Legislative Report

by Steve Panten

The motorcyclists came through again! I know that you have heard this before, but I can’t stress the point enough. The success that motorcyclists will have with our legislative agenda items this year is directly tied to Biker Day at the Capitol. We put together Facebook videos, we prepared members to lobby with our Grassroots Training sessions and we put together packets with the most up-to-date information. All we needed then, was for bikers to show up in Madison and give our issues the kick-start that we needed. They did…..In fact…..10% of the Biker Day attendees reported that this was their first time visiting legislators at the capitol. How awesome is that! Imagine our success if we can double the number of bikers there? I heard that we still had some space on a few of the busses, so maybe more people can join us next time.

I am truly impressed to see the number of people that show up and how successful they are every year. I know this day puts a hardship on some members because they take the day off work without pay or need to rearrange their schedules knowing how important this event is to the riding community. I want to THANK YOU for being there. It makes our job much easier.

This year we have a tough road to travel. We hit roadblocks in past sessions on the very topics that we were bringing up again. But already I am hearing that we may be more successful this year. We are seeing movement on our Definition of a Motorcycle Bill (Autocycle Bill) and we have a Senate Bill number SB86, which is a direct result of Biker Day. The next step will be to get an Assembly Bill number and sit down with all parties involved to work through the last few details. As the person trying to figure out how to get this thing done, I am so pleased with the conversations that members had during their lobby meetings in Madison.

Sitting down with all the parties involved may be easier said than done. Polaris has still not reached out to me to try to figure this out. In fact, as our members were leaving legislative offices the Lobbyist for Polaris was walking in, to more than likely express their opposition to what we are trying to accomplish. At the last minute we heard about language that they wanted to add to the bill that says that “an autocycle does not need to meet the MVSS crash standards for an automobile.” We put together a position that we will not oppose that language if it means getting this bill done this year. The crash standard is going to be set by NHTSA and right now they need to meet the standard for a motorcycle to get a title so….unless that changes on the Federal level, that’s all they have to meet.

During the Legislative meetings we heard a lot of feedback on our Truck Platooning fix and our Vehicle Data Recorder bill drafts. Just like in the past, the legislators understand what we are trying to do and agree with us in principle, but are they willing to step up to the plate and do something about it? We are still doing follow-up from the meetings that we had and hopefully we can get enough support to pass all our Legislative Agenda topics.

In May we will be attending the Motorcycle Riders Foundations Annual Bikers Inside the Beltway event in Washington DC. This will be our opportunity to meet with our Federal Legislators and discuss how they can help the motorcyclists in the state by supporting the MRF’s legislative agenda items. The Board of Directors have approved sending 8 members on scholarship to represent all of us. We are looking for one member from each Congressional District to fill those scholarships and we will also welcome anyone who wants to join us. Both the hotel and event registration information are available in this newsletter or on the Motorcycle Riders Foundations website. If you are interested in a scholarship, please let me know. Unfortunately, we can only take one member from each Congressional District on Scholarship, but we NEED one member from each District. If you are interested in a scholarship, please let me know. Even if you do not get a scholarship you are more than welcome to join us. Lobbying in Madison very interesting, but in Washington DC…it’s pretty different.

At the Biker Day Meeting that I attended, one of the Representatives asked us about our profiling issues. Generally, we like to stay on the topics that are on the handout, but it was very interesting that this topic came up. We explained that while we have issues in a few areas we are still trying to gather a “pattern of evidence” before we bring anything to legislators in the form of a bill to prevent it from happening. If you feel as though you have been profiled, there is a form on our website that can be filled out. It is as anonymous as you would like it to be. If we are going to have to address this on the state level, we will need somebody to tell their story so there is a place on the form to put your contact information. You will be sending it to a private email address listed on the form and that information will only be seen by 2 people, myself being one of them.

The biggest problem is in Lomira in Dodge County. We have proof in the form of an email that there is profiling happening and we are trying to get this addressed. The problem is a conversation between a Lomira Police Officer and the Fire Chief. We requested a meeting with the Police Chief to see if we can address what is going on, but he denied our request and instead sent us to the Village Attorney. John Reblin, Chubby, Fleabag and I sat down with her to talk about what happened and what we were trying to correct and, clearly, she was not the right person to talk to. She did not have much knowledge of the details and could not answer many of our questions. What we did get a chance to do was to give her a level of comfort that we are here to try to help with whatever issues that they feel that they are having with motorcyclists in their community. Our next step is to try to schedule another meeting. If that does not happen, we may need to go to the Village Board.

That’s it! Steve