Cattle at the Nebraska State Fair on Aug 29, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers backed a revamped proposal to overhaul the state’s Brand Committee and raise cattle inspection fees using new language that several senators viewed as a “compromise.”
Niobrara State Sen. Barry DeKay’s Legislative Bill 1187 was originally focused on increasing certain brand inspection fees to fund the existing Brand Committee, but lawmakers overwhelmingly supported an amendment from the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee after the changes were tweaked by State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte.
Both amendments received only one vote against them — from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, saying she sees this as an “uneasy compromise.” Conrad, who described herself as an outsider in the branding debate, said the new language and structure seem to be a “sweetheart deal” for “Big Ag.”
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.
Ranchers and the Legislature’s Ag Committee have heard for years about disagreements between feeders and some feedlot owners inside and beyond the brand zone.
“This has been a very divisive issue,” said State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte. “I think it’s important that we take a step back, dial down the rhetoric and focus on what actually matters.”
Lawmakers voted 36-4 to move the bill through the first round of debate. State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, a rural lawmaker from north-central Nebraska who has defended the status quo, said Jacobson’s amendment isn’t perfect but makes “some meaningful modernizations of the Brand Committee” while still maintaining “strong representation on the board.”
The bill would increase the number of Brand Committee members from five to seven. There would be one member from each of the five Brand Committee districts, plus one owner or operator of a cattle feeding operation and one livestock auction market owner. Both new seats would be appointed by the governor as well. The bill still increases certain brand inspection fees and updates inspection rules.
The committee has seen a lot of proposals to address the state Branding Committee this session and in recent years, such as Legislative Bill 1258 from State Sen. Ben Hansen, of Blair, which sought to transfer the Brand Committee’s responsibilities to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and eliminate the committee. Another was DeKay’s amendment, which would have allowed 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.”
The latest version of the bill wouldn’t let the governor remove members. He appoints all of them now.
Storer said she had been told multiple times that lawmakers had to do something to update the Brand Committee, as some rural lawmakers have argued the brand law is outdated and needs to be modernized.
“This legislation is a substantial something and reflects the largest changes to Brand Law at any one time ever,” Storer said. “If this passes, we’ve done something, and we’re done.”
