HB 119 Second Beef Check Off
Tell Legislators to Vote No
on HB 119:
Second beef check-off in the works
Send HB 119 back to the drawing board
Now transmitted to the Senate
HB 119 will now be sent to the Senate where it will go through the hearing process again.
We encourage you to begin outreach to your state senator now and let them know you oppose HB 119 – Establish a MT Cattle Committee
Let legislators know HB 119 – Establish the Montana Cattle Committee – needs to go back to the drawing board because it’s unclear how the additional assessment fee would benefit producers.
What the bill does: Provides for a politically appointed committee that would collect an assessment fee of $1 from Montana Cattle producers upon a referendum vote.
Montana Farmers Union opposed the bill in committee.
Concern 1: Unclear what goals this 2nd dollar would achieve that can’t be achieved by the current beef check off.
a. Montana feeder calves already get a premium over other states in the market.
b. The breed associations already promote their own breeders’ cattle
c. We could allocate funds to the MT Beef Council and instruct them to use it at our land grant university for research.
Concern 2: If additional funding is truly needed for the purposes outlined in the bill, we should allow the current MT Beef Council to administer it with clearly defined parameters.
a. This cattle committee is duplicating administration done by the MT Beef Council. 40% of Montana’s share of the checkoff dollar covers the cost of administration.
b. It would be more efficient than two different committees basically doing the same thing.
Concern 3: The Montana Beef Council (which predates the national beef checkoff) represents the industry better than what is proposed in HB 119, which asks for a politically appointed committee with no districts or representation requirements. This committee is not wholly representative of the cattle industry. We would like to see Cattle Committee expansion to 11 reps, and in addition to the organizations listed in the bill to provide nominees it should also include Intertribal Agriculture Council, Montana Meat Processors, Montana Feeders Association. Further, the Governor should appoint one rep from each nominating orgs outlined in the bill and those listed above and one at-large member
Concern 4: The referendum vote needs some requirements and clarifications. This bill only has a majority vote requirement.
- There should be vote threshold – a 40% voter turnout threshold to be a valid referendum (this is how MT Law currently governs bond and levy votes)
- There should be a time limit on the first referendum voting period — if the threshold is not met in 30 days it fails.
- Redo the referendum every 5 years to ensure it is still what producers want
Concern 5: A problem many Montana livestock producers have with the current checkoff is the majority of the funds end up with the National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA). Even though checkoff dollars are not to be used for lobbying purposes, the NCBA lobbies on behalf of the packers. The funds from the cattle committee could also be sent to the NCBA. There should be a restriction in place to prevent funds from going to the NCBA. Local, tribal, or state organizations or agencies should be contracted/cooperated with to do the work the cattle committee intends to promote
Concern 6: The bill currently says producers need to request a refund within 45 days of the sale of the cattle. This is cumbersome for cattle producers. There should be an annual refund of the assessment for producers who would like to request the refund.
Concern 7: Currently the bill does not include informational statements to ensure voters of the referendum are informed. The ballots mailed out for the referendum need to include proponent and opponent information statements (like Montana ballot initiatives that voters consider).
Concern 8: Of the 19 other states that have a second beef-check off, Montana would be the only state with an additional committee to manage a second beef check-off. If HB 119 passes, Montana would be the only state to unnecessarily create a second bureaucracy which would be fiscally irresponsible to create two separate councils that do the same thing
Tell Legislators to Vote No
on HB 119
Email, Call, or Comment Online
- Email members of the committee and ask them to support or not support the specific bill.
- Call (406) 444-4800 to reach the Information Desk to leave a message to the appointed committee and ask them to support or not support the specific bill.
- Comment online by setting up a public participation account here to submit a comment online or send a message letting the committee know your concerns with the bill and ask them to support or not support the specific bill.