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THE AMA CORNER-NOVEMBER 2002 By Larry Schwartz President, AMA District III
Ladies and gentlemen, there is good news this day. I am happy to announce that newly re-elected Governor George Pataki has signed our road motorcycle anti-discrimination bill. That’s Senate bill 906A and Assembly bill 706A
A few days ago, Bill McCarthy, one of the Governor’s assistant general counsels(lawyers) called me and said the Governor had on his desk our road anti discrimination measure, passed by the legislature this past session. He wanted a letter of support for the measure from me including any example of such discrimination. Well, that was the easy one, for once.
It was just several years ago that a neighborhood group in Greenwich Village, New York City attempted to have motorcycles banned from Village streets because some morons with loud pipes decided to have a noise contest sometime in the early morning hours. They went to the City Council, at the time, and complained that this was a quality of life issue and they wanted something done about it. What they didn’t know and neither did the New York City Council was that there is already a federal regulation banning such discrimination when federal funds are used to maintain roads, streets or highways. Such was the case in the Village.
With some impetus from Monroe County ABATE’s George Gorman, a bill was introduced in the New York State Assembly which would mimic the federal regulation, but have it apply to state funds. I and Bob(Prospector) Boellner lobbied on this bill for the past two sessions. I was able to get Senator John Kuhl to sponsor the bill in the State Senate. There were a few amendments along the way for specific language, but finally the bill went through this past Spring.
The bill bars any community in New York State, large or small, from banning motorcycles from any road, street or highway that uses state funds to either design, construct, operate or maintain said biway. That would cover about every street, road and highway in the state. Under the bill, you cannot be banned from any biway just because you’re on a motorcycle. It doesn’t restrict communities’ ability to control traffic, congestion or noise, but if they’re doing the noise routine, they’ll have to do it correctly, with a decibel meter.
Anyway, this is a great victory for us with a very meaningful piece of legislation. I would encourage any rights organization to go for the same kind of law in your state based on the federal regulation already on the books.
I want to thank then Assemblyman Joe Robach for introducing the bill in the Assembly and of course, Senator Kuhl for picking up the issue for us in the State Senate. Prospector and I got a lot of support for this bill as we went through the lobbying process, which as you probably know by now, can take some time with this legislature.
Now we’re going to concentrate on a Yield the Right of Way bill and some other issues. I will be setting up a meeting with the parties concerned at the legislature in the near future. Our first meeting on Yield the Right of Way ended with a tentative agreement that the bill as submitted would have to be watered down to get through. We’ve decided not to go with that. We’re going to come back at them with a strong bill and then spend whatever time it takes to persuade legislators that the penalties we’re proposing are warranted. Let’s face it. What good is a bill that in effect has no teeth in it?
I’m trying to look into the issue of medical insurance and the ability of insurance companies to DENY benefits when you’ve been hurt while riding, even though you’re paying your premiums like a good little boy or girl. Insurance committee folks at the legislature contend it’s a federal issue, since it involves a law passed by Congress in 1995, but completely turned around by the agencies when they wrote the regulations. Both the AMA and the MRF have been trying to do something about this in Washington. So far, nothing happening. We’ll have to make an appointment with the State Insurance Commissioner in Albany and explain the entire problem. Who knows; maybe there’s something to be done about this on the state level with regulations instead of legislation. However, remember that we’ll be fighting the insurance industry as a whole on this. They’re a tough bunch with a lot of money and a lot of clout. That doesn’t intimidate me or Bob one bit. We’re used to fighting from a downside position on many issues.
Prospector has not forgotten, either, the effort that we made with the State Parks Department to get admission prices to State Parks altered. As you may know, you pay per vehicle. This means that a van with up to 15 people can get in with the admission price and we have to pay the same thing with, at the most, 3 people(driver, passenger, sidecar passenger). Talk about unfair! We had one meeting with folks at the Parks Department, but haven’t had time to do much checking with them on what, if anything is going to be done about it. It would be a policy change and that’s always a big deal with state agencies.
Then, there’s the lowering of tolls on the New York State Thruway. I’ve met with them numerous times already and they were supposed to be doing an evaluation at the Governor’s behest as he set it out in his veto of the legislation we successfully got through the legislature. Personally, I don’t think they have the slightest intention of doing anything so here’s the plan. I’ll be in touch with the Governor’s office soon to make an appointment to try and get the Governor’s office to pressure the Thruway Authority do take action I’ve been able to get some information from the AMA on some technical facts that could help us in this. Only time and effort will tell whether we’ll be successful with this. The one thing we do know is that we’re not going to give up.
And no we haven’t forgotten the helmet amendment and have some new information from Florida and Massachusetts that could help us there. However, the stubborn opposition to any change in the helmet law from Assemblyman Gannt and some others will make it difficult to make any progress on it. On the other hand, Gannt, who is chairman of the powerful Assembly Transportation Committee has been very fair about our other issues and has advanced them through his committee. Listen up! If you have an issue of concern that you think warrants legislative action, you have to speak up. We can’t do anything about issues unless we know they are out there and looking for a solution. Please don’t just leave it up to Bob and me to come up with ideas for legislation. We need your help on this. If we think something will fly, then we’ll tell you that. If not, the same..you’ll be the first to know.
If you haven’t gotten to your Congressman about H.R. 5433, please get on the stick and do it. The deadline for comments to the EPA on their proposed street bike rules has been extended, fortunately. It was originally set to cut off on November 8th, but because of efforts by state State Motorcycle Rights Organizations in several states and the subsequent requests by a number of congressmen, the EPA decided to extend the public comment period a few months. Deadline is in January now. HR 5433 would counter EPA proposed rules that would end in disaster for small volume motorcycle manufacturers and the aftermarket world. The EPA proposals seek California style strict emission standards starting in 2006. It’s overregulation that has already shown a debilitating effect on motorcycle sales in California and will do the same nationwide should they put into effect as they are now. Tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs in the aftermarket area and small volume manufacturers who can’t do the R & D to comply will be out of business.
Please WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN and tell him/her to co-sponsor H.R. 5433 and tell him/her that already a number of congressmen have signed on as co-sponsors, including Don Young, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. Tell your congressperson that you’d like to see his/her name on that bill, too.
Also, since it’s public comment, you can e-mail comments to mcnprm@epa.gov or go to the RAPID RESPONSE CENTER on www.AMADirectlink.com to send comments to the EPA, yourself. You can also take advantage of the information about this on the Motorcycle Riders Foundation website at www.mrf.org
Remember all my warnings about globalization and that it’s a coming attraction for American bikers. Lots of you didn’t believe me. Well, it’s well underway, friends. Both the AMA and MRF have NGO status with the United Nations which already have had working group meetings in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Montreal, Canada. While NGO(non-governmental organization)status doesn’t allow our groups to vote, it does give them a chance to give the motorcyclists’ viewpoint to the working groups. FEMA(Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations) also holds NGO status. We’ll see if it does any good. The working groups are going to create worldwide standards for brakes and testing exhaust emissions. Noise control will be coming too!
Well, I hope you went to the polls on November 5th and voted to support those legislators who support us.
By the way, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee has designated two million dollars for detailed safety research into motorcycles and other motor vehicles. It would be the first time since the conclusion of the famous Hurt report in 1981 that such research would be done. The House committee made it clear by designating the money that motorcycles would be an important part of the new motor vehicle crash research. AMA V.P. for Government Relations, Ed Moreland said that while the funding is far from what’s needed, it’s a step in the right direction.
Good precedent for off roaders. California’s got a new state law that requirescomprehensive planning to imporove the development of off highway vehicle recreation areas. It calls for studies to understand the need for developing off road sports complexes. Maybe we should try for such a bill in New York State.
That’s about it for now. So, until the next time, ride safe and ride free! |
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