Zoning › State preemptions › Nebraska

Nebraska LB 866 (2020) — Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act (Reporting + Action Plan) (NE)

Tracked preemption from the Nebraska overlay bundle.

Overview

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Effective
2020-08-17
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:NE
Other Nebraska preemptions
Nebraska LB 614 (2025) — ETJ Farm-Building Exemption (Enabling)Nebraska LB 266 (2025) — Statewide Rent-Control PreemptionNebraska §18-1758 (LB 57, 2019) — Short-Term Rental Partial PreemptionNebraska LB 840 — Local Option Municipal Economic Development Act (Enabling Only)Nebraska §19-904 — Manufactured Home Zoning ParityNebraska §§71-4603 et seq. — Manufactured Housing Act (Installer/Dealer Licensing)Offutt AFB AICUZ — Federal Military Airfield Compatible-Use Overlay (Bellevue / Sarpy County)Lincoln Capitol Environs District — State-Law Height Overlay
Primary-source summary
**Last reviewed**: April 2026 **Activity level**: **Low–Moderate** — Nebraska is a traditional **Dillon's Rule** state for most purposes, with zoning authority delegated by class of city through **Neb. Rev. Stat. §§19-901 et seq.** (municipal) and **§§23-114 et seq.** (county). Preemption is narrow and targeted: a long-standing **manufactured-housing parity** mandate (§19-904 for cities; §71-4603 et seq. for licensing of installers/dealers), a targeted **economic-development / housing authority** framework (LB 840 as ongoing enabling authority for local-option sales tax for housing and…

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

AND
  • city.population ≥ 20000
  • city.city_class ∈ {metropolitan, primary, first}

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
biennial_housing_needs_report_requiredoverrideTrueCovered cities must produce a biennial housing-needs report
affordable_housing_action_plan_requiredoverrideTrueCovered cities must adopt an affordable-housing action plan (Jan 2023 deadline for largest; Jan 2024 for smaller covered cities)
adu_definitionoverridestate_uniformADU, cottage cluster, and townhouse definitions are uniform statewide for purposes of this Act

Citation

Authority source
Neb. Rev. Stat. §§19-5501 to 19-5510; LB 866 (2020); amended by LB 800 (2022)
§ §§19-5501–19-5510 (Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act)
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=19-5503

Research notes

Process floor + definitional uniformity, NOT a substantive by-right density preemption. Covered cities (population ≥20,000 in the metropolitan, primary, or first class — i.e., Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, Fremont, Hastings, Norfolk, Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista, North Platte, Columbus, Scottsbluff as of enactment) must prepare biennial housing-needs reports and adopt affordable-housing action plans. The 2023–2025 Wayne refiles (LB 794, LB 866 refiles) attempted to add by-right duplex/triplex/fourplex teeth and failed cloture; the underlying reporting/action-plan framework remains law since Aug 17 2020. LB 800 (2022) tweaked the reporting cycle; LB 839 (2026) reporting-cycle amendments were vetoed by Gov. Pillen Apr 16 2026 (override failed 19-28-2).