Nebraska governor on HSUS: ‘We’re going to beat them’

The governor of Nebraska is sending a strong message to the Humane Society of the United States—if the animal rights group goes after the state’s livestock industry, it’s in for a fight.

“The Humane Society of the United States is anti-agriculture and they’re out to destroy animal agriculture—and if they want to come to Nebraska, we’re going to fight them and we’re going to beat them,” Heineman says. “Agriculture is the number one industry in this state.  It’s what makes our economy so strong.  I’m going to stand tall and this is a fight we won’t shy away from.”

In an interview with Brownfield after his speech to the Nebraska Cattlemen’s group in Kearney, Heineman made it clear that compromise is not an option.

“In Nebraska, no deal, no compromise—we’re going to stand up, we’re going to beat them,” he says. “They’d be better off going somewhere else because they’re going to lose if they stay in Nebraska.”

HSUS has recently become more active in Nebraska, hiring a state director and holding a town hall meeting in Lincoln.

Legislative Briefs…

HB 1159 – Introduced by Rep. Sal Pace (D-Pueblo), a bill (supported by CFB with conditions) that would have required mitigation to be considered when a certain amount of water is transfered from on division to another division.  HB 1159 was passed out of House Ag Committee last week but was lost on the House floor on Friday (2/5) after much discussion and numerous attempts to amend the bill.

HB 1190 – This bills suspends the sales tax exemption on energy related uses during the manufacturing process, including irrigation.  CFB officially opposes HB 1190.  This bill sailed through the Colorado House last week and was considered on 2nd reading in the Colorado Senate on Monday (2/8).

Of note, Rep. Sonnenberg was able to amend the bill to re-exempt off-road diesel used in agricultural production while the bill was considered by the House.  Late last evening, the Colorado Senate passed an amendment that would re-exempt sales tax on energy related expenses used for irrigation.  In short, with these two amendments now part of the bill, Colorado agriculture is completely re-exempt from the sales tax provision associated with HB 1190.  Specifically, the amendment added to 1190 late Monday evening is as follows: