Brand bill passes general file

After hours of debate, Nebraska Sen. Teresa Ibach’s (R-44) bill LB646, Exempting feedlots from the Nebraska Brand Act, which makes significant changes to the fees for brand and electronic inspections and exempting dairy cattle, passed the general file on April 2 with a 26-to-two vote. Nineteen senators did not vote.

According to the bill, beginning on Jan. 1, 2026, fees could increase to $1.50 per head for cow/calf producers, while registered feedlots (RFL) would pay an initial registration fee of $1,000 and an annual renewal fee of $1,000 – a reduction of over 90 percent from their current fees. 

Additionally, the bill would require exempt feedlots to maintain any brand inspection paperwork arriving with the cattle and other paperwork accompanying cattle originating from outside of the inspection area.

The bill also calls for brand committee employees to audit the paperwork four times per year until 2029, but audits would sunset. Then, going forward, no third-party verification of brand inspection paperwork would occur unless probable cause for an audit exists.

Currently, Nebraska feedlots within the inspection area can apply for RFL status, allowing them flexibility to ship cattle to a terminal market without an inspection as long as the cattle are inspected and proper records are maintained and audited.

Debate

During the general file, Ibach explained she is open to additional amendments to her priority bill regarding the language of the fee structure and other technical issues lawmakers might have, as the bill faced opposition from State Nebraska Sen. Tanya Storer (R-43) who proposed an amendment to essentially kill the bill, but the effort failed.

On the floor, Storer expressed concerns about lawmakers making an uninformed decision about the agency responsible for investigating cattle theft and verifying ownership through branding when cattle are bought, sold or moved in and out of the brand zone established by state law, which essentially covers the western two-thirds of the state. 

She also mentioned the agency could not fund itself after the change, as the bills fiscal note reports the Nebraska Brand Committee is funded entirely through fees and not by taxpayers, and if the bill passes, the committee would lose $1.6 million annually – roughly 25 percent of its operating budget.

“This is a major technical change to Nebraska’s Brand Act which addresses oversight and law enforcement for our number one cash commodity,” Storer explained. “Cattle are an essential economic engine for the state.”

Ibach replied, “The current system is unfair to rural feedlots which are huge economic drivers in rural communities.”

She said feedlots in the brand inspection area pay annual capacity fees projected to total nearly $1 million in 2025 to address a problem she suggested does not exist.

Ibach offered an amendment, adopted in a 31-to-two vote, which she said was the result of negotiations with interested parties and would replace a pending Agriculture Committee amendment.

Amendment

Ibach’s amendment would require a $1,000 fee to operate a RFL in Nebraska and increase the cap on the physical and electronic inspection fee the Brand Committee may charge from $1.10 to $1.50 per head.

It would also allow for new inspection exemptions for cattle who are transferred to the care of another individual without transfer of ownership if proof of temporary possession is established while being transferred to or from a qualified dairy, transferred to an affiliated grow yard from an inspected RFL under certain conditions and transferred from an affiliated grow yard to an RFL under certain conditions.

Ibach reported the amendment would level the playing field for Nebraska dairies and would maintain the integrity of the state’s cattle inspection framework.

“I think this is good legislation,” Ibach said. “This will be a good thing going forward.”

However, Storer opposed the amendment, expressing concerns about senators making changes to how the Brand Committee functions without a full understanding of the industry and the issues.

Storer also raised concerns regarding the Brand Committee’s ability to carry out its duties under the amendment’s new fee structure, mentioning a feedlot with a 50,000 head capacity currently pays one dollar per head, or $50,000 per year, and under the amendment, it would change to an annual fee of $1,000.

“This is a drastic change in the funding structure of this committee,” Storer added.

She offered an amendment to instead require the Nebraska Brand Committee to develop a report recommending updates to fees and inspections in all aspects of the livestock industry which would be delivered to the legislature no later than Dec. 31. However, the amendment failed on a vote of nine to 14.

During the floor debate, Nebraska State Sen. Mike Jacobson (R-42) agreed the “wholesale changes” in Ibach’s amendment would be a “big shock to the system” for the Brand Committee.

Debates over the future direction of the Brand Committee have hindered lawmakers in the past, but Nebraska State Sen. Ben Hansen (R-16) mentioned the cattle industry is too important to Nebraska’s economy to fail and they need to find a solution all parties can live with.

“I’ve listened to the same argument every year for seven years,” Hansen said. “It is time we act.”

Ibach reiterated she is open to further changes to the fee structure, as well as amendments needed to address technical concerns with the measure and mentioned if an agreement could not be reached, she would not ask for the bill to be scheduled for second-round debate.

However, following the 26-to-three adoption of the committee amendment, lawmakers advanced the bill to select file on a vote of 26 to two. 

Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.