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Senate advances study bill to examine disproportionate missing Black women and children cases
Summary
Sen. S. Spivey’s LB7 51, which commissions a state study into missing Black women and children and directs the Nebraska Commission on African American Affairs to lead data collection and recommendations, was advanced after senators discussed scope, fiscal arrangements and partner agencies.
The Legislature advanced LB7 51, a bill from Sen. S. Spivey seeking a targeted study into the disproportionate number of missing Black women and girls in Nebraska and recommendations to improve reporting and investigations.
Spivey told the floor that the bill would convene state and local law‑enforcement partners, federal agencies and urban community organizations to determine scope, identify barriers and produce policy recommendations. She cited case histories — including Amber Harris, Tyler Thomas and Kamisha Hollis — to illustrate the human cost behind the data and said the commission can absorb an estimated $23,000 consultant cost in current appropriations.
Senators questioned the bill’s scope and whether similar studies should cover other demographic groups; Spivey said the study uses state patrol data disaggregated by race and that separate commissions (for Latino affairs, for example) could pursue parallel work. Sen. Storm and others confirmed the state patrol manages missing person records and that past studies of indigenous populations produced policy recommendations that influenced later actions.
LB7 51 advanced to E & R initial. Sponsors emphasized the bill is a fact‑finding and upstream policy study, not a reallocation of investigative resources.
