A group of independent ranchers has expanded its lawsuit against the federal beef checkoff to include 13 more states, arguing that the checkoff violates the First Amendment by requiring ranchers to fund the “private speech” of state beef councils.
The Ranchers-Cattlemen Legal Action Fund (R-CALF) filed a supplementary pleading on August 9 that expands its existing lawsuit against Montana’s beef checkoff program to include beef checkoff programs in Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The suit would require state checkoffs to receive “affirmative consent” from ranchers to use their money for state beef promotions. In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in R-CALF’s favor to uphold a lower court’s injunction against the collection of the Montana state beef checkoff.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the federal beef lobby, said in a statement that R-CALF’s expanded suit is “nothing more than an attempt to broaden the damage they have caused in Montana.” The group says it will “stand with the state beef councils and help defend them against the attacks being orchestrated by R-CALF and its activist allies, who are aligned with the Humane Society of the United States and other anti-agriculture organizations.”
The federal beef checkoff collects one dollar for each head of cattle sold in the U.S., and funnels the money toward beef marketing, promotion, and research. Half of the federal funds are reallocated to state beef councils, which administer promotion and marketing activities on the local level.
R-CALF argues that those state beef councils are private entities engaged in private speech that is not overseen by the government, and therefore compelling ranchers to fund their promotional activities is a violation of the First Amendment. A 2005 Supreme Court ruling found that checkoffs must be overseen by the federal government to qualify as “public speech.”
Checkoff critics have also noted that some state beef councils seem to violate regulations requiring a firewall between beef councils and lobbying activity. In Ohio, for instance, the beef council shares a phone number, staff, and address with the state’s beef lobby, the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association.