LB735 LB735
2023 2023
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 735
Introduced by Blood, 3.
Read first time January 18, 2023
Committee: Agriculture
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to the Nebraska Apiary Act; to amend section
2 81-2,165.01, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska; to provide for
3 the Department of Agriculture to create a work group relating to
4 chemical exposure to bees; to create the Nebraska Stewardship
5 Program as prescribed; to provide for a report to the Legislature;
6 to harmonize provisions; and to repeal the original section.
7 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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LB735 LB735
2023 2023
1 Section 1. Section 81-2,165.01, Reissue Revised Statutes of
2 Nebraska, is amended to read:
3 81-2,165.01 Sections 81-2,165 to 81-2,180 and section 2 of this act
4 shall be known and may be cited as the Nebraska Apiary Act.
5 Sec. 2. (1) The department shall create a work group of experts and
6 scientists from the University of Nebraska to analyze the problem of
7 chemical exposure to bees and recommend what remedial action can be taken
8 to reduce the problem of such exposure endangering and exterminating
9 apiaries in this state. The director shall work with the Nebraska State
10 Historical Society and its museum personnel who have expertise on wild
11 bees and other bee species to digitize information from the museum's
12 collections and make such information available to those interested
13 persons tracking such bee species, including the work group. The work
14 group shall submit a report to the director on its findings and
15 recommendations no later than February 1, 2024.
16 (2) The Nebraska Stewardship Program is created. The department
17 shall administer the program. As part of the program, the department
18 shall establish and maintain a mandatory beekeeping registry that
19 provides specialty crop producers and beekeepers with the ability to
20 register the location of their pesticide-sensitive sites by marking them
21 on field maps that are made available to the public by the department,
22 including by posting such maps on the department's website. No later than
23 February 1, 2024, the director shall submit a report electronically to
24 the Legislature which includes: (a) The findings and recommendations of
25 the work group, (b) the department's progress in establishing and
26 administering the program, (c) program-related costs, and (d) available
27 program funding from the State Apiary Cash Fund.
28 Sec. 3. Original section 81-2,165.01, Reissue Revised Statutes of
29 Nebraska, is repealed.
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