Tenure
Ricketts was inaugurated as the 40th governor of Nebraska at the Nebraska State Capitol on January 8, 2015.
Among the "most significant" actions the legislature took in its 2015 session were three bills that passed over Ricketts's veto. LB268 repealed the state's death penalty; LB623 reversed the state's previous policy of denying driver's licenses to people who were living illegally in the U.S. after being brought to the country as children, and who had been granted exemption from deportation under the Barack Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program; and LB610 increased the tax on gasoline to pay for repairs to roads and bridges.
After Ricketts's veto of the death-penalty repeal was overridden, capital-punishment proponents launched a petition drive to reverse the legislature's action. Their efforts gathered enough signatures to suspend the repeal until a public vote could be held. Capital-punishment opponents then filed a lawsuit arguing that the petition should be invalidated on the grounds that Ricketts, who had contributed $200,000 to the campaign, was "the primary initiating force" for the petition drive and should have been included in the list of sponsors required by Nebraska law. In February 2016, a Lancaster County district judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Ricketts's financial support of the petition effort did not ipso facto make him a sponsor. The plaintiffs appealed the issue to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which upheld the district court's dismissal. The referendum was held in the 2016 general election and the death penalty was retained with 61.2% of the vote.
In its 2016 session, the legislature passed three bills that Ricketts vetoed. LB580 would have created an independent commission of citizens to draw new district maps following censuses; supporters described it as an attempt to depoliticize the redistricting process, while Ricketts maintained that the bill delegated the legislature's constitutional duty of redistricting to "an unelected and unaccountable board". The bill's sponsor, John Murante, opted not to seek an override of the veto. A second vetoed bill, LB935, would have changed state audit procedures; it passed by a margin of 37–8, with 4 present and not voting. The bill was withdrawn without an attempt to override the veto; the state auditor agreed to work with Ricketts on a new version for the next year's session. A third bill, LB947, made DACA beneficiaries eligible for commercial and professional licenses in Nebraska. The bill passed the legislature on a vote of 33–11–5; the veto override passed 31–13–5.
At the 2016 Republican state convention, Ricketts denounced several legislators who had failed to support his and the party's positions on various bills, and called for the election of more "platform Republicans" to the officially nonpartisan legislature. In response to this, 13 legislators, including five registered Republicans, released a statement in which they accused Ricketts of placing partisanship above principle. One of the signers of the statement, Laura Ebke, changed her registration from Republican to Libertarian shortly thereafter, citing Ricketts's speech as one of the factors that drove her to make the change.
At the start of the 2018–2019 session, Ricketts highlighted various bills as his priorities. In 2018, he signed LB 1040, which created commemorative certificates of nonviable birth for miscarriages. Ricketts said the bill "affirms the pre-born baby's dignity, [and] it also provides closure to mothers, fathers, and families who are grappling with the pain and heartache of losing a child". Ricketts also signed various property and tax relief bills during the session. He vetoed LB350, which would have allowed felons to petition a court to set aside their convictions after serving their sentences.
In 2020, Ricketts signed numerous laws passed by the legislature, including property and veterans tax relief bills, dismemberment abortion bans, and flood and pandemic relief. In 2020, Ricketts made some workforce reforms, providing a new partnership between Peru State College and the Nebraska Department of Corrections, to provide a path for students to go from the classroom into the corrections workforce. He also signed an infrastructure bill, funding repair of the Gering-Fort Laramie Irrigation Canal after it collapsed in 2019.
As governor, Ricketts chaired the Nebraska Board of Pardons. In 2022, the Board, with his support, pardoned John Arias, who was convicted of violent sexual assault; the case drew attention because of the nature of the offense and because the victim was not notified of the hearing or given an opportunity to testify.
COVID-19 pandemic
In June 2020, Ricketts threatened to withhold $100 million in federal COVID-19 relief if local governments in Nebraska required people who entered courthouses and other local government offices to wear face masks. Health experts and authorities had recommended face masks as an effective way to halt the virus's spread.
In October 2021, Ricketts ordered Nebraska state agencies not to comply with the federal government's vaccine requirements for employees.
