Cattle Committee’s Checkoff Bill Tabled

A Montana beef marketing bill that caused waves in the agricultural community and would have created the Montana Cattle Committee was tabled in Senate committee on Tuesday, April 1.

House Bill 119, brought by House Speaker Brandon Ler, R-Savage, would have created a program to market Montana beef, called a checkoff. The United States Department of Agriculture’s “Got Milk” campaign is perhaps the most famous example of a “checkoff” program.

The bill sought to create a “favorable environment” for cattle producers in Montana to market their product both domestically and internationally.

Part of the debate was an additional tax on beef cattle, which opponents said would add up for producers, who didn’t want to be paying to help market their competitors’ products.

Proponents of the bill have said the program would have benefited cattle producers across the state.

There was a small amendment to the bill that would have required the governor to appoint members of the Cattle Committee.

One member of the Senate Agriculture committee, Sen. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, said he was a supporter of the bill until the Senate hearing. He voted no both on the amendment and the bill itself.

“Ag leaders that I know (and) have worked with, were opposed to this,” Lenz said in the hearing. “I feel like this bill needs a lot of work.”

The bill passed the House 52-47 before the Senate ag committee tabled it in a 7-4 vote. Sens. Bruce Gillespie, R-Ethridge; Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls, Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman and Mike Yakawich, R-Billings voted against tabling the bill.