sections 60-462.01, 60-4,133, and 60-4,137 to
60-4,172 are to implement the requirements mandated by the federal Commercial
Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986, 49 U.S.C. 31100 et seq., the federal Motor
Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, Public Law 106-159, 49 U.S.C. 101 et
seq., section 1012 of the federal Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of
2001, USA PATRIOT Act, 49 U.S.C. 5103a, and federal regulations as such acts
and regulations existed on January 1, 2026 2025, and to reduce or prevent
commercial motor vehicle accidents, fatalities, and injuries by: (1) Permitting
drivers to hold only one operator's license; (2) disqualifying drivers for
specified offenses and serious traffic violations; and (3) strengthening
licensing and testing standards.
Sec. 6. Section 60-501, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
60-501 For purposes of the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, unless
the context otherwise requires:
(1) Department means Department of Motor Vehicles;
(2) Former military vehicle means a motor vehicle that was manufactured
for use in any country's military forces and is maintained to accurately
represent its military design and markings, regardless of the vehicle's size or
weight, but is no longer used, or never was used, by a military force;
(3) Golf car vehicle means a vehicle that has at least four wheels, has a
maximum level ground speed of less than twenty miles per hour, has a maximum
payload capacity of one thousand two hundred pounds, has a maximum gross
vehicle weight of two thousand five hundred pounds, has a maximum passenger
capacity of not more than four persons, and is designed and manufactured for
operation on a golf course for sporting and recreational purposes;
(4) Judgment means any judgment which shall have become final by the
expiration of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected without
being appealed, or by final affirmation on appeal, rendered by a court of
competent jurisdiction of any state or of the United States, (a) upon a cause
of action arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor
vehicle for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because
of bodily injury to or death of any person or for damages because of injury to
or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or (b) upon a
cause of action on an agreement of settlement for such damages;
(5) License means any license issued to any person under the laws of this
state pertaining to operation of a motor vehicle within this state;
(6)(a) Low-speed vehicle means any:
(i) Four-wheeled motor vehicle:
(A) With a speed attainable in one mile of more than twenty miles per hour
and not more than twenty-five miles per hour on a paved, level surface;
(B) With a gross vehicle weight rating of less than three thousand pounds;
and
(C) That complies with 49 C.F.R. part 571, as such part existed on January
1, 2026 2025; or
(ii) Three-wheeled motor vehicle:
(A) With a speed attainable of not more than twenty-five miles per hour on
a paved, level surface;
(B) With a gross vehicle weight rating of less than three thousand pounds;
and
(C) That is equipped with a windshield and an occupant protection system.
(b) Low-speed vehicle does not include a motorcycle with a sidecar;
(7) Minitruck means a foreign-manufactured import vehicle or domestic-
manufactured vehicle which (a) is powered by an internal combustion engine with
a piston or rotor displacement of one thousand five hundred cubic centimeters
or less, (b) is sixty-seven inches or less in width, (c) has a dry weight of
four thousand two hundred pounds or less, (d) travels on four or more tires,
(e) has a top speed of approximately fifty-five miles per hour, (f) is equipped
with a bed or compartment for hauling, (g) has an enclosed passenger cab, (h)
is equipped with headlights, taillights, turnsignals, windshield wipers, a
rearview mirror, and an occupant protection system, and (i) has a four-speed,
five-speed, or automatic transmission;
(8) Motor vehicle means any self-propelled vehicle which is designed for
use upon a highway, including trailers designed for use with such vehicles,
minitrucks, and low-speed vehicles. Motor vehicle includes a former military
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vehicle. Motor vehicle does not include (a) mopeds as defined in section
60-637, (b) traction engines, (c) road rollers, (d) farm tractors, (e) tractor
cranes, (f) power shovels, (g) well drillers, (h) every vehicle which is
propelled by electric power obtained from overhead wires but not operated upon
rails, (i) electric personal assistive mobility devices as defined in section
60-618.02, (j) off-road designed vehicles, including, but not limited to, golf
car vehicles, go-carts, riding lawnmowers, garden tractors, all-terrain
vehicles and utility-type vehicles as defined in section 60-6,355, minibikes as
defined in section 60-636, and snowmobiles as defined in section 60-663, and
(k) bicycles as defined in section 60-611;
(9) Nonresident means every person who is not a resident of this state;
(10) Nonresident's operating privilege means the privilege conferred upon
a nonresident by the laws of this state pertaining to the operation by him or
her of a motor vehicle or the use of a motor vehicle owned by him or her in
this state;
(11) Operator means every person who is in actual physical control of a
motor vehicle;
(12) Owner means a person who holds the legal title of a motor vehicle, or
in the event (a) a motor vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the
conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon performance
of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of
possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee or (b) a mortgagor of a
vehicle is entitled to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or
mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of the act;
(13) Person means every natural person, firm, partnership, limited
liability company, association, or corporation;
(14) Proof of financial responsibility means evidence of ability to
respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents occurring subsequent
to the effective date of such proof, arising out of the ownership, maintenance,
or use of a motor vehicle, (a) in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars
because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, (b)
subject to such limit for one person, in the amount of fifty thousand dollars
because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one
accident, and (c) in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars because of
injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident;
(15) Registration means registration certificate or certificates and
registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the
registration of motor vehicles;
(16) State means any state, territory, or possession of the United States,
the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada; and
(17) The forfeiture of bail, not vacated, or of collateral deposited to
secure an appearance for trial shall be regarded as equivalent to conviction of
the offense charged.
Sec. 7. Section 60-2705, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
60-2705 (1) The Director of Motor Vehicles shall adopt standards for an
informal dispute settlement procedure which substantially comply with the
provisions of 16 C.F.R. part 703, as such part existed on January 1, 2026 2025.
(2) If a manufacturer has established or participates in a dispute
settlement procedure certified by the Director of Motor Vehicles within the
guidelines of such standards, the provisions of section 60-2703 concerning
refunds or replacement shall not apply to any consumer who has not first
resorted to such a procedure.
Sec. 8. Section 60-2909.01, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended
to read:
60-2909.01 The department and any officer, employee, agent, or contractor
of the department having custody of a motor vehicle record shall, upon the
verification of identity and purpose of a requester, disclose and make
available the requested motor vehicle record, including the sensitive personal
information in the record, other than the social security number, for the
following purposes:
(1) For use by any federal, state, or local governmental agency, including
any court or law enforcement agency, in carrying out the agency's functions or
by a private person or entity acting on behalf of a governmental agency in
carrying out the agency's functions;
(2) For use in connection with any civil, criminal, administrative, or
arbitral proceeding in any federal, state, or local court or governmental
agency or before any self-regulatory body, including service of process,
investigation in anticipation of litigation, and execution or enforcement of
judgments and orders, or pursuant to an order of a federal, state, or local
court, an administrative agency, or a self-regulatory body;
(3) For use by any insurer or insurance support organization, or by a
self-insured entity, or its agents, employees, or contractors, in connection
with claims investigation activities, anti-fraud activities, rating, or
underwriting;
(4) For use by an employer or the employer's agent or insurer to obtain or
verify information relating to a holder of a commercial driver's license or
CLP-commercial learner's permit that is required under the Commercial Motor
Vehicle Safety Act of 1986, 49 U.S.C. 31301 et seq., as such act existed on
January 1, 2026 2025, or pursuant to sections 60-4,132 and 60-4,141; and
(5) For use by employers of a holder of a commercial driver's license or
CLP-commercial learner's permit and by the Commercial Driver License
Information System as provided in section 60-4,144.02 and 49 C.F.R. 383.73, as
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such regulation existed on January 1, 2026 2025.
Sec. 9. Section 75-365, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
75-365 (1) Definitions contained in the regulations referred to in
sections 75-363 and 75-364 shall only apply to such regulations.
(2) When the regulations referred to in sections 75-363 and 75-364 require
that any person submit a report to the United States Department of
Transportation or any other federal agency, that person shall also submit a
copy of the report to the Nebraska State Patrol.
(3) For purposes of sections 75-362 to 75-369.07, when a provision of any
of such sections refers to the date specified in this section, such date is
January 1, 2026 2025.
Sec. 10. Section 75-369.03, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended
to read:
75-369.03 (1) The Superintendent of Law Enforcement and Public Safety may
issue an order imposing a civil penalty against a motor carrier transporting
persons or property in interstate commerce for a violation of sections 75-392
to 75-3,100 or against a motor carrier transporting persons or property in
intrastate commerce for a violation or violations of section 75-363 or 75-364
based upon an inspection conducted pursuant to section 75-366 in an amount
which shall not exceed one thousand twenty-eight one thousand two dollars for
any single violation in any proceeding or series of related proceedings against
any person or motor carrier as defined in 49 C.F.R. 390.5 as adopted in section
75-363.
(2) The superintendent shall issue an order imposing a civil penalty in an
amount not to exceed twenty thousand five hundred thirty-seven twenty thousand
seventeen dollars against a motor carrier transporting persons or property in
interstate commerce for a violation of subdivision (2)(e) of section 60-4,162
based upon a conviction of such a violation.
(3) The superintendent shall issue an order imposing a civil penalty
against a driver operating a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in section
60-465, that requires a commercial driver's license or CLP-commercial learner's
permit, in violation of an out-of-service order. The civil penalty shall be in
an amount not less than three thousand nine hundred sixty-one three thousand
eight hundred sixty-one dollars for a first violation and not less than seven
thousand nine hundred twenty-four seven thousand seven hundred twenty-three
dollars for a second or subsequent violation.
(4) The superintendent shall issue an order imposing a civil penalty
against a motor carrier who knowingly allows, requires, permits, or authorizes
the operation of a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in section 60-465, that
requires a commercial driver's license or CLP-commercial learner's permit, in
violation of an out-of-service order. The civil penalty shall be not less than
seven thousand one hundred fifty-five six thousand nine hundred seventy-four
dollars but not more than thirty-nine thousand six hundred fifteen thirty-eight
thousand six hundred twelve dollars per violation.
(5) Upon the discovery of any violation by a motor carrier transporting
persons or property in interstate commerce of section 75-307, 75-363, or 75-364
or sections 75-392 to 75-3,100 based upon an inspection conducted pursuant to
section 75-366, the superintendent shall immediately refer such violation to
the appropriate federal agency for disposition, and upon the discovery of any
violation by a motor carrier transporting persons or property in intrastate
commerce of section 75-307 based upon such inspection, the superintendent shall
refer such violation to the Public Service Commission for disposition.
Sec. 11. Section 75-392, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
75-392 For purposes of sections 75-392 to 75-3,100:
(1) Director means the Director of Motor Vehicles;
(2) Division means the Division of Motor Carrier Services of the
Department of Motor Vehicles; and
(3) Unified carrier registration plan and agreement means the plan and
agreement established and authorized pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 14504a, as such
section existed on January 1, 2026 2025.
Sec. 12. Section 75-393, Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, is amended to
read:
75-393 The director may participate in the unified carrier registration
plan and agreement pursuant to the Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005, 49
U.S.C. 13908, as the act existed on January 1, 2026 2025, and may file on
behalf of this state the plan required by such plan and agreement for
enforcement of the act in this state.
Sec. 13. Original sections 18-1737, 60-201, 60-3,193.01, 60-462.01,
60-4,132, 60-501, 60-2705, 60-2909.01, 75-365, 75-369.03, 75-392, and 75-393,
Revised Statutes Supplement, 2025, are repealed.
Sec. 14. Since an emergency exists, this act takes effect when passed and
approved according to law.
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