Nebraska Window Tint Limits: 35% Front, 20% Rear, 35% Reflectance

The governing provision is Neb. Rev. Stat. 60-6,257, which makes it unlawful to drive a motor vehicle required to be registered in Nebraska on a highway under five separate conditions. Subdivision (1)(c) sets the front side window rule: the glass may not carry sunscreening or other transparent material with luminous reflectance of more than thirty-five percent or light transmission of less than thirty-five percent. Subdivision (1)(d) sets the rear rule at the same thirty-five percent reflectance ceiling but drops the transmission floor to twenty percent, and then carves out the rear window and the side windows behind the front seat on a multipurpose vehicle, van or bus. Subsection (2)(g) defines a multipurpose vehicle as one designed to carry ten or fewer passengers that is built on a truck chassis or has special features for occasional off-road use, so a body-on-frame SUV reaches that carve-out while an ordinary sedan does not.

Nebraska writes both halves of the standard, which most tint charts omit. Subsection (2)(d) defines light transmission as the ratio of total light allowed to pass through the material, and (2)(e) defines luminous reflectance as the ratio of total light reflected outward. A mirrored film that passes the thirty-five percent transmission test can still fail the thirty-five percent reflectance test, and both figures sit in the same subdivision.

The windshield is governed separately by subdivision (1)(b). Any sunscreening material below the AS-1 line must be clear and transparent, and material above that line may not be red, yellow or amber. Subsection (2)(a) fixes the AS-1 line as the line running from the letters AS-1 found on most windshields, or a line five inches below and parallel to the top of the windshield, whichever is closer to the top. Subdivision (1)(a) adds an independent catch-all reaching tint that reduces the driver's clear view or substantially impairs the ability to see into the vehicle, so an officer can charge appearance alone without a meter reading. Subdivision (1)(e) requires the windows of a camper, motor home, pickup cover or slide-in camper to meet the federal safety glazing standard at 49 C.F.R. 571.205. Section 60-6,261 then exempts the side and rear windows of funeral coaches and hearses operated in the normal course of business by a funeral establishment licensed under section 38-1419 from sections 60-6,257 through 60-6,259.

A medical or security waiver exists. Under section 60-6,260 the Nebraska State Patrol or a local law enforcement agency may waive the standards for reasons of safety or security or for medical reasons based on an affidavit signed by a licensed physician. The waiver must be written and must carry the date issued, the vehicle identification number or registration number, the owner's name, the reason, the effective dates and the signature of the head of the granting agency, and the agency keeps a copy until it expires.

A separate section, 60-6,255(2), bars any sign, poster or other nontransparent material on the windshield, side wing vents or side or rear windows other than a certificate or paper the law requires to be displayed, while permitting a visor or shade device that is easily moved aside or removable and does not impair the driver's field of vision.

An owner or operator who drives in violation of section 60-6,257 is guilty of a Class V misdemeanor under section 60-6,258, which section 28-106 caps at a one hundred dollar fine with no imprisonment. The installer is treated more seriously: under section 60-6,259 anyone who applies sunscreening or glass-plastic glazing material so that the resulting window violates subsection (1) of section 60-6,257 commits a Class III misdemeanor, carrying up to three months imprisonment or a five hundred dollar fine or both. A tint conviction is not itemized in the point schedule at section 60-4,182, so it falls into subdivision (17), all other reportable traffic violations, at one point; twelve points inside two years triggers summary revocation of the operator's license and a mandatory four-hour driver improvement course under section 60-4,183.

Enforcement is roadside, not lane-based. Section 60-683(4) lets a uniformed peace officer require a driver to stop and exhibit the operator's license and registration certificate, submit to an inspection of the vehicle, and present the vehicle within five days to correct defects the officer reasonably believes violate Nebraska statutes or the rules of the Director of Motor Vehicles.