Beef Checkoff News

Stay Granted In Beef Checkoff

U.S. cattle producers must continue to pay the $1.00-per-head beef checkoff on each animal sold until the U.S. Justice Department can seek a Supreme Court review of a case challenging the program's constitutionality, according to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the beef-promotion program.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday approved a request that will allow the Beef Checkoff Program to continue pending Supreme Court review.

"The government's motion to stay the mandate of this court is granted pending the filing of a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court," the decision said. "The issuance of the mandate in this case shall be stayed to and including Jan. 27, 2004. If within that time there is filed with the Clerk of this court a certificate of notification by the Clerk of the Supreme Court that a petition for writ of certiorari has been filed, this stay shall continue until final disposition of the case by that court."...

Below is the Cattlemen's Beef & Promotion Board's compliance memo:

October 30, 2003
To: QSBC Execs/ Compliance Managers
From: Steve Barratt, Director, Collections Compliance, CBB
Subject: Checkoff Collections Cease

Please confirm with your collecting points that collections of the Federal beef checkoff assessment shall continue as usual.
The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of USDA, requested a stay of Judge Kornmann's decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, MN while they work on an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the stay until January 27, 2004. If a petition for writ of certiorari has been filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court during this period, this stay shall continue until final disposition of the case by The U.S. Supreme Court. This means that the mandatory collection of beef checkoff assessments will continue as usual unless the Court and USDA direct us to stop.
Please keep in mind that we will continue to pursue non-compliance cases not precluded by the terms of the ruling. Thus, anyone who fails to remit assessments collected can still be subjected to sanctions set forth by USDA.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to call (303) 850-3453 or email me at sbarratt@beef.org.