North Dakota court strikes down Beef Commission nomination process

A North Dakota district court has ruled that the state’s process for nominating six of the nine members of the North Dakota Beef Commission is unconstitutional. In a decision issued October 23, District Judge Jackson J. Lofgren found that the Beef Commission Act granted special privileges to specific agricultural organizations by requiring the governor to select nominees only from lists provided by four named entities: the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association Feeder Council, the Milk Producers Association of North Dakota, and the North Dakota Livestock Marketing Association.

The court determined that naming these specific organizations in state law created an advantage unavailable to other groups, violating the North Dakota Constitution’s prohibition on special privileges. Judge Lofgren noted that it is “unreasonable for the legislature to name the entities instead of setting criteria for eligible entities to meet.”

Following the ruling, the governor may appoint commission members directly and may continue to accept recommendations from the named organizations as well as other groups. While the nomination process was struck down, the court upheld the state’s beef checkoff program and the Beef Promotion Act, maintaining the requirement that $2 per head of cattle sold in the state be collected for promotion and research.