Revised
November, 1995
Administration: This Act is administered by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Division of Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization and Marketing, A103 Animal Science Building, UNL, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583. Telephone: (402) 472-2051.
Advisory Committee: The Department of Agriculture is advised on matters relevant to the administration of this Act by the Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization, and Marketing Committee.
Revisions: The provisions of this Act were last revised during the 1995 session of the Nebraska Legislature.
Rules: A regulation has been promulgated under this Act, known as Title 31, Chapter 1, Nebraska Administrative Code - Poultry Marketing Regulations.
2-3401 Act, how cited.
2-3402 Division of Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization,
and Marketing; created.
2-3403 Terms, defined.
2-3404 Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization,
and Marketing Committee; members.
2-3405 Committee; members; compensation.
2-3406 Committee; chairman; meetings.
2-3407 Department; powers.
2-3408 Commercially sold eggs and turkeys; fee; how
computed and assessed.
2-3409 Fees; deducted; when.
2-3410 First purchaser; deduct fees; maintain records; public
inspection; statement.
2-3411 Director; annual report; contents; public
record.
2-3412 Director; power to exempt purchasers; when; eggs
exempt from act.
2-3413 Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization,
and Marketing Fund; created; administration; department; accept funds.
2-3414 Hearing before Legislature's Committee on Agriculture;
when; purpose.
2-3415 Committee; research or development; limitation on
authority.
2-3416 Violations; penalties.
2-3401. Act, how cited. Sections 2-3401 to 2-3416
shall be known and may be cited as the Nebraska Poultry and Egg Resources Act.
2-3402. Division of Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization, and
Marketing; created. There is hereby established a Division of Poultry and Egg
Development, Utilization, and Marketing in the Department of Agriculture.
2-3403. Terms, defined. For purposes of the
Nebraska Poultry and Egg Resources Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
(2) Director shall mean the Director of Agriculture;
(3) Committee shall mean the advisory committee created by section 2-3404;
(4) Nebraska Poultry Industries, Inc. shall mean a body corporate formed
under the provisions of the Nonprofit Corporation Act, the articles of incorporation of
which were received by the Secretary of State and filed for record on January 13, 1970,
and recorded as film roll number 35, Miscellaneous Incorporations at page 2206. Its
purpose and objective is to promote, improve, and protect all branches of the poultry
and egg industry and to coordinate all the activities of its member divisions of the poultry
industry and to act as their agent in promoting such activities favorably to the poultry
industry as a whole for the entire State of Nebraska;
(5) Person shall mean any individual, firm, group of individuals, partnership,
limited liability company, corporation, unincorporated association, cooperative, or any
other entity, public or private;
(6) Egg producer shall mean any person engaged in the production of
commercial eggs who owns or contracts for the care of layer-type chickens;
(7) Turkey producer shall mean a person who owns or contracts for the care
of turkeys sold through commercial channels;
(8) First purchaser shall mean any person who receives or otherwise acquires
poultry or eggs from a producer and processes, prepares for marketing, or markets
such poultry or eggs, including the poultry or eggs of his or her own production, and
shall include a mortgagee, pledgee, lienor, or other person, public or private, having a
claim against the producer when the actual or constructive possession of such poultry
or eggs is taken as part payment or in satisfaction of such mortgage, pledge, lien, or
claim;
(9) Poultry shall mean domestic chickens and turkeys;
(10) Commercial eggs shall mean, in the case of eggs produced in this state,
eggs from domesticated chickens that are sold for human consumption either in shell
egg form or for further processing and, in the case of eggs produced outside of this
state, graded eggs sold to retailers, wholesalers, distributors, or food purveyors;
(11) Egg products shall mean commercial products produced, in whole or in
part, from shell eggs;
(12) Market development shall mean research and educational programs
which are directed toward (a) better and more efficient production, marketing, and
utilization of poultry, eggs, and the products thereof produced for resale, (b) better
methods, to include, but not be limited to, public relations and other promotion
techniques, for the maintenance of present markets and for the development of new or
larger domestic or foreign markets and for the sale of poultry, eggs, and the products
thereof, and (c) the prevention, modification, or elimination of trade barriers which
obstruct the free flow of poultry, eggs, and the products thereof to market;
(13) Commercial channels shall mean the sale of poultry, eggs, or the products
thereof for any use when sold to any commercial buyer, dealer, processor, or
cooperative or to any person who resells any poultry, eggs, or the products thereof;
(14) Case shall mean a unit of thirty dozen eggs;
(15) Breaker shall mean a person engaged in the further processing of
commercial eggs;
(16) Sale shall include any pledge or mortgage of poultry, eggs, or the products
thereof to any person;
(17) Retailer shall mean a person who sells eggs or offers eggs for sale directly
to consumers;
(18) Wholesaler or distributor shall mean a person who sells eggs to retailers,
food purveyors, other wholesalers, or other distributors; and
(19) Food purveyor shall mean a person who operates a restaurant, cafeteria,
hotel, hospital, nursing home, boarding house, school, government institution, or any
other place where eggs are served in the shell or broken out for immediate
consumption.
2-3404. Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization, and
Marketing Committee; members.
(2) The ex officio members shall be designated by the committee. Ex officio
members may include, but not be limited to:
(b) Vice chancellor, University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources;
(c) Chairperson, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Nebraska;
(d) Extension Poultry Specialist, Department of Animal Sciences, University of
Nebraska;
(e) General Manager, Nebraska Poultry Industries, Inc.; and
(f) A representative of a consumer organization.
2-3405. Committee; members; compensation.
Members of the committee shall receive no salary, but shall be paid a per diem of twenty-five
dollars for each day they are actually and necessarily engaged in the transaction of business,
together with their actual and necessary expenses incurred while on official business.
2-3406. Committee; chairman; meetings. The
President of Nebraska Poultry Industries, Inc. shall be chairman of the committee. The
committee shall meet at least once every three months and at such other times as called by the
chairman, the director, or by any three members of the committee.
2-3407. Department; powers. It is hereby declared to
be the public policy of the State of Nebraska to protect and foster the health, prosperity, and
general welfare of its people by protecting and stabilizing the poultry and egg industry
and the economy of the areas producing poultry and eggs. The department shall be the
agency of the State of Nebraska for such purpose. In connection with and in
furtherance of such policy and purpose, such department, only upon the approval of a
majority of the committee, may:
(2) Adopt and devise a program of education and publicity;
(3) Cooperate with local, state, regional, or national organizations, whether
public or private, in carrying out the purposes of the Nebraska Poultry and Egg
Resources Act and to enter into such agreements as may be necessary;
(4) Adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to
promptly and effectively enforce the act;
(5) Conduct, in addition, any other program that would enhance the image of
poultry, eggs, and the products thereof. Such programs may include, but not be limited
to, consumer education, research, information, advertising, promotion, and market
development of poultry, eggs, and the products thereof;
(6) Make refunds for overpayment of fees according to rules and regulations
adopted by the department;
(7) Appoint the head of the Division of Poultry and Egg Development,
Utilization, and Marketing and assistants as may be necessary to carry out the intent
and purposes of the act;
(8) Develop a biennial budget with fiscal year estimates of requirements to
conduct the affairs of the division;
(9) Establish annually the fees to be collected; and
(10) Establish an administrative office, suitable for the furtherance of the intent
and purposes of the act, with Nebraska Poultry Industries, Inc.
2-3408. Commercially sold eggs and turkeys; fee; how computed and
assessed.
(2) There shall be paid to the director a fee of not to exceed three cents per
turkey grown in the State of Nebraska and sold through commercial channels. The fee
shall be paid by the turkey producer and shall be collected by the first purchaser. Under
the provisions of sections 2-3401 to 2-3416, no turkeys shall be subject to the fee more
than once.
(3) The director may, subject to the approval of a majority of the members of
the advisory committee, whenever he or she determines that the fees provided by this
section are yielding more than is required to carry out the intent and purposes of
sections 2-3401 to 2-3416, reduce such fees for such period as the director shall deem
justified. In the event that the director, after reducing such fees, finds that sufficient
revenue is not being produced by such reduced fees, he or she may restore in full or in
part such fees to such rates as will in his or her judgment produce sufficient revenue to
carry out the intent and purposes of sections 2-3401 to 2-3416.
2-3409. Fees; deducted; when. The fee, provided for
by the provisions of section 2-3408, shall be deducted, as provided by sections 2-3401 to
2-3416, whether such poultry and eggs are stored in this state or any other state. Any
fees remitted to the director may be refunded by the director upon the written
application of any producer for a refund of the amount deducted by the first purchaser.
The application for refund shall be submitted to the director within sixty days from the
date of assessment of fees and shall have attached thereto proof of the fee deduction
claim by the applicant.
2-3410. First purchaser; deduct fees; maintain records; public
inspection; statement.
(2) The purchaser shall render and have on file with the department a
statement of the number of poultry or cases of eggs purchased in Nebraska in
accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated under sections 2-3401 to
2-3416. At the time the statement is filed, the purchaser shall pay and remit to the
department the fees as provided for in section 2-3408.
2-3411. Director; annual report; contents; public record.
The director shall make an annual report, at least thirty days prior to January 1 of each
year,
showing all income and expenses and any other facts relevant to sections 2-3401 to
2-3416. The report shall be available to the public.
2-3412. Director; power to exempt purchasers; when; eggs exempt
from act.
(2) Eggs utilized for the production of baby chicks shall be exempt from
sections 2-3401 to 2-3416.
2-3413. Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization, and
Marketing Fund; created; administration; department; accept funds.
(2) The department may accept grants, contributions, or other funds from any
private or federal, state, or other public source to be used to administer the Nebraska
Poultry and Egg Resources Act and to conduct programs under such act.
2-3414. Hearing before Legislature's Committee on Agriculture;
when; purpose. The director shall request a hearing by the Legislature's
Committee on Agriculture when petitioned by either fifteen percent of the egg or turkey
producers or any number of producers representing thirty percent of the eggs or turkeys
upon which fees are being collected to determine whether or not there is need to amend
or repeal sections 2-3401 to 2-3416.
2-3415. Committee; research or development; limitation on
authority.
The Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization, and Marketing Committee shall
not be authorized to set up research or development units or agencies of its own, but
shall limit its activity to cooperation and contracts with the University of Nebraska
Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and other proper local, state, regional, or
national organizations, public or private, in carrying out the purposes of sections 2-3401
to 2-3416.
2-3416. Violations; penalties. Any person violating
any of the provisions of sections 2-3401 to 2-3416 shall be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor.
(1) Department shall mean the Department of Agriculture;
(1) With the exception of the ex officio members, the duly elected directors of Nebraska
Poultry Industries, Inc. shall serve as an advisory committee to be known as the
Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development, Utilization, and Marketing Committee who
shall advise the director on matters relevant to the poultry and egg industry.
(a) The director;
(1) Formulate the general policies and programs of the State of Nebraska
respecting the discovery, promotion, and development of markets and industries for the
utilization of poultry, eggs, and the products thereof;
(1) There shall be paid to the director a fee of not to exceed five cents per
case upon all commercial eggs sold through commercial channels to carry out the intent
and purposes of sections 2-3401 to 2-3416. The fee for commercial eggs produced in
this state shall be paid by the egg producer who owns the eggs and shall be collected
and remitted to the director by the first purchaser. The fee for commercial eggs
produced outside of this state and sold in this state to retailers, wholesalers, distributors,
or food purveyors shall be paid to the director by the person importing such eggs into
the state. Under the provisions of sections 2-3401 to 2-3416, no eggs shall be subject
to the fee more than once.
(1) The first purchaser, at the time of settlement, shall deduct the poultry and egg fees
as provided in section 2-3408 and shall maintain records as specified in the rules and
regulations promulgated under sections 2-3401 to 2-3416. Such records shall be open
for inspection and audit by authorized representatives of the department during normal
business hours observed by the purchaser.
(1) The director may exempt from the provisions of section 2-3408 and
subsection (2) of section 2-3410 first purchasers whose annual average weekly volume
is less than twenty-five thirty-dozen cases per week whenever the administrative cost of
collecting and processing the fees received from such sources exceeds the amount of
income derived therefrom.
(1) The State Treasurer is hereby directed to establish in the treasury of the
State of Nebraska a fund to be known as the Nebraska Poultry and Egg Development,
Utilization, and Marketing Fund, to which shall be credited all fees collected by the
department pursuant to the Nebraska Poultry and Egg Resources Act. After
appropriation, the Director of Administrative Services shall, upon receipt of proper
vouchers approved by the director, issue warrants on such fund including refund
payments authorized by section 2-3409 and the State Treasurer shall pay the warrants
out of the money credited to such fund. Any money in the fund available for investment
shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital
Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.