‘We were so close’: Nebraska mother responds to veto of child sexual assault and abuse bill

Loree Woods (center left, in blue) embraces her daughter, Taylor, following the final vote in favor of LB 25, which would have expanded certain lawsuits in cases of child sexual assault and abuse within political subdivisions. April 18, 2024. (Courtesy of Loree Woods)

LINCOLN — A Nebraska mother whose daughter was sexually assaulted while in the care of Lincoln Public Schools said Thursday a veto of legislation meant for more accountability came as “a gut punch.”

Taylor Woods of Lincoln, center, awaits the final vote on LB 25 in the 2024 legislative session. (Courtesy of Loree Woods)

For five years, Loree Woods has advocated on behalf of her daughter Taylor, who is now 27, after she was sexually assaulted on Oct. 10, 2016, by another student in LPS’s Vocational Opportunity in Community Experience program. VOICE is designed to prepare students with disabilities, primarily those ages 18 to 21, gain skills for a positive transition into adulthood.

Woods said Thursday that as a parent of a child with special needs — severe speech impairment and mild to moderate intellectual disability — she knows to plan for years ahead, but she couldn’t prepare for when Taylor Woods’ future would be “completely shattered.”

That day in 2016, the LPS program was down one para educator who was taking vacation time, Loree Woods explained, leaving one of three groups of students without supervision.

Four students went up to the 13th floor of Abel Hall on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including Taylor and a male student who Loree Woods said had a history of inappropriate touching.

She said that the LPS program was supposed to bring her daughter independence but that Taylor’s life is now defined by trauma and fear since the assault.

“If you could live in her head for one day, you would not want to be a part of that,” Loree Woods said.

‘We were so close’

Gov. Jim Pillen on Wednesday vetoed Legislative Bill 25, brought by State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha. The legislation was originally sponsored by State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings last year in the form of LB 341. The law would have allowed families, such as Loree and Taylor Woods, to sue political subdivisions, such as school districts, if employees failed to protect children in their care.

State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln (right) embraces Taylor Woods of Lincoln. April 18, 2024. (Courtesy of Loree Woods)

The sexual assault or abuse would have needed to be a “proximate result” of the subdivision’s failure or an employee’s failure to exercise “reasonable care” for a child in its custody. Such lawsuits are already allowed for private businesses and schools, and remedies against public entities would have been capped at up to $1 million under LB 25.

Former State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha introduced the first form of such legislation in 2021 with the Woods family, following the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision in Moser v. State of Nebraska that limited certain lawsuits in cases of alleged negligence.

The Woods family was scheduled for a court date just weeks after that court decision came.

“We were so close,” Loree Woods said, noting her daughter would not have benefited from LB 25 due to her age.

A cost to taxpayers

Pillen in a Wednesday letter said that LB 25 was “overly broad” because it applied to various subdivisions and that it would pass off costs to taxpayers.

“We must hold perpetrators accountable and protect children from abuse by enforcing the criminal laws that exist and by targeting the wrongdoer,” Pillen said. “Taxpayers should not bear this burden.”

Taylor Woods (center) smiles after the final passage of LB 25. April 18, 2024. (Courtesy of Loree Woods)

Laura Strimple, a spokesperson for Pillen, said Thursday that the governor is dedicated to holding perpetrators against children accountable to the greatest extent possible. She said that several criminal and civil remedies are available and that Pillen will fight “soft-on-crime efforts to water down those protections.”

“The bill does nothing to protect kids and instead opens the floodgates to trial lawyers and potentially frivolous lawsuits,” Strimple said in an email.

Wayne and Conrad, both lawyers, have said attorneys have an ethical duty against “frivolous lawsuits” and that lawsuit rewards would support therapy or other survivors’ needs.

State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, who hosted an informal news conference in her office Thursday with Loree Woods and reporters, said LB 25 sought to strike a new balance in favor of families and children who have faced government harm yet they continued to face an “uphill battle.”

She said Pillen and other opponents should open their hearts and minds and realize the legislation isn’t political but common sense for Nebraskans such as the Woods family.

“They’re doing everything right,” Conrad said. “They’re playing by the rules. They’re raising their families. They’re working hard. All of a sudden something terrible happens to their family and because there was a government entity involved, they can’t get access to justice.”

Wayne similarly said Pillen chose “the shadow of bureaucracy over justice for children.”

State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha. Feb. 23, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Strimple said Pillen has received an outpouring of support and gratitude since his veto for protecting taxpayers, such as from local officials, business leaders and conservative senators. 

She did not answer whether Pillen would be willing to meet with survivors or other advocates behind LB 25 and similar legislation, including the Woods family.

Responsibility of ‘red flags’

The Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys, which includes attorneys statewide who have represented children and families in such cases, said in a statement that it is often too easy for school administrators to “ignore red flags.”

Instead, the association continued, the proposal “would have protected children on the front end, by incentivizing school administrators to avoid liability on the back end.”

“As long as the government has no accountability for Nebraska children in its care, we, as Nebraskans, will fail to live up to our own proclaimed values,” the association said. “Governor Pillen’s veto of LB 25 makes Nebraska less safe for our children.”

Loree Woods (left) joined with State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln for an informal news conference in Conrad’s legislative office. April 25, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Loree Woods said it hurts her heart to hear Pillen’s argument about taxes, saying that viewpoint values taxation over a person’s life. In the ideal world, she added, the lawsuits would also never come because there wouldn’t be negligence, she added.

When the veto was announced, Loree Woods said she and her husband were in disbelief.

“This can’t continue to happen, and our kids deserve a voice,” she said.

Veto ‘will not be the last word’

LB 25 passed 28-17 on the final legislative day of the session, April 18. Because lawmakers have adjourned, they have no chance to override Pillen’s veto.

Conrad said that adds “salt to the wound” but said one thing is clear: The fight isn’t over.

“The governor’s exercise with his veto pen will not be the last word on this topic,” Conrad said.

Loree Woods said she and Taylor thought they could stop fighting and heal, and while they found the veto timing “soul crushing,” she said the family will return in 2025.

“We’ll just continue to have the sleepless nights and we’ll work through our problems until we have an opportunity to meet the governor, which I know she would be all in for as well,” Loree Woods said of Taylor. “We can talk about what it’s really like to be a victim and how we need to do better.”

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