Congratulations to anti-NAIS activists in Nebraska! On Tuesday, February 12, 2008, Nebraska became the second state to restrict its state to a voluntary national animal identification program (Arizona was the first, in 2007). The bill, LB 632, was sponsored by Senator Dierks and signed into law by Governor Heineman. Prior to this bill's passage, Nebraska law allowed the state to participate in a national animal identification program, including mandatory programs. In addition to limiting the state to a voluntary program, the bill requires the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to establish a method for people to withdraw from premises registration.
This is a great step for Nebraska and the entire anti-NAIS movement! Limiting the program to a voluntary one is just the first step, but it's an important one. Hopefully, additional bills can be adopted in the future to guard against coercion being used to force people into a facially "voluntary" program, such as through service providers forcing NAIS on their customers, and to stop the government funding. The Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska wrote an excellent letter about the pressure to push people into NAIS: http://www.independentcattlemen.com/premises.htm
We're still waiting for the House members of the conference committee for the Farm Bill to be named. We'll send out an alert as soon as they are named. You can see the last alert, with contact information for the Senate members and the likely House members, at http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/action-2-7-08
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Contact Information
Liberty Ark Supporters: The Liberty Ark website is in the process of being rebuilt on the new servers. You can continue to contact the Coalition by emailing one of the Steering Committee members, Karin Bergener, at bergener@config.com or calling her at 330-298-0065. FARFA List: As always, you can reach us at info@farmandranchfreedom.org or 866-687-6452 with any questions.
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