 
 Legislative Report
By Dave Dwyer 
Washington D. C. -- We have completed our spring
lobby trip to Washington D. C., also known as the
Motorcycle Riders Foundation's Bikers Inside
the Beltway, a National Motorcyclists' Lobby Day.
In the two days we spent lobbying, we were in the
offices of all ten of the members of the Wisconsin
Congressional Delegation, eight House of
Representative and two Senate offices. Our group was
able to meet with all ten members, and we were given
the time to personally explain our issues to eight of
them. For the other two, Committee business and
floor votes prevented them from spending more time
with us, but their Legislative Assistants were
very cooperative, talking about our issues and
taking notes to be able to explain our issues to
their bosses. Members of 17 other State
Motorcyclist Rights Organizations were also busy
that week working with their members of Congress
on the same issues as us, which include the
following bills and concerns.
HR 1861 -- Rep. Sensenbrenner has introduced HR
1861 to prevent the Federal Department of
Transportation (DOT) from issuing grants for
motorcycle only check points. So far Reps. Ryan
Duffy and Ribble have signed on as co-sponsors
along with ten co-sponsors from other states.
Currently vehicle check points for private
vehicles are not legal in Wisconsin. Only
Commercial motor vehicles can be subjected to
inspections without a suspicion of a traffic law
violation. This bill would also remove the
requirement of states to have helmet laws to
receive DOT grants.
HR 875 -- Rep. Sensenbrenner has also introduced HR
875 to require the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to withdraw the authority to sell mid-level
ethanol blends (those with a concentration of
greater than 10% and less than 20% ethanol) until
a comprehensive study has been performed by the
National Academy of Sciences on the implications
of the use of that fuel. The study must include
the short and long term environmental, safety,
durability, and performance effects of the fuel
blend on on-road, non-road and marine engines and
on-road and non-road vehicles' related equipment.
Of the 13 co-sponsors the only other Wisconsin
Legislator is Rep. Petri.
By supporting this bill, ABATE of Wisconsin is
joining with the Motorcycle Riders Foundation,
asking for a thorough evaluation of the possible
implications of the introduction of this blend,
mostly in the concentration of 15% ethanol,
commonly known as E-15 into the marketplace. We
are not taking a position opposing or endorsing
the addition of ethanol to gasoline.
S 344 -- This Senate bill would ban the sale of
gasoline with a concentration of greater than 10%
of ethanol, effectively removing E-15 from the
market without calling for any further studies to
be done on the effects of E-15. This bill only has
four co-sponsors, and we have not asked either of our
Wisconsin Senators to sign on. If this bill would
be changed to ask for further studies of E-15, we
could then back this bill, but with its current
language we will not be asking them for their
support. In either case I would not expect to see
either of them sign on -- Sen. Johnson because of
his free market beliefs and Sen. Baldwin because
of her concern for the environment. I can
understand and respect both opinions.
CDC and GAO -- We had productive discussions in all
of our office visits about the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) and the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) getting involved in the on-going push
from the federal government for the states to
enact mandatory helmet laws. Our elected officials
agreed that Motorcycling should not be classified
as a "preventable or curable disease,"
though there were mixed feelings about their being
involved that ranged from the perception that
maybe that is part of their job to the need to
stop the "mission creep" of federal
agencies to prevent them, in the words of one
member of congress, "from crawling in like
worms where they're not wanted and don't
belong."
HIPAA -- I know that after 13 years it is getting
old, hearing about the effects of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA). Without being able to bring actual harm
to motorcyclists to the table, we are not having
much luck getting congress to take any action.
There is at least one company doing business in
Wisconsin that tells its employees that, if they
are injured in a motorcycle crash, they will not be
covered under their health insurance if they are
not wearing a helmet. This is actually a success
story because these employees are being told up
front what the exclusions are to their
employer-provided coverage. We would like congress to take
appropriate action to make sure that the rest of
the country's motorcyclists have the same
opportunity to make an informed choice in
employer-provided health care plans and have the
opportunity to take the necessary steps to make
sure they have adequate protection in place in
case of need.
One of our biggest concerns now is how the
Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obama
Care," may impact how we ride -- or if we ride
at all. I have seen reports that indicate some
employers are not hiring now because of the
unknowns to other reports that some major
employers may be dropping their health care plans
entirely and forcing their employers to purchase
their own federally required health care and just
paying the fine because that would be much less
expensive for their corporate bottom line. The
unknown for us is what will be covered and what
will be excluded. Will motorcycling be considered
a risky activity and be excluded from coverage
unless we are wearing armored riding suits with
full face helmets? Nobody seems to know right
now.
Madison -- WMSP -- Discussions continue in
Madison with members of the Legislature on the
status and funding of the Wisconsin Motorcycle
Safety Program (WMSP). Reviewing the budget for
the program shows money being spent for such items
as "support and communicate" with no
explanation of what these lines mean. We are also
getting conflicting stories from Department of
Transportation (DOT) employees about the future of
the program of their "Transportable High End
Rider Education Facility" (THE REF) and if
they are looking to have a second one built or if
they are only looking to purchase a trailer to
haul their training trikes to different locations
for rider training use.
Our request for $100 thousand for awareness billboards
is now being shuttled off to Department of Tourism
for billboards for the Harley-Davidson 110th
birthday party. The DOT is still issuing a flat
out refusal to use the digital messaging boards
along the freeway system for Motorcycle Awareness
messages even though many other states are
displaying these messages. The DOT argument that
over-using these signs will dilute the message and
keep motorists from paying attention to them is
contradicted by the businesses that make a good
profit selling space on their billboards. We need
to keep up the pressure on our State Legislators
to push the DOT into using the available low cost
tools at their disposal to promote Motorcycle
Awareness among the driving public.
Dwyer, Dave. "Legislative Report." ABATE of Wisconsin Newsletter Jun. 2013.
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