Indefinitely postponed
Require certain determinations prior to utility pole installations under the Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act ↗
| Sponsor | Sen. John Cavanaugh (District 9) (Introduced 01/09/2025) |
|---|---|
| Sponsor Ranking | The Nebraska Legislature is officially nonpartisan, and no published ideology measurement of its members is in our database - so none is shown. This page shows how members voted, never where anyone places them. |
| KJV verdict | PASS · 3 grounds ↓ |
| Committees | Transportation and Telecommunications |
| Latest Action | 04/17/2026 Indefinitely postponed |
| Roll Call Votes | There have been no roll call votes |
| Source | view on nebraskalegislature.gov (new tab) → |
Brief (4)
If it passes, what changes
LB18 is a narrow amendment to existing right-of-way law governing small wireless facilities and utility poles, not a new regulatory scheme.
- Sec. 2 repeals the prior version of §86-1236 that this bill replaces.
Does it do what it claims
The title's claim of new authority duties and provider requirements matches the text, though the addition is small.
- No text imposes a distinct new duty on wireless providers themselves; the review runs on authorities.
- No dollar figures, funding, or fiscal provisions appear anywhere in the bill.
The case each way
- For: it makes ADA and safety review an explicit, checkable authority obligation before any pole goes up.
- For: it addresses a possible gap where a pole meeting height rules could still create an ADA access problem.
What the text cannot settle
This reading covers only what the text states; several operational questions are left open.
- "Modified utility pole," which triggers the new review, is not scoped or defined in the text.
- No estimate of the administrative burden this review places on authorities appears in the bill.
Written by claude-sonnet-5 from the Introduced of this bill on 2026-09-13, and from nothing else. It is a reading, not a source: bullets naming a section this bill does not contain are dropped before the page is built, but the prose is not otherwise checked. The verdict above does not come from it.
KJV verdict (3)
PASS — Aligns with the KJV
The bill adds a duty for a city or county to check, before a new utility pole goes in, that the pole meets the Americans with Disabilities Act and does not block travel or public safety on the roadway, and to refuse the pole if it fails. Scripture forbids putting a stumblingblock before the blind and calls rulers to be a minister for good, and this new duty does exactly that. Nothing in the bill does what the standard forbids.
3 grounds: 0 FAIL, 3 PASS. Any FAIL fails the bill.
PASS Sec. 1, 86-1236(9)(a)(i)
“Complies with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the federal regulations adopted in response to such act”
“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.”Leviticus 19:14
“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”Proverbs 31:8-9
Requiring that poles not be placed where they block the disabled keeps a stumblingblock from before the blind and pleads the cause of those who cannot plead their own.
PASS Sec. 1, 86-1236(9)(a)(ii)
“Does not obstruct or hinder usual travel or public safety in or on such right-of-way”
“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”Romans 13:3-4
A ruler who refuses a pole that endangers the public is acting as a minister of God for good to the people.
PASS Sec. 1, 86-1236(9)(b)
“the authority shall not permit such installation”
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.”Ezekiel 33:6
The authority is made a watchman who must stop the danger it sees rather than let it through.
Read against the KJV standard from the Introduced text on 2026-09-13. Every quotation of the bill is checked against the bill's text and every verse is quoted from the 1769 text, not from the model.
Text (1)
- Introduced (new tab) (application/pdf)
Each link opens the legislature's own document.
All Actions (5)
| Date | Actor | All Actions |
|---|---|---|
| 04/17/2026 | Indefinitely postponed | |
| 01/07/2026 | Title printed. Carryover bill | |
| 01/31/2025 | Notice of hearing for February 11, 2025 | |
| 01/13/2025 | Referred to Transportation and Telecommunications Committee | |
| 01/09/2025 | Date of introduction |
Votes (0)
There have been no roll call votes on this bill.
Sponsors (1)
- Sen. John Cavanaugh [District 9] — primary sponsor
Committees (1)
| Committee | Activity | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation and Telecommunications | Referred | 01/13/2025 |
Amendments (0)
There are no amendments to this bill.
Fiscal Notes & Statements (2)
The legislature's own companion documents; each link opens the official copy.
Related Bills (0)
No related bill information was received.
How this was worked out (1)
1. What was read
| version | Introduced |
| file | 01-introduced.pdf |
| sha256 | 40b33ee643588d6c2701a5d5921ac948 |
| characters | 6,186 |
2. What it was read against
| the standard | bills/kjv_prompt.txt, sha256 79671b42553a40fe28a8ac9c8ce9e60a |
| model | claude-fable-5-1 |
| read on | 2026-09-13 |
| the model was shown | the standard -- the verses of the 1769 text, quoted in full -- and the bill's words, and nothing else |
3. The grounds (3)
| PASS | |
|---|---|
| PASS | Sec. 1, 86-1236(9)(a)(i)
“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:14 “Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9 Requiring that poles not be placed where they block the disabled keeps a stumblingblock from before the blind and pleads the cause of those who cannot plead their own. |
| PASS | Sec. 1, 86-1236(9)(a)(ii)
“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” Romans 13:3-4 A ruler who refuses a pole that endangers the public is acting as a minister of God for good to the people. |
| PASS | Sec. 1, 86-1236(9)(b)
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.” Ezekiel 33:6 The authority is made a watchman who must stop the danger it sees rather than let it through. |
4. How the verdict follows
| FAIL grounds | 0 |
| PASS grounds | 3 |
| the rule | any FAIL ground fails the bill -- even one, even beside good provisions (1 Corinthians 5:6), even for a good end (Romans 3:8); PASS grounds alone pass it; no grounds, no verdict. No counting, no weighing, nothing added up. |
| verdict | PASS — Aligns with the KJV |
5. What this cannot tell you
Every ground above quotes the bill and quotes the verse, so each can be checked. What the model did not raise cannot be checked the same way: a provision it passed over looks exactly like one that is not there. How often a ground is wrong, and how often one is missing, are not known.
Bill data comes from the Nebraska Legislature's own website, scraped and stored by our own pipeline; titles, sponsors, actions and vote tallies are shown as the Legislature published them. Nothing is generated. Nebraska's Legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan; its members carry no party label here because they carry none there. No published ideology measurement is in our database, so no bill or member on this site is placed on a left-right axis: every meter is a roll-call tally, labeled (Vote Record).