Nebraska State Register

Amend Commercial Feed Regulations. The Department is planning to use the additional funds generated by the change to replace general funds currently being used. The fee increase is primarily needed to maintain operation of the feed program at the current level over the next few years. There has been a large increase in the costs of staffing the program particularly from the rising cost of employee benefits. For example, the Department has had a 31% increase in employee health insurance costs. The fee increase would also go toward upgrades to laboratory equipment for feed testing. Additional ongoing program needs include transportation and lodging costs which have been subject to inflation. Without the fee increase, the program would need to be downsized, and services reduced.

Adopt 19 NAC 1 Manufactured-Protein Food Product Regulations. The Manufactured-Protein Food Product Regulations implement §81-2,283 of the Nebraska Pure Food Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§81-2,239 to 81-2,292. The Department is adopting these regulations to establish standards for determining when manufactured protein food is misbranded or being falsely advertised. If these regulations are not amended, the consumers will continue to potentially be mislead regarding the food products they are purchasing.

Amend 27 NAC 10 Weights and Measures Regulations

Amend 25 NAC 7 Nebraska Seed Law Regulations. The amended regulations include a list of normative plant species for which a tetrazolium (TZ) test may be used as the official test to indicate the viability of the seed pursuant to a mandatory regulatory requirement in LB91 which stated the Director of Agriculture has the duty to establish such a list by rules and regulations. The regulations also add to the species on the list of prohibited noxious weed seeds. 77?ese species were added because they are detrimental to the state and should not be sold for planting in the state. Additionally, changes were made to the regulations to reflect only the essential requirements for the seed program.