Our usual and std location, meeting is at 7pm.
The Rock Wood Fired Pizza in Lynnwood, Wa.
Our fearless rep to Olympia will provide end-of-session news and entertainment.
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(Forwarded from the Motorcycle Riders Foundation) President signs Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act or HIRE Act. Washington DC Today, in a sunny outdoor ceremony, President Barack Obama signed into law the HIRE act (HR 2847) or as it’s more commonly known, the jobs bill. In an increasingly rare show of bipartisanship the US Senate passed the measure 68 to 29, clearing the final hurdle for the President’s signature. The House had passed similar legislation late 2009. The bulk of the $17.6 billion dollar package is tax cuts, hiring incentives, unemployment extensions, programs to help retain employees, cash incentives for businesses to hire unemployed Americans, tax offsets, and tax credit bond programs. However, Congress used this as a vehicle to move forward a handful of extensions to some transportation related measures. Because SAFETEA-LU (PL 109-59), the last highway funding bill signed into law expired last September; the future of some highway safety programs was in question. The short term extensions to the expired law passed every month or two don’t address various yearly funded grant programs and other safety measures. The Congress will continue to pass these short term extensions for the foreseeable future. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) worked with the Congress to include the motorcycle safety program set up under SAFETEA-LU on the list of extended programs. The program that sends cash back to the States to be used only for motorcycle rider education and public awareness campaigns aimed at motorists. The program is fully funded for one more year. Details are forthcoming on State application deadlines and procedure, but will likely be similar to the past four years. Last year, all fifty States applied for and received motorcycle safety money from this program. “As the authors of the original legislative language creating this program, we are thrilled that Congress and the President agree that the program has merit and deserves repeating,” Said Jeff Hennie Vice President Government Relations and Public Affairs for the MRF. “Considering that most States are currently using dedicated state funded motorcycle safety funds for everything but motorcycle safety, this law could not come at better time.” he added. The MRF will keep you updated on this and all other issues affecting motorcyclists. Ride With The LeadersTM by joining the MRF at http://www.mrf.org/join.php or call 1-202-546-0983 Well, riders, we need to get it in gear and go to the aid of the Wireless Communication Devices bill. (SSB 6345) This is the bill that makes it a primary offense to drive down the road texting or talking on your cell phone without using a hands free device. More simply put, picture the driver who is more involved in sending/receiving a text or yapping on that cell phone jammed in his/her ear than paying attention to piloting that 2 ton SUV. The officer that sees this oblivious idiot does not have to wait for the distracted driver to do something else, such as swerving into the unsuspecting motorcyclist, before he pulls them over. Unfortunately, the House saw fit to water the bill down top such a state that it only applied to teenage drivers. That is all well and good, but the last several drivers that could not maintain their speed or lane position near my bike were definitely not teenage drivers. The House version would do nothing about the majority of the people who are ignoring the road while they operate their mobile offices. As you have probably discerned from my language, just like many of you, I do not agree with this dilution of a good bill that can save an innocent rider from getting killed or maimed by being cut off or run over. The Senate agrees with us on this issue, and refuses to concur with the House amendments. We have been asked to lend our voices to the call for the House to recede from their version and agree to the Senate version. Riders need to contact their representatives as soon as possible and ask them to protect the innocent motoring public from the irresponsible operators by restoring (SSB 6345) to it’s original Senate version. To locate your representative go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx and follow the instructions. Lets let our voices be heard and get this fixed. Until next time, Ride Safe and Legislate Well, “Texas” Larry Walker Government Relations Specialist Washington Road Riders Association Hello, all, I note that the profiling bill promoted by the Confederation of Clubs and ABATE of Washington, HB 2511, was *overwhelmingly* embraced by the House of Representatives. Note that there are 98 members in the State House. All but TWO voted in favor of a bill that said it’s not OK to single out citizens for preemptive stops because they *look* like members of a certain group, i.e. bikers. Before I say anything else: please contact your House representatives and *thank them* for voting for this bill. I was in Olympia on Wednesday (to meet with the Director of DOL and her staff) and made a point of visiting my members’ offices. Call, email, write – but thank them. I’ve watched this bill try to make its way through the Legislature in years past. It’s seemed that its biggest obstacle was not the language of the bill itself, but the language of those who spoke about the bill. In years past, there was a lot of anger, a lot of angst, a lot of finger-pointing. Not this year. This year, there was a lot of considered conversation about the rights of free men and women in a democratic society. All of us – patch holders, alternative club-style riders, and rank-and-file independent bikers – spoke to our legislators in measured and polite tones about civil rights and ‘the America that made America famous’. We struck a chord, and overwhelmingly won the House. Our lack of victory in the Senate was, in my opinion, no fault of the bill or our approach to it. It was an artifact of a short session with too much to do and the short news cycle we’ve all come to know and [feel something about]. In truth, the bill did not lose in the Senate. It just never got a chance to win. I’m encouraged not only by the progress made by this bill, but by the progress made by *us*. A lot of motorcyclists across a broad spectrum of our sometimes divided constituency came together and BLEW OUT the House. On Black Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting with – and standing with – leaders from diverse segments of the motorcycle community, and I believe that our consensus carried the day. It’s unfortunate that we have enjoyed this partial victory at the end of a biennium, and we do not have another session to fight the fight of HB2511. Nonetheless, I do not think we are done, I do think we can build on the success of this session, and I look forward to working with my brothers and sisters in the motorcycle community to protect the civil rights of those who ride from discrimination and selective enforcement. We must all hang together – or we shall certainly hang separately. I hope you will join us for our regular meeting on Wednesday, March 31, to discuss this and other stories from the 2010 legislative session. — Ian |
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