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LINCOLN — While Nebraska state lawmakers are trying to balance the budget, Niobrara State Sen. Barry DeKay held an Agriculture Committee hearing on an amendment to his Legislative Bill 1187 that would change the makeup of the state’s Brand Committee.
The Brand Committee investigates cattle theft and verifies ownership through brand inspection when cattle are bought, sold or moved within or beyond the branding zone or area set in state law. Nebraska’s brand law applies mandatory inspections to cattle owners in the western two-thirds of the state.
DeKay’s bill is a competing proposal to one introduced by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, which would make brand inspection voluntary statewide and eliminate the Brand Committee. Hansen’s proposal has faced staunch opposition from the Nebraska Republican Party and others.
The latest amendment from DeKay, AM2503, would replace all of his original bill, LB 1187. The earlier version focused on increasing certain brand inspection fees to fund the Brand Committee, a measure many attendees of a hearing earlier this session supported.
Every testifier opposed the amendment Thursday, as rural areas in the state deal with wildfires. No one showed up to support the change.
“The people have given up that you have ears … you’re not listening,” said Trent Loos, a Sherman County resident, former candidate for public office and rural political podcaster, in his testimony to the Ag Committee.
If the amendment is approved, it would keep the adjustments to the inspection fees for the brand committee, but it would increase the number of people on the Brand Committee from five to seven members.
It also would change the makeup of the committee to make sure it includes three people active in the cattle industry, one from each Brand Committee district. And also, “two owners or operators of a cattle feeding operation…one owner or operator of a livestock auction market that primarily sells cattle,” plus one “purebred cattle breeder.”
Many testifiers opposed the changes because some felt they might give the governor too much power over the committee by letting him remove members and that it could make the brand system more “bureaucratic.” Others opposed the fee increases.
State Sen. Jared Storm of David City pushed back on Loos’ comments saying, “I absolutely think this amendment and this bill is the best thing for the cattle industry.”
“I’m not bought by anybody … That’s why I put up with this for two years,” Storm said.
Loos alluded to lawmakers trying to serve their “donors,” comments that drew pushback from some lawmakers at the hearing. He has focused much of his criticism on members of the Ag Committee.
Currently, the governor appoints members to the state Brand Committee.
The amendment would make the governor and the Legislature sign off on the Brand Committee’s choice for its executive director. Also, it would allow the governor to remove a member for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, failure to maintain the qualifications for the position for which appointed, or misconduct in office.”
During an earlier hearing, DeKay’s original bill received a lot of support from people who opposed a competing proposal from Hansen. The Ag Committee took no immediate action on DeKay’s bill.
