Issues

Ben Hansen has been a leader in attempts to overhaul the tax system in Nebraska to bring about meaningful reform for long-lasting property tax relief. Tax reform, specifically lowering the property tax burden, remains his number one priority. In 2021, the Legislature adopted Hansen’s LB644, a bill to increase transparency for property taxes by requiring taxing authorities to send a postcard to inform the community when a public hearing will be held regarding a property tax increase. Hansen actively supported tax reform bills that resulted in $1.7 billion in property tax relief, a 100% state income tax exemption for military retirement benefits, and a 50% state income tax exemption for social security benefits by 2025.

In the Legislature, Ben has focused on reducing unneeded regulations on small business and entrepreneurs. As a small business owner himself, Hansen recognizes that what businesses in Nebraska need the most is for the government to get out of their way. Hansen successfully championed a bill that allows home based businesses to sell food directly from their home or by mail, and sponsored a bill improving access to dental health care in rural areas by reducing burdensome regulation.

Government is best when it is small, transparent, and efficient. Ben Hansen has worked to address inefficiencies in Nebraska’s state government. He introduced and passed a bill to make the state employee reimbursement system more efficient and save taxpayer dollars. In his first two years in office, Hansen introduced and passed bills to ensure the integrity of Medicaid’s audit process and to better distribute resources when it comes to Medicaid claims.

When the global COVID-19 pandemic had many scared about the future, Ben Hansen stood up for our individual liberties and introduced bills to maintain an individual’s right to decide if they get a vaccine and challenge head-on the hypocrisy of elected officials by increasing the fines and penalties for local and state public officials who break their own Directed Health Measures when and if they are passed. Hansen has stood up for our Second Amendment rights by clarifying the statute dealing with the transportation of a concealed weapon and defended unborn individual’s right to life. Hansen helped pass a bill banning dismemberment abortion and another requiring doctors who perform abortions to provide women with information about abortion reversal drugs that could potentially save their pregnancies.