We’re Waking Up

by Steve Panten

I like to think of May as the official start to summer. Things are coming alive; people are starting to get out and about and it just has a feeling of waking up. This past May was an opportunity for our Legislators to wake up to our issues as well. We had a great month of meetings and hopefully, we woke people up.

To refresh everyone’s memory on where we left off on our bills that would prevent any government agency from banning any type of engine based on its power source. AB141/SB213 and AB142/SB212 were authored by Senator Tomczyk and Assembly members Schutt and Green. These bills were drafted as a result of our Lobby Day in March. Since then, The Assembly passed their versions, AB141 which would prevent the ban for any device and AB142 which would prevent the ban for vehicles on a party line vote. That meant all the Republicans voted for the bills and the Democrats voted no, which is not good, but we still have time to work with the Senators to make sure that does not happen again with SB212 and SB213.

We felt that the Assembly vote went as it did because, as quickly as it moved, we did not have time to discuss our position on the bills with everyone in the Assembly. That’s my fault for not recognizing how moving the bill this fast would hurt us. But we have another chance. The Senate held a Committee Hearing in the Committee on Transportation and Local Government but did not schedule a vote to move it out of committee. The bill’s author Sen. Tomczyk is chair of that committee, so we reached out to his office and asked him to delay the vote until we get a chance to meet with all the members. Historically, our bills pass through the legislature either unanimously, or very close to unanimously, so we knew we had work to do.

The committee is made up of 3 Republican Senators and 2 Democrats. We would like to have the support of not only everyone on the committee, but everyone in the Senate. Becky Zarling and I went to the Capitol and met with most of the Senate Democrats to discuss our position, and why this is very important to the motorcyclists in the state. Our message was clear, these bills were the direct result of the motorcyclists asking our elected officials for their help when we visited them in March. Our goal was to allow the market to dictate what type of power plant a consumer in Wisconsin feels is appropriate for their needs. Our message was well received, and we had positive conversations with every office we went to.

I would like to thank all the ABATE members for the relationships built with these legislators that allowed us to even speak in their offices. We were not constituents, so they did not have to give us any time to present our information, but because of them knowing who we are, we were able to have great conversations. Here’s the interesting part of our meetings, 2 days after we were in Madison, Governor Ever’s Senior Policy Advisor reached out to us for a meeting to discuss not only these bills, but what else is important to the motorcyclists in the state. We have been asking for a meeting with them for 6 years just to have them deny us every time. I think that because of our call to action back in February requesting a meeting, our large presence at Lobby Day and our visit to Madison in March all led to this invitation.

The meeting was extremely positive. We had a great discussion about what is important to the motorcyclists and especially what we are trying to accomplish with these pieces of Legislation. By no means did we get a commitment of support from him, but we also did not get a no. We have more work to do, and we might need to reach out to ABATE members from certain areas for help, but we are still pushing forward and having more discussions.

Last month we sent a great group of engaged members to Washington DC as part of the Motorcycle Riders Foundations, Bikers Inside the Beltway Lobby Day. We met with every Wisconsin Congress member, and with both Senators.  Topics that we discussed included asking them to sign on and support H.R. 906, the Right to Repair bill and H.R. 1435, a bill to protect combustion engine vehicles. Currently, Wisconsin does not have anyone signed on to it, so we still have work to do. Other topics included autonomous technology, profiling of motorcyclists, protecting E10 or less fuel, and reexamining the federal definition of a motorcycle.

While we were there, Representative Gallagher, from Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District in the NE part of the state circulated a letter asking the Federal Department of Transportation to seat the Motorcycle Advisory Council. Last Congressional Session, the DOT was tasked with restructuring the MAC and giving the motorcyclists a larger voice at the table. They were given 90 days to create the council and have not made any progress on it. Congressman Gallagher’s letter is telling the DOT to follow the direction given to them by Congress and start conversations on how future road construction projects can provide safer designs for motorcyclists.

The timing was great because there were 33 states that were represented with motorcyclists at the nation’s Capital, and we were all able to ask our elected officials to sign Gallagher’s letter. It was also great timing because the Motorcycle Riders Foundation chose Congressman Gallagher as the Legislative Champion of 2022. We were able to be there when they presented him with his Legislative Champion leather vest. It was very cool, and he was very excited to receive it. He went out into his main office and announced to everyone that this is the coolest gift he was ever given. Aside from how cool the vest was, Congressman Gallagher deserved it. He was instrumental in getting motorcyclists a larger voice on the MAC and he supported everything we asked him to do. Congratulations Congressman Gallagher and Thank You. He joins past winner Senator Johnson as 2 of Wisconsin’s current elected members in Washington DC to receive the award. And this is all because of the relationship motorcyclists in the state have with their elected officials. We are the best Motorcycle Rights Organizations in the country because of you. Thank you.

Let’s wrap this up with a couple more things. In June John Reblin and I will be meeting with the State Department of Transportation Secretary Thompson and Deputy Secretary Hammer to discuss motorcycling in Wisconsin. It is extremely unfortunate that one big topic will be motorcyclists’ fatalities in the state. Last year we had a reduction in fatalities but this year, from the last numbers I heard, we are up almost 400% from last year, with a large majority of those being single vehicle crashes. Single vehicle crashes are typically rider error which can be prevented with sober riding and riding within our means. Please ride safe and take care of your brothers and sisters.

One final thing. Thank you to ABATE District 7 for inviting me to speak at your meeting near La Crosse last month. Great crowd, good questions, and a great opportunity to meet the Sheriffs from La Crosse and Trempealeau Counties.

That’s it.

Steve