The coronavirus pandemic greatly disrupted our food supply. Outbreaks impeded work at many regional packing plants. When big plants reduced line speed, backing up finished livestock on the farm, beef and pork producers turned to local processors to fill the void. This created a bottleneck at every local meat locker plant in the state. They simply did not have the capacity or equipment to keep up with demand. Small- and mid-sized livestock producers are struggling as a result. Before the pandemic, a typical producer scheduled locker dates 4-6 weeks in advance. Now, the wait time can be twelve to twenty four months. This means reservations must be made often before the animal is even born. 

With that in mind, last year I introduced LB324, which included the creation of the Independent Processors Assistance Program to provide grants for small- and mid-sized meat producers, and was passed by the Legislature and signed into law. There was no funding allocated for the program at that time and I have been working for a year on securing funds to help our struggling meat lockers. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provides funding for industries impacted by covid-19 and presents a funding opportunity.

The State of Nebraska is receiving over one billion dollars from ARPA. On January 25th, a hearing was held on LB1014, which is Governor Ricketts’ proposal for ARPA appropriations. I was honored and excited to see that almost ten million dollars was included in his proposal, introduced by Speaker Mike Hilgers, for the Independent Processors Assistance Program for small and medium processors. The full bill will be debated on the floor of the Legislature in the coming weeks and I am happy to have the support of the funding for meat processors from Nebraska’s agricultural groups, including the Center for Rural Affairs and the Nebraska Cattlemen. 

My bill LB755 formalizes this ARPA funding request, which I introduced on the first day of new bill introduction in early January. Technically, the bill appropriates $10 million to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture which would go into the Independent Processors Assistance Program for grants for small and medium meat processors. The hearing for this bill will be held on Wednesday, February 9th at 1:30pm in the Appropriations Committee and I look forward to hearing from meat processors and how this funding will help them. I believe this ten million dollars is an excellent use of ARPA funds to help the meat industry, my district and meat eaters everywhere.

I had introduced another bill, LB757, on harvest overweight permits and later withdrew it after further consultations with the affected constituent, Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and Nebraska State Patrol Carrier Enforcement Division. This was a win-win-win that did not require new legislation. 

To provide clarity, seasonal harvest overweight permits may be issued to carriers by the Nebraska Department of Transportation Permit Office for hauling grain or seasonally harvested products from the field where they are harvested to storage, market, or stockpile in the field for a distance up to 120 miles. These vehicles may be up to 15% greater than the maximum weight specified by law and up to 10% greater than the maximum length specified by law. If the distance is 70 miles or less, only a handwritten permit is needed, which is available to print from the State Patrol’s Truck Information guidebook, page 26. If the distance is between 70 and 120 miles, you must apply for a permit with the NDOT Permit Office and the cost is $10. For exceptions, non-residents, and more detailed information, refer to page 25 of the State Patrol’s Truck Information guidebook. The book is available online at: https://statepatrol.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/2018-19_truck_guide_full_book.pdf

If you have questions about harvest overweight permits, please let my staff know.

The 107th Legislature, Second Session has reached the end of new bill introduction. I have introduced seven new bills for the short 60-day session. I have a great crop of new bills that I am excited to work through the legislative process, which include bills to address the meth epidemic, allocate ARPA money for small meat processors, farm to school for preschools, a domestic abuse death review team and expanded eligibility for the NextGen Beginning Farmer program, among others.

I also have two bills on General File from last session: LB91, which would change the duration of native seed testing, and LB242, which would allow counties to pay for bridges on an installment plan instead of upfront.

My new bills are: 

• LB755, Appropriate federal funds for the Independent Processor Assistance Program
• LB756, Change provisions relating to properties contaminated by methamphetamine 
• LB758, Change provisions relating to the Nebraska Farm-to-School Program Act
• LB807, Change provisions relating to county historical associations
• LB866, Change inspection fees under the State Electrical Act
• LB1009, Adopt the Domestic Abuse Death Review Act
• LB1103, Change provisions of the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Act

Regarding LB755, passage of LB324 last session, which included the creation of the Independent Processors Assistance Fund, was only the beginning of my quest to address the meat supply chain shortages that occurred in 2020 due to Covid-19. The next step was finding funding for it and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding is an opportunity to allocate $10 million for Nebraska’s small processors to improve their operations.

LB1009 came out of concerns from the family of a domestic violence victim in our area. The bill would address domestic abuse-related deaths in Nebraska by creating a team based out of the Attorney General’s office to review and study domestic abuse death cases and use that data to make recommendations to prevent further deaths.

I am looking forward to a very productive session. We are doing our best to spend the state’s and Nebraska’s ARPA dollars wisely, and implement policies that my constituents and Nebraskans as a whole want, including property tax relief and rural broadband. 

From the Unicameral Update: 

Bill would expand farm-to-school program

Early childhood education programs would be included in the Nebraska farm-to-school program under a bill considered Jan. 18 by the Education Committee.

Brandt introduced LB758 to expand the law to include early childhood education programs, which he said were excluded from the original proposal inadvertently.

Lawmakers created the program in 2021 with passage of a bill sponsored by Plymouth Sen. Tom Brandt requiring the state Department of Education to administer a program to help provide locally grown and minimally processed food to elementary and secondary school students in Nebraska.

“Unfortunately, the language that we passed last year was too restrictive and the assistance could only be offered to elementary and secondary schools,” Brandt said. “LB758 corrects this oversight.”

Sara Smith, farm-to-school specialist at the state Department of Education, testified in support of the bill. A 2017 study found that only 20 percent of Nebraska early childhood programs were engaged in farm-to-school activities, she said, but 67 percent of providers indicated an interest in curriculum activates that would help them do so.

“There is potential to have a life-long impact on our communities when leveraging farm-to-school and farm-to-preschool as a pathway to advance equity [involving] food access and security,” Smith said. “Inclusion of these opportunities for our littlest eaters is critical.”

Testifying in support of LB758 on behalf of Nebraska Cattlemen and six other agricultural organizations, Marcus Urban of Lee said the bill would strengthen agricultural producers’ reach and impact on education in Nebraska.

“Farm-to-school curriculum opportunities are endless,” Marcus said. “When you’re able to connect the food a student eats to the people who raise it, you’re able to build connections beyond the school classroom walls.”

Also in support was Sara Howard of First Five Nebraska. Agricultural producers in some rural parts of the state have expressed interest in donating food to early childhood programs, she said, but providers are unclear about whether they can accept such assistance under current law. LB758 would offer needed clarity, Howard said.

No one testified against the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.

From News Channel Nebraska coverage:

[Senator Tom Brandt] wants to expand Nebraska’s new Farm-to-School-Program Act to include preschool programs.

BILL SEEKS FUNDING TO HELP SMALL MEAT PROCESSORS INCREASE CAPACITY

From the Center for Rural Affairs:

Family farms and local independent meat processors stand to benefit from a bill introduced in the Nebraska Legislature by state Sen. Tom Brandt.

“We applaud the introduction of Legislative Bill 755 (LB),” said Johnathan Hladik, policy director for the Center for Rural Affairs. “This bill follows through on a commitment made by lawmakers to eliminate a key supply chain bottleneck that threatens small businesses and family farms across Nebraska.”

“The Legislature’s support has already made it easier for consumers to purchase meat from local farmers,” Hladik said. “Now they have the opportunity to help local processors secure additional space and equipment to keep up with the heightened demand caused by interruptions at regional packing plants. Officials in 18 states, including those bordering Nebraska, have developed their own grant programs. Their experience shows that the Independent Processor Assistance Program can fix this problem.”

More coverage is available at News Channel Nebraska

The new legislative session started last week and senators are already back into the swing of things. There is no time to waste in this short, 60-day session and bill debate will pick up again this week and committee hearings start on January 18th. We will return to floor debate in the morning and committee hearings in the afternoon until the beginning of March when we will revert to all-day debate.

I am still in the process of introducing bills before the deadline of January 20th. I am looking at close to ten new bills to go along with a few bills that were introduced last session that I will continue to work on this session. If you have questions or concerns about my bills or others, you can contact my office at (402) 471-2711 or tbrandt@leg.ne.gov. You can also stay up to speed on the Legislature by subscribing to the free Unicameral Update by sending an email to uio@leg.ne.gov or calling 402-471-2788.

In other legislative news, the Legislature will once again be inviting volunteer pastors for Chaplain of the Day for the morning prayer during session, which was put on hold the last two years due to covid-19. Each district can have a couple of chaplain requests. The guidelines are: 

• issues that are pending before the Legislature may not be reviewed or discussed
• refrain from expressing political views
• the prayer should be non-denominational and no longer than two minutes  
• no remarks prior to or following the prayer are allowed

If anyone from my district would like to be Chaplain of the Day, please contact my office for more information and availability of dates.

In district news, the Village of Exeter Volunteer Fire Department was one of eight fire departments from across the country to be chosen and featured in an hour-long national documentary filmed to inspire people to serve in their communities. Exeter was the only rural fire department to be included in the documentary. The documentary will likely be ready next spring and will be available to every fire department in the country. I extend my hearty congratulations to Exeter and their fire department.

I also wanted to make you aware that Exeter had three in-town railroad crossings repaired in the last month: the main street crossing, the block west crossing, and the two blocks east of main crossing. It is now smooth driving over these tracks which is great news for our vehicles. I would like to thank BNSF for working with me and my office on this project.

Thank you for choosing me to represent you in your Nebraska State Legislature.

From News Channel Nebraska: