Legislative Update: May Newsletter Article

Editor's note: This article did not make it into the May newsletter due to a mix up of my email address.

By: Prospector

Due to the resignation of our State Legislative Coordinator, some of the earlier reports have been lost, so I will have to rely on memory somewhat to bring you all up to date.

As you probably recall, our Yeild Right Of Way bill, #4914A, died in the Rules Committee(the last stop on its trip to the Assembly floor) and we spent all last Summer trying to track down the person or persons responsible to find out the reason for the blockage.

The Senate version reported out OK, the problem was in the Assembly. We were unable to get any answers until session started in January. Then, after several meetings with the bill's Prime Sponsor, we got the name of the counsel in the Speaker's office who had held up the bill, only to find she is no longer there and her replacement saw nothing in her notes to indicate the reason for the stoppage, but the consensus was that it had to do with surcharges.

After meeting with some key Assembly people we arrived at a new strategy to separate out the surcharge portion into a separate bill. At this point, everything went into a holding pattern until the budget is done(same as every year). The good news is that they are promising an on-time budget again this year which means more time to address legislation. The bad news is, as of this date(March 28th), I have received mixed forecasts from both houses as to whether this will happen or not, so it's still anybody's guess, but by the time you read this, the mystery will be solved. We have continued to sign co-sponsors on to the bill and now have over 30 in the Assembly and expect that it will easily pass the Senate again.

The other main bill, A8588, the Confiscation Bill, drafted by our own Donna Lupardo, has been gathering momentum and as of this date has over 20 Co-Sponsors in the Assembly with more signing on every week. Within the next 2 weeks we will start speaking to the Senate on the companion bill #S6229.

Last year, we spoke to our good friend Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg about his bill #A1073, which was intended to ban pocket bikes, but could conceivably have affected some custom bikes as written. He agreed at that time to re-word the description of pocket bikes as per our input. However, when we met with him this year, he informed us that he was dropping the bill altogether. Thank you, Harvey.

The Senate Transportation Committee has yet to address any of our bills. I attended the Assembly Transportation Committee's only meeting where Chairman Gantt's helmet bill, #A0070 was reported out (no surprise) despite several of our friends, including Assemblywoman Lupardo, voting against it.

The crowds so far this year have been over-whelming, every Tuesday (when will they ever learn) making for a long hard day due to the fact that the elevators are so crowded that I've had to use the stairs on many occasions to get to appointments, but when we continue to gain allies, it's very gratifying. Besides, I can sure use the exercise.

One day several weeks ago, I was sought out by Assemblyman Marc Butler's office who wanted some input on a motorcycle issue. It seems that he had received a letter from a constituent advocating MANDATORY rider ed and a tiered licensing system for motorcycles. I explained the downside of these proposals and they concurred and answered the voter with a reasonable reply for which they thanked us. Good to see someone seeking information before making a knee-jerk reaction. Made my day.

As usual, we are asked every day when all the bikes are coming, so they're looking forward to May 15th. I have been in contact with most of our chapter Legislative Coordinators, and so far, every chapter plans to be there. To those Legislative Coordinators I haven't spoken to: YOUR PHONE NUMBER IS NO GOOD*CALL ME!!!!!! It looks like we'll have a good turnout and we're going to try to have our legislator visits more organized. We can still use some more warm bodies at the Capitol. If you're not planning on riding for some reason, you can be a big help just the same. I'm rushing to get this report in before the newsletter deadline, so I've pretty much just hit the highlights, if you want more "in depth coverage" feel free to call me 24/7. Also, as always, we invite anyone to join us on a Tuesday in Albany.

Prospector's phone number is 518-239-4560