February
2008
As
I write this on January 30th, HB1318 passed its third reading
in the house. The vote was 91 yes and 5 no, it now goes to the
Senate. As of now I don't know when it will be heard in the
Senate. Stay tuned, more information will come as I get it.
On January 23rd House Bill 1318 made it through the Roads and
Transportation Committee. The roll call vote was 12 to 0. The
bill had some amendments applied. None of the amendments in
my opinion are detrimental to our hopes for a fair funding of
the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust. So far it charges all
vehicles 50 cents on their registration fee to fund the Trust.
It eliminates the $10 motorcycle only fee. Carolene Mays thinks
the Senate will amend it to charge cars, light trucks and motorcycles
only. We had a lot of people show up for ABATE Day at the State
House. I want to thank everyone that was there. It really showed
a lot of people that we are truly a group that needs to be paid
attention to. As I walked around the State House I saw bikers
everywhere. For those of you that waited in line to register
I thank you for your patience. It was a long wait in line. I
know from talking to others that we made a big impression. One
member was asked by a person from a different group how we were
able to get so many members there. I also want to pass along
a "thank you" to all the folks that made signs to bring to the
State House. It is unfortunate that the State House staff did
not provide enough seats for us all. I'm not sure the North
Atrium would have held the chairs needed to seat us all. Remember,
there were three Bills, one in the Senate and two in the house,
introduced to eliminate the $10 registration fee for motorcycles.
That is one Senator and two Representatives that were working
with us. That is very impressive! The Senator was John Waterman
and the Representatives were Carolene Mays and Dave Wolkins.
If you meet any one of these lawmakers, be sure and thank them
for their work and support of Indiana's motorcyclist. This is
also the time of year that a lot of Senator and Representatives
attend "town hall meetings". If you hear of such a session I
encourage you to attend. This is a good time to talk to lawmakers
of your area. As always if you get wind of any legislative action
concerning motorcycles, state or local level, pass the word
on to me or the ABATE State Office.
