Nebraska Cattlemen Announces Priorities for the Second Half of the 108th Legislative Session

LINCOLN, NE (Jan. 29, 2024) – During their annual Legislative Committee meeting, Nebraska Cattlemen (NC) selected two priority bills, LB1062 and LB1375, adopted two policy statements and took positions on over fifty pieces of legislation for the second half of the 108th Nebraska Unicameral legislative session.

“The Nebraska Cattlemen Legislative Committee is directly focused on protecting beef cattle producers and their livelihoods,” said Dick Pierce, chair of the NC Legislative Committee. He continued, “NC’s priority bills, legislative stances, and adopted statements are all in accordance with NC policy, which is carefully crafted by producers from every sector of the beef cattle industry, and we look forward to working with our state legislators to keep the Beef State thriving.”

Senator Teresa Ibach (District 44) introduced LB1062, which would alleviate the large animal veterinarian shortage by amending provisions in the Rural Health Systems and Professional Incentive Act to provide a loan repayment program for veterinarians who dedicate at least fifty percent of their practice to livestock in rural Nebraska. LB1062 would also add a veterinarian to the Rural Health Advisor Committee if enacted.

LB1375, brought forth by Senator John Lowe (District 37), aims to streamline the county zoning permitting process for livestock facilities and agricultural enterprises. This legislation would prohibit redundant conditions on an applicant and establishes a timeline by which counties have ninety days to act on a completed application. It also disallows requirement of state and federal permits as a condition for approval by the county board.

Additionally, the NC Legislative Committee adopted the following two policy statements:

1. “Nebraska Cattlemen believes Nebraska’s total combined state and local tax revenues should be equally derived from sales, income, and property tax collections and is monitoring a number of bills related to tax reform and relief. Nebraska Cattlemen supports increasing sales tax collected by broadening the base, increasing the rate, or a combination thereof so long as sales taxes are not placed on true business inputs, with the net effect being long-term reductions in property taxes. Nebraska Cattlemen further supports mechanisms that reduce, cap or limit the spending of political subdivisions.”

2. "Nebraska Cattlemen opposes agriculture land ownership or control by adversarial foreign entities and supports bills addressing this concern."