THE FUTURE OF MOTORCYCLING IN WISCONSIN?

by Steve Panten

What does the future of motorcycling in the State of Wisconsin look like? When a form of that question was asked at a recent “Future of Transportation in Wisconsin” conference, Craig Thompson, the Secretary of Transportation in Wisconsin responded; “I will have to get back to you on that.” That’s scary…..At this conference, a large group of ABATE members listened to how Wisconsin will be dealing with reduced funding for road construction, the use of autonomous vehicles, truck platooning, electric cars, rail transportation and the new street car, but nothing was mentioned about how all these will effect motorcyclists. We need to fix that. Remember last year when I said, “We need to be LOUD”, well…. we need to start being louder. We need to be involved in conversations at the state level when they are talking about the future of transportation. And it needs to happen now.

On July 8th, Chubby, John Reblin and I will be sitting down with Secretary Thompson and his staff to discuss the importance of motorcyclists being involved in these discussions. We ARE the motorcycle issue experts no matter what the DOT thinks. We understand the needs of motorcyclists and we can help to provide common sense solutions to what the future should look like. Having our own Deputy Director John Reblin as Chair of the State Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council (MOSAC) was a huge step in being involved in these conversations, but we obviously need to do more. John was able to set up the meeting with the Secretary and we are hoping that it will lead to many future meetings with the DOT and the Governor’s Office. We are looking for a seat at the table when committees are being formed so we can offer a true motorcyclist’s view on the issues.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) held their annual Bikers Inside the Beltway event in Washington DC. We had 12 ABATE members from across the state attending this event and meeting with their members of Congress and the United States Senate. Every year I look forward to this event and see it as an opportunity to work with our Federal Representatives on the Legislative Agenda for the MRF as well as issues affecting us in the State. While our state has shown to be one of the leaders in fighting for motorcycle issues, we still have work to do.

Before we left for Washington DC, our state had 3 Congressional members signed on to H. Res. 255, the anti-profiling resolution in the House of Representatives and we were given a challenge from the MRF to get one more. We had Congressman Pocan who is an original cosponsor, Congressman Grothman and Congressman Sensenbrenner. When we left DC, we had a commitment from Congressman Gallagher that he would sign on to the Resolution and we had great discussions with our other members of Congress. As of today, Gallagher has still not signed on, but we did get the support from Congressman Kind. We are still hoping to get help from Congresswoman Moore (she was signed on last year but has not done so yet this year) and Gallagher. The MRF’s Rocky and Tiffany are busy doing follow up work for us, but they could use your help. This summer, if you know of an event where any of our congress members might be at, PLEASE stop and ask them to sign on to the anti-profiling Resolution (H. Res. 255 if you can remember) and thank the ones that have already done so. This Resolution along with the one that the Senate passed unanimously last year, are very valuable tools for us to have as we face the profiling of motorcyclists around the state. We were already able to use the Senate’s Resolution when we met with the Sheriff’s Department in Dodge County but having one from the House of Representatives will add more credence to our future meetings.

I have been having email conversations with Senator Jacque’s staff and with Polaris regarding our Autocycle Bill, much of which involves concerns from the DOT. The conversations have been good and moving forward but like I said before…. we still have work to do. We are hoping to have the Bill scheduled for a Public Hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee this month. If not, we are going to have to start putting pressure on Committee Chair Senator Petrowski to get it scheduled. Right now, the focus in Madison is on the budget that needs to be passed by the end of June, so I have been giving them some slack until it is done. I am still very confident that we will have this done before Meeting of the Minds this fall. I know Polaris is pushing to have it done so they can start selling more without the need for a motorcycle endorsement on your license.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundations Meeting of the Minds Conference will be held in Bloomington, Minnesota on September 19-22 this year. Having the conference so close to our state is a great opportunity for you to experience it. We have scholarships available if you are interested in attending and would like to take advantage of one of them. The Scholarship will provide reimbursement for the conference, the hotel and gas to get there. This is the best conference for motorcycle rights organizations available. Just being in the room with all the knowledge that can be gained from attendees that have been fighting for the rights of motorcyclists for many years is worth the price of admission. If you are interested in a scholarship, please let me know as soon as possible. I would like to make my recommendation to the Legislative Committee at the Board meeting on July 14th.

Final thoughts from Steve Panten…..I would like to thank everyone that was involved in organizing and working at the Summer Hummer last month. It is incredible to see the dedication and hard work that is needed to make this event a success. Whether it is setting up the bands and getting the contracts signed, making sure all the licenses and insurance are in place, searching out vendors and getting contracts signed or just making sure the grounds are in the best shape that the time and budget will allow…thank you. And to see all the attendees that step up to help with bartending, working the gate, cleaning the bathrooms and grounds is very encouraging. Any organization is only as strong as its members and this is the reason ABATE of Wisconsin is as strong today as it was 45 years ago. Thank you.

That’s it.