Article 21: Special Proceedings and Actions · Last amended 1998 · Last verified July 22, 2026
Laws 1998, LB 395, § 7.
Section 25-21,260 opens the path to the civil-penalty protection that section 25-21,261 provides. A person who performed a voluntary self-evaluation may disclose, in writing, a possible violation of an environmental requirement to the agency that regulates it. The disclosure has to include three things: a description of the possible violation; the date it was discovered and, if known, the date it occurred; and the actions taken to correct it, along with a schedule to reach compliance if one applies.
Nothing in this section obligates a person to make the disclosure — it is framed as something the person “may” do. But making it, and making it correctly, is the doorway to the protection in the next section. A disclosure missing one of the three required elements, or one that does not arise from a genuine voluntary self-evaluation as section 25-21,255 defines that term, will not support the civil-penalty relief that follows.
A description of the possible violation, the date it was discovered and, if known, the date it occurred, and the actions taken to correct it along with any schedule to achieve compliance.
A person who performed a voluntary self-evaluation and discovered a possible violation of an environmental requirement through that evaluation.
No. This section only describes how to make the disclosure. Whether the disclosure protects the person from civil penalties depends on the conditions in section 25-21,261, including a sixty-day timing requirement.
This section does not itself set a deadline, but section 25-21,261 conditions the civil-penalty protection on disclosure within sixty days after the person learned of the information disclosed.
The section states a person “may” disclose, making it a choice rather than a mandatory obligation, though choosing not to disclose forgoes the protection section 25-21,261 offers.