Montana committee advances new checkoff bill
In a 10-7 vote, the Montana House Agricultural Committee passed a bill to vote on creation of a new state beef/cattle checkoff and a committee to handle the funds.
This would be in addition to the current Montana Beef Council and $1 mandatory federal Beef Checkoff. The current Montana Beef Council is required by law to forward half of the federal $1 Beef Checkoff to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and determine how best to use the other half for beef promotion, research and education.
The 12-member Montana Beef Council, established in 1954 is composed of representatives chosen by Montana Stockgrowers, Montana Cattlemen’s Association, Montana CattleWomen, Livestock Auction Markets, Cattle Feeders (subsidiary of Montana Stockgrowers) Meat Packer/Processor, Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, Montana Angus Association and includes a retail representative and dairy representative.
Speaker of the House Representative Brandon Ler sponsored HB 119 that would establish a seven-member Montana Cattle Committee and set up a referendum for Montana cattle producers to vote on the creation of a new state beef checkoff.
The bill requires the governor to appoint the committee, using names suggested by seven different cattle groups – the Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana Cattlemen’s Association, Montana Farm Bureau, Montana Farmers Union, Montana Association of Livestock Auction Markets, Montana Cattlewomen and Montana Beef Council. While there would be seven groups eligible to nominate members, the board would not necessarily be composed of one representative from each organization. There is no guideline to ensure that any of the organizations are represented. It’s possible that all seven committee members would be chosen from one of Montana’s organizations.
Raylee Honeycutt, the Executive Vice President of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said her organization supports the bill.
She said if the bill passes, once the governor appoints the committee, that committee would then be charged with setting up and carrying out the referendum to see if Montana’s cattle producers support a new $1 state beef checkoff.
If producers vote the checkoff down, the statute would become void, she said.
“Montana Stockgrowers members have had policy on the books supporting the exploration and development of a state checkoff,” she said. “One thing we are optimistic about is that this is a producer-led initiative. It’s been a working group putting this together.”
“If this passes, one of the things we highlight is that Montana will be able to promote Montana beef as part of our cattle promotion and part of our beef promotion,” she said.
Walt Schweitzer, Montana Farmers Union President, from Geyser, believes the current Montana Beef Council can already do this.
His organization does not support HB 119 because they believe the appointment process politicizes the committee. They would prefer to see the current Montana Beef Council manage the funds. The Montana Farmers Union believes that if a referendum takes place, a majority of all current beef producers (around 8,700 individuals) should be required to vote in favor of creating a beef checkoff. According to the language of the current bill, if a majority of those who return their ballots vote “yes,” the checkoff will go forward.
Schweitzer added that, while the checkoff would be refundable, the refund process is clumsy, and must be completed within 45 days of sale.
Taylor Brown, a former legislator and President of Northern Ag Network, has actively lobbied in favor of the bill. He agrees that the current Montana Beef Council is prohibited from promoting Montana beef, and he supports the creation of a new committee and checkoff to do that.
Brown said this program would have more flexibility than the national checkoff and could, on occasion, even be used to support legal proceedings on issues such as property rights. He believes the program needs to be mandatory rather than voluntary because support wanes for voluntary programs, as those who finance them feel eventually that others are “riding on their coattails.”
He pointed out that producers can request a refund of checkoff dollars if they choose. He urges people to go to montanacattlecommitte.com to learn more from the proponent side of the issue.
Currently, some Beef Checkoff dollars are spent on advertising for producer communication with Northern Ag Network. Whether or not the company would request grants or funds from the state checkoff remains to be seen, he said, but he said, “I am very excited about this program’s potential to increase profitability in the Montana Cattle industry, so we’ll be supporting this industry self-help effort in any way we can.”
The Montana Cattlemen’s Association spoke in opposition to the bill and agrees with most of the Montana Farmers Union concerns.
Ken Morris, a Great Falls rancher and Montana Cattlemen’s board member and representative on the Montana Beef Council, said his group’s biggest concern is the potential for some of the major cattle groups in the state to be left out of the committee. Because the appointment process doesn’t require the governor to ensure each group is represented, he believes the process is “politicized” and not diverse enough. His organization would like to see a tribal representative, feeder and dairy representative in addition to one representative from each of the mentioned organizations.
Morris said that currently in Montana, brand inspectors are required to collect the federal checkoff and they would be given the duty to collect this state checkoff as well.
One amendment the Montana Cattlemen and Montana Farmers Union would like to see would be to require that all money be doled out to state or local organizations, excluding national organizations. Current law allows for local, state or national entities to receive the funds.
According to the bill as amended, eligible voters are those who have paid into the Montana per capita fee the previous years, but it also includes a provision for those who haven’t paid the tax to request a ballot. The Montana Cattlemen believe those who haven’t paid the tax should not be eligible to vote.
Exact bill language: “The department shall mail a ballot to cattle sellers who paid a per capita fee in the most recent collection year, or a cattle seller may request a ballot from the department.”
The state checkoff is expected to collect around $1.5 million per year.
