NC Supports Senator Ibach’s Brand Bill with Amendment 829

Lincoln, Neb. (April 1, 2025) - Today, the Nebraska Cattlemen Board of Directors unanimously voted to support Senator Teresa Ibach’s (LD 44) priority bill, LB646, following her introduction of AM829, which aligns the legislation with longstanding Nebraska Cattlemen Brand and Property Rights Committee policy. In response to the introduction of AM829, Nebraska Cattlemen released the following statement:

“It is time to stop kicking the can down the road on critical brand law reforms in the state of Nebraska. The Nebraska Cattlemen Board of Directors overwhelmingly supports LB646 with the inclusion of AM829. To be clear, throughout this legislative session, Nebraska Cattlemen has never wavered from its longstanding and carefully crafted grassroots policy on brand law, which supports maintaining the integrity of brand inspection in Nebraska, modernizing inspection fees, and cutting unnecessary red tape preventing producers from efficiently moving cattle.

We thank Senator Teresa Ibach for continuously engaging with Nebraska Cattlemen’s staff and leadership to reach a compromise that will ultimately benefit every sector of the beef cattle industry. The time to act is now.”

BACKGROUND

On February 4, 2025, Nebraska Cattlemen (NC) announced its policy priorities for the first half of the 109th Legislative Session. NC stated it opposed LB646, which aimed to exempt registered feedlots from brand inspection in Nebraska as introduced. Following NC policy, the NC Board gave NC staff and leadership direction to work on amendments to strengthen the bill, modernize brand inspection in Nebraska, and set fees reflective of services provided to different sectors of the industry.

On February 11, 2025, NC President-elect, Craig Uden gave testimony before the Nebraska Unicameral Agriculture Committee, to clearly state NC’s reasons for opposing LB646 as introduced. Remarks as prepared can be found here.

On March 20, 2025, NC released a statement on LB646 AM638, stating its official position of opposition would not change without direction from the NC Board of Directors.

On April 1, 2025, following the introduction of AM829 to replace AM638, the NC Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion to support LB646 with the inclusion of AM829.