High court backs fees to fund beef promotion

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The head of the Oklahoma Beef Council is praising a US Supreme Court decision to uphold a program forcing beef producers to pay for a marketing program.<br/><br/>The court says the

Monday, May 23rd 2005, 4:40 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The head of the Oklahoma Beef Council is praising a US Supreme Court decision to uphold a program forcing beef producers to pay for a marketing program.

The court says the government is within its rights to force beef producers to pay for the multi-million dollar program with the slogan, "Beef: It's what's for dinner."

State Beef Council Executive Director Heather Buckmaster says the marketing program has helped increase demand for beef by 25 percent since 1998 and improve consumer attitudes about beef's nutritional value.

Some individual cattle producers disagreed with the campaign and sued to stop it. But the court says the beef campaign is a form of "government speech" that can't be challenged as a First Amendment violation.