THE AMA CORNER
By Larry
Schwartz
President, District III
February 1, 2003
The New York State Legislature has finally gotten
underway for real and we have a number of issues that will be taken up this
session.
Unfortunately, everyone at the legislature is up to
their ears with the bad news about money and its supply for the state. As you
all know, all localities…counties, cities, towns, villages, etc. are screaming
about the lack of revenues. School Districts say they are in crisis because of
the lack of revenue and with the cuts the Governor has proposed, it will make
things even worse. That means more local taxes and so forth.
I say all these things as a preface for what’s going to
be a very tough legislative session for any issues that don’t deal with solving
the state’s budget crisis. That includes all our issues as well. Even though
the motorcycling community is not asking for any money…in fact we’re proposing
something that would make the state more money…most legislators will simply be
concentrating on the much larger battles they face over funds for education,
health, law enforcement and the like. Everything else will be pushed to the
back burner.
So, with that in mind, here is what I’m pushing, along
with Prospector, for this legislative session.
1.
Yield the Right of Way legislation that is much tougher than the
original bill we went with the last time. That bill ran into trouble in the
State Senate. After that, we had a big meeting with representatives of both
houses including people from the Senate’s General Counsel office and came away
with a proposal for a “pilot project” that would have been weaker than the
original bill. After much consideration, none of us were satisfied with that.
So, with help from Bill Cox of Ontario County Abate, who attended the meeting,
we’ve come up with a very strong bill which will be sponsored by Senator Joe
Robach in that chamber and probably Deputy Majority Leader Ron Canestrari in the
Assembly. While there is innate opposition by legislators to raise penalties,
this year could be different because of the revenue crisis faced by the state.
One of the problems we’re facing is that our raised penalties would , in many
cases, be greater than penalties given DWI violations and some legislators have
already expressed reservations. However, Prospector and I feel we can do some
persuasive arguing about this.
2. Handlebar Height bill.
This bill would modify the present law to allow handlebars to be up to shoulder
level instead of the currently mandated 15 inches above seat level height. That
mandate is stupid on the face of it. Like everything else in life, you can’t
set a standard like that when everyone is so different in physical appearance,
height especially. What might be comfortable and safe to someone 5 feet 6
inches in height could be dangerous to someone much taller with a much greater
arm spread. Pennsylvania has repealed its handlebar height ruling as has
Minnesota while New Hampshire has modified theirs to shoulder height.
Those are the two major issues
we’ll be dealing with this year on the state level. Along with that we will
still be trying to persuade the State Thruway Authority to lower tolls on that
road for motorcycles. One State Senator has already suggested that we
re-introduce the bill that’s already been passed and vetoed just for emphasis.
The other route is to get to someone in the Governor’s office to get on the
Authority’s case and make them complete what the Governor asked them to do in
the veto---evaluate the situation with the aim of setting a lower toll for
motorcycles. So far, all the Authority has done is start an evalauation which
is little more than an excuse for the Authority to simply do nothing.
We will also have Senator
Nancy Hoffman’s bill to create Regional Motorcycle Advisory Councils back in the
hopper as well as the continued effort to restore the ATV Trails and Maintenance
Fund which has been blocked and submarined by a very powerful Environmental
lobby, at every turn.
And as you all know, we’re
still working on trying to get the helmet amendment through. We should know
within a few days whether David Gantt will remain as chairman of the Assembly
Transportation Committee. There is a lot of talk about his taking a leadership
position. That would be great for us and we might get someone in the
chairmanship who could help us…at least get the amendment bill through the
Transportation Committee. However, there is just as much talk that he will keep
Transportation and that would put the lid on any movement for the bill in the
Assembly for this session.
So, as you can see, there is
still a full plate going for us.
Just so you all know, more and
more communities are proposing noise control ordinances. I’ve talked about this
before and many of those in the motorcycling community simply would not believe
that this would become a major problem quoting that old saw—“loud pipes save
lives.” TO THE CONTRARY…LOUD PIPES RISK RIGHTS and the fact that more and more
noise restrictions are being put into place validates my argument. If you have
loud pipes, just get over it and get them modified now before we have to put up
with even more noise restrictions. It’s a worldwide problem that is not going
to go away!!
I have been asked to attend a
special meeting of politically active AMA members on February 28th in
Washington, D.C. and will do so. The goal of the meeting, which is being held
at the same time AMA is having its Washington, D.C. seminar on federal
legislation and lawmakers, is to brainstorm ideas to get more AMA members
politically active on the grassroots level. This has been a pet peeve of mine
for many years. We have LOTS of people in AMA who could get involved, but don’t
because they still have the outmoded idea that AMA national will take care of
any concerns on the local or state level. WE’RE THE ONES THAT HAVE TO TAKE ON
THE STATE AND LOCAL RESPONSIBILITIES!!! I’ll report back to you after that
meeting as to what ideas came up and what actions will be taken.
We’ll also be discussing
Political Action Committees and how AMA organizations in the various states can
get one going. PAC’s are extremely important, as I’ve emphasized many times, to
the success of efforts, especially on the state level. Our statewide PAC in New
York State might very well be used as a pilot for other AMA organizations in the
other states to model after. Our PAC has been very successful in helping us get
that access to legislative leaders that you must have to get anything done.
Speaking of that, the AMA-PAC
of New York State needs contributions. If at all possible, please PASS THE PAC
HAT at your monthly or bi-weekly meetings. This Pass the PAC Hat program is
simply the most efficient and painless way to raise money for the PAC to help us
in our efforts in Albany. Just ask your members to throw a buck or two into the
hat when it’s passed around. Then, the Club treasurer simply makes out a club
check in that sum to AMA-PAC and send it by snail mail to me at:
Larry Schwartz
Chairman, AMA-PAC
15 Dawn Drive
Glenville, New York 12302
I repeat that if all road
clubs would do this on a monthly basis, we’d have one of the healthiest and most
effective PACS in the country. Please give it a try!
We’ve also planned to have a
ride for the PAC on Sunday, September 21st of this year. We’ll be
planning a beautiful ride probably through the Helderberg Mountains of Albany
County to end with refreshments, maybe games and a lot of fun. We’ll have
plenty of publicity about this coming out in the future. Please put it on your
schedule, whether you’re District 3, 4 or 34 and see if you can make it. We’ll
guarantee you a great time.
You might be interested to
know that despite the bad economy, there is nothing wrong with the motorcycle
economy. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council which reports a tenth
straight year of increased sales and no letup in sight. New motorcycle sales are
expected to top 850,000 units, up more than 10% from last year and that means
four years of double-digit increases. That’s 2001 figures. Won’t have 2002 for
a while. Street bikes comprised 62% of sales with cruisers the top models.
Here’s one that should get
everyone’s outrage running:
A proposal was introduced in
the New Mexico Legislature by Sen. Allen Hurt a Republican from Waterflow that
would allow the havesting of organs from any motorcyclist who doesn’t wear a
helmet and is declared brain dead as a result of an accident. In other words,
some motorcyclists would be made into FORCED ORGAN DONORS. The AMA said “the
proposal represents a new low in the relationship between anti-motorcycling
government officials and riders. Classifying an entire group of citizens as
nothing more than organs to be harvested isn’t just demeaning to motorcyclists,
it’s offiensive to all Americans” said Sean Maher, AMA Director of State
Affairs.
Even if you’re not from New
Mexico or ever ride there, you should be sending a letter to New Mexico State
Senator Allen Hurt protesting his outrageous proposal. You can do this easily
by going to the StateWatch section of the AMA Rapid Response Center at
www.AMADirectlink.com There, you can send a letter to this moron and you
should consider sending a letter to the Governor of New Mexico, as well.
And finally, this—believe it
or not, Aneette Sandberg, the deputy administrator of the infamous National
Highway Traffic Safety Admnistration(NHTSA) has actually taken and passed the
MSF’s Basic Rider Course. Sandberg took the course along with six of her NHTSA
colleagues at the Prince George Community College Training Center outside
Washington, D.C.
Have I lost memory or wasn’t
it some official in NHTSA who recently said that motorcycle safety training was
a waste of time. Well…well…well….we don’t know if Ms. Sandberg’s experience
with motorcycle training will change any minds over at that agency, but one can
always hope!!
Ride safe, ride free and until
the next time…think Spring!!!
