I found the Handlebar portion attached to Lane filtering?
My mistake...
BUT Here`s our lobbyists report...
This week was tough but productive. We are making great progress in
the Senate and slowly getting some movement in the House.
Started early on Monday talking to members of the Senate Public Safety
Committee. At 1PM the Committee had the first hearing on SB76. Sen.
Bill Jackson (R.Appling) opened the presentation. I spoke on behalf of
ABATE and Greg Alspach also spoke in support. There were NO speakers
against the bill. The DOT had a representative there who expressed
concern that the 60 sec. wait period was to short. There was also
someone who was requesting that the bill be amended to cover bicycles.
The Chairman then scheduled the vote for Wednesday to give time to
amend the bill considering the comments from DOT.
Wednesday morning the Chairman brought us a committee substitute that
deleted the wait time altogether, only stating that the rider should
proceed cautiously if there are no vehicles seen for 500 ft. I believe
this is a better option for motorcyclist. After little discussion at
Wednesday committee meeting SB76 was passed unanimously by Committee
Substitute. We will meet with the Senate Rules Committee on Monday
afternoon and should have the bill on the floor of the Senate on
Tuesday or Wednesday. The Chairman of Senate Rules, Sen. Jeff Mullis
(R.Chickamauga) is a long-time ABATE supporter and has stated his
support of SB76.
On Thursday I took a copy of the amended language that the Senate
Committee passed and met with Chairman Alan Powell (R. Hartwell) to
see if he thought this would be something House Leadership was more
comfortable with. If you recall from previous reports, the House
Leaders had asked that I meet with the Insurance lobbyists and see if
we could amend HB166 in a way that we could all agree on. After
several attempts at a working meeting, on Tuesday I had a short
meeting with an “Insurance rep” and they finally advised me that they
wouldn’t be proposing any compromise language that they could support.
His statement was that they remained opposed to the bill and “saw no
way to improve it”. I informed him of my attempts and asked if the
committee was willing to move on the bill with the new language.
Chairman Powell is a supporter and he agrees that we have the votes in
the House Public Safety Committee but he doesn’t want to pass the bill
and have it simply “rest” in the Rules Committee.
The second part of HB166 is the handlebar and “sissy bar” height
repeal. I believe we can likely expedite the bill by getting some
motorcycle dealerships to contact the House Leadership about the
economic liability of having stock bikes for sale that are not legal
to ride in Georgia. I will be contacting 2 that I know this weekend to
give them the contact information and suggested outline.
On Thursday, I also met with an old friend of ABATE, former
representative Ann Purcell. She is now working for GaDOT and I asked
for her help with the problem with full access to Accident Report
information that Greg Alspach needs for research. I had been told that
these reports were being cataloged by a private company through a DOT
contract. She is going to follow this up and see if we can solve this
problem without having to do legislation.
Next week is going to be a big week. Friday, the 13th, is Crossover Day.
....................................
Please make contact with your legislators...
Dennis
