Agriculture proposal amended, advanced

A bill that would make several changes to the Nebraska Pure Food Act earned first-round approval from lawmakers March 14.

LB245, as introduced by Niobrara Sen. Barry DeKay, would harmonize the Nebraska Pure Food Act with provisions of the 2022 federal Food Code. Among other technical changes, the bill also would:
• revise the definition of a food establishment to remove operations that deliver only;
• change the definition of single-event food vendor from those operating at only one annual event lasting no more than two days to one lasting no more than four days; and
• specify that third-party commercial food services used by institutional entities to provide food service to residents and patrons are subject to permit and fee requirements even if the institutional entity is exempt.

DeKay said the Food Code, authored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, includes regulations on sanitation, storage, preparation, serving and presentation of foods to mitigate risks of foodborne illness from foods sold or served by commercial food establishments. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture carries out an inspection program to enforce those regulations, he said.

“The department’s pure food inspection program is currently supported by a combination of cash funds generated by [inspection] fees and general funds, which is roughly a 50/50 split,” DeKay said.

LB245, as introduced, would establish a new schedule of statutory maximum fees that could be charged across all permit categories. DeKay said the intent was to move the inspection program to being fully cash funded through inspection fees.

An Agriculture Committee amendment would replace the new statutory maximum fees outlined in the bill, however, and instead offer a revised fee schedule that DeKay said would be sufficient to continue funding the inspection program at the current ratio of cash and general funds.

The new fees would be in effect for annual fees that are due on Aug. 1, 2025.

DeKay said current statutory fee caps were put in place in 2012 and while fees have been adjusted periodically by the department, they are now at the statutory maximum.

“The fee increase in the amendment is necessary to maintain the status quo,” DeKay said, adding that the new statutory caps are based on an assumption of 3% annual growth in the cost to carry out the inspection program and should not need to be revisited for at least 10 years.

The committee amendment also would add revised provisions of LB394, also sponsored by DeKay. Those provisions would incorporate the latest National Conference on Weights and Measures publications as standards enforced under the Weights and Measures Act.

Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh filed a series of motions on the bill to extend debate before eventually signaling her support.

Following the 39-0 adoption of the committee amendment, lawmakers voted 43-0 to advance the bill to select file.