Aaaaand We’re Off!

2022 ended with great success stories from Washington DC. In the final hours of the 117th Congressional Session, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation made a last effort to get the motorcyclists anti-profiling resolution, H. Res. 366 to a vote. I am happy to report that it was a unanimous passage in the House of Representatives. A few years ago, the United States Senate passed a resolution with the same language and that was also unanimous. By passing this resolution we now have the Federal Government informing law-enforcement agencies across the nation that motorcyclists are being profiled, and they need to develop a plan to educate their agents to not stop someone because of what they are riding or what they are wearing. Our Wisconsin Congress members were very influential in getting this passed. ABATE of Wisconsin would like to thank Congressman Grothman, Steil, Pocan, Fitzgerald, Tiffany, Gallagher and Kind for supporting this resolution and thank you to the MRF for all their hard work.

There were also 2 more victories in Washington DC. One was on the same line as the profiling resolution when Congresswoman Susie Lee from Nevada, sent a committee letter to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration asking them to “report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on the extent to which the agency works with states on motorcycle passenger policies within 120 days of enactment of this Act.” This is putting NHTSA on notice that encouraging states to adopt regulations to profile motorcyclists is not part of their duties.

The final victory is in the form of a letter from Michigan’s Congressman Wahlberg and 26 other Congress members, including Wisconsin’s Congressmen Pocan, Fitzgerald, Kind and Grothman, to NHTSA requesting information about how self-driving cars are interacting with motorcycles. They asked some very strong questions about what they learned from investigating crashes that happened between cars with this technology and motorcycles. One of those questions was, do motorcyclists have to take extra precautions when sharing the road with these vehicles? We need to find out if we are safe operating our motorcycles with these vehicles on the road. This letter came up quickly with only a couple of days to get members of Congress to sign on. It just so happened that this timed out well with the ABATE Region 1H – Washington County meeting. At the meeting we worked with members to complete the Policy Engage alert that was sent out by the MRF and as a result, Congressman Fitzgerald had an inbox full of constituents asking him to sign it. That morning, he joined the other members from Wisconsin to support this effort. GREAT JOB!

And since we are on a roll, ABATE will hold its Lobby Day in Madison on March 21st. The busses are getting set up and the schedule will be elsewhere in this newsletter. The Park Hotel is reserved as a headquarters and the CC Riders are generously opening their clubhouse for us.

This is an important year as we are asking our elected representatives to help protect all combustion engines by drafting and supporting a Consumer Choice Fuel Pledge. This pledge would commit our elected representatives to not mandate a consumer’s choice on what type of motorized equipment they purchase based on fuel source. We are also asking that they do not mandate retailer inventory of motorized equipment based on the equipment’s fuel source. And finally, we are asking that they include language protecting the sale of E10 or less gas since it is the only fuel that is legal to use in many engines. We will be asking that the legislators pass a bill that will prevent them from drafting legislation that would prevent the sale of combustion engines or repair parts.

We are also going to ask our State Legislators to draft, and pass, legislation that would ban vehicles operating in autonomous or driverless mode on Wisconsin’s roads until proper testing of this technology, and how it interacts with motorcycles is completed and published. Up until now there has not been any published reports showing these vehicles can safely interact with motorcycles on the road. In 2022, 3 motorcyclists were killed in the United States from vehicles operating in autonomous mode. More testing needs to be done to ensure the safety of all legal road users. Once we have a better understanding of this technology, we can figure out how we can all safely enjoy the beautiful Wisconsin roads.

Feeding off the success in Washington DC last year, I believe motorcyclists in Wisconsin can be successful in 2023 but is all starts with showing up on March 21st. We will need to fill the Capitol with motorcyclists to show how important this is to the motorcycling community. You have time to arrange your schedules so you too can be part of the solution when it comes to protecting your lifestyle.

Oh wait….and we have more. This month Hardtail and I will be traveling to Washington DC to not only thank your Congress members for their support, but also to introduce Wisconsin’s newest member of Congress to our voice in DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. Congressman Van Orden was elected to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District and we are looking forward to working with him. He already represented motorcyclists very well by showing up in Washington DC on his first day riding his Harley. We are going to count on his support on issues that affect all motorcyclists in the nation.

Of course, I have more. In Wisconsin we have a great working relationship with the motorcycle clubs. They recognize and appreciate the important work that we do in both Madison and Washington DC, and we understand the value that they bring to our success. Without the motorcycle club members there may not even be an ABATE of Wisconsin and we surely would not have had the success that we had when we were first forming in 1974. In the early years they were a big part in overriding the governor’s veto of our helmet choice bill. I have been asked to speak at many motorcycle club meetings and they always welcome our participation. This month I have been asked to speak about how important that relationship is at the National Council of Clubs meeting in St. Louis Missouri. This is a rare opportunity for someone from a state motorcycle rights organization to present at this meeting. It is a great chance to explain how we need each other and how we can work together. I would like to thank the clubs involved for putting their confidence in what we have learned through the years.

I will see you at Officers Training. Rocky, the professional lobbyist for the MRF will be there and he will have a mock lobby training session where he can show us how he would present our issues if he were in Wisconsin on March 21st.

I would like to finish this by thanking the AMA District 16 for their generous donation to help offset the cost of our Lobby Day. We have a good relationship with them, and we have worked together with them on issues affecting us both. Thank you.

That’s it.

Steve