TMRA2 Legislative Update

Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters is requesting an amendment to allow the SAFETEA-LU Section 2010 Grant funds to be used to promote helmet use in a letter sent to President of Senate Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. This is nothing more than a raid on a fund that was intended for motorcycle awareness and education.
Motorcyclists across the nation fought hard for many years to get this grant money and the outlines for it’s usage were hammered out and agreed upon.

Consider writing letters to your Senators and Representatives asking them to do the following:
1. Write Sec. Peters and request she withdraw her proposed amendment.
2. Speak with your legislators against this letter in an attempt to gather votes against this amendment if she does not withdraw it and it becomes a written bill.

This way, you will be educating (not legislating) and maybe we can kill this whole idea before it gains support.

Please take time to act on this very important issue and pass bit around to your Email list. If you don’t we lose over $300,000 in Funds for MC Safety and Awareness and end up with a helmet law.

Nancy Peters
Secretary of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave S.E.
Washington, DC 20590

Sputnik

UPDATE 2/14/08

Several Warriors attended the Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Seminar on Feb. 14th along with several other interested riders. Unlike other seminars it was more speakers and less interaction from the audience. Some talks, like the one from NHTSA were basically the same as past sessions and were only news to those who hadn’t attended one previously. It was the same routine about mandatory federal helmet laws and requiring additional insurance if you didn’t wear a helmet. Mr. Copeland came over, shook my hand and let me know he was not there to debate the helmet law.

Probably the biggest surprise for TxDOT and NHTSA was the presentation made by Gary Dupriest, President of Texas Motorcycle Roadriders Association. Gary was speaking on the Share The Road Program. He ripped TxDOT and Texas DPS a new one as he went over what had NOT happened with the Federal Safety Funds TxDOT had received in 2006. It was a well prepared presentation. He spoke of the stickers that didn’t get put up on the signs where they were to go. He pointed out that he didn’t want to see pictures of possible Billboards, he wanted to see Billboards put up.
We worked out a deal with a company to put up Billboards in Dallas and Ft.
Worth at a reasonable cost. We submitted the bid to Clif Burdette where it died. Gary also complained about the PSAs that ran a few times in May, stating that we get ran over every day of the year. He also pointed out that if this were “The Wizard of Oz” we would still be at the Munchkin level. He questioned how TxDOT could spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money working against us on the Trans Texas Corridor and couldn’t afford to spend any for Driver Awareness. Thanks Gary, it was a great presentation and we could all see that they didn’t expect it nor did they appreciate it.

There were two very positive meetings that came out of the Seminar:

We met and spoke at length with Mr. John Young, the man who replaced Clif Burdett as head of the Motorcycle Training Program. While working with Clif was enjoyable, Mr. Young is going to be a God send. He is a long time rider, an ex-police officer serving his last ten years as a motorcycle officer. We found that he agrees that officers need better training on how to interpret the helmet law and how to write accident reports and traffic tickets to coincide with the severity of the offence.
I had just finished telling Terri that we should go in that direction with our Failure To Yield this next session. We will have a strong ally in Mr. Young.

We also spoke to Senator Carona’s Chief of Staff about the battle last year over the helmet Bill. He admitted that they could have handled the situation a lot better but that is in the past. He claimed that the Senator wants to work with us on issues we can agree on. He also told us the senator wanted to set up a committee on motorcycle safety issues with us being a part of it. We’ll see how that works out.

Thanks to Budweiser for the fine meeting place they provided for the seminar. Thanks also for the fine meal and unlimited supply of non-alcoholic beverages that they also provided. The little gifts were appreciated also.

I said on the show last night that I felt Mitt Romney was just a very wealthy man who wanted to test the waters and after spending $40,000,000 he realized he wasn’t going anywhere and dropped out. Or possibly a worse scenario he wanted to take enough delegates from Huckabee to ensure a victory for McCain. If that was the case then he would throw his support behind McCain. That is what he did today. He endorsed McCain and asked his delegates to vote for McCain. Guess we figured that one correctly.

Next Wednesday Obama and Clinton will hold a debate at the University of Texas in Austin. Of course the average person will be excluded from the audience but you will be able to watch it on CNN. Colin Powell recently said everyone should pay attention to what Obama is saying. He stopped just short of endorsing him.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Sputnik

It has been agreed to cancel the meeting and hold the May meeting in Hico.
I will go over and set things up at the earliest possible time.
Sputnik

We need all Warrior’s to write letters on this. This is very important.
Rick Perry needs to be accountable for what he has done. Please take the
time to do this.
Sputnik

The letter below, will be sent to your Congressman. Please fill this out and send it back Independent Texans. We will make sure your Congressman receives it. Thanks for doing the right thing for Texas!

– Independent Texans (www.IndyTexans.org),
PO Box 14294, Austin, TX
78761, 512-535-0989.

(Add comments at the bottom). You can email this letter to: ljcurtis@indytexans.org.

Dear Congressman _______________________:

I ask for your assistance in calling for a Congressional investigation regarding the actions of Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Transportation Commission to push for the Trans-Texas Corridor in the face of massive opposition from ordinary Texans.

I believe the following points deserve further inquiry:

1. The Governor’s claim that Texans voted for the Trans-Texas Corridor, when it was never placed on the ballot.

2. A deceptive lobbying effort leading to the passage of a transportation omnibus bill (HB 3588) in 2003, implementing the Corridor.

3. Shifting billions in highway dollars to intimidate county and state officials who have questioned these projects.

4. An illegal lobbying by TxDOT of the federal government to allow federal highways to be converted to toll roads.

5. The misuse of public funds for the purpose of “selling” these projects to a public.

6. The withholding of public documents — specifically, a signed contract with CINTRA, a Spanish-based toll road consortium, which appears to have favored status to build the Corridor.

7. CINTRA lobbyist, Dan Shelley’s, employment with the Governor’s office.

8. Interference by the Federal Highway Administration appointees with ties to CINTRA.

9. The refusal of officials to state the key purpose of the TTC – that it is primarily a trade route to move more imports (primarily Chinese) from Mexican ports in to the US.

10. The refusal to address the very real threat of this project to homeland security and the sovereignty of the United States.
Further, the Governor has chosen to ignore his own Business Council and nationally recognized transportation experts who suggest that, if Texas needs additional funds for roads, they should simply index the gas tax, consider a modest gas tax increase and to stop allowing these funds to be used for non-transportation related matters.

Last, Texans, of all political persuasions, believe that in order to justify the largest taking of private property in the history of the US that this project demands, Texans should have the right to vote on it. We have been afforded no such thing. Will you join our call for a Congressional investigation to help guarantee protections for the rights of the people of Texas? We need your action now. I await your response.

Sincerely,

Signature
Printed Name
Address (include City and Zip)
Email:

More than 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have co-sponsored a bill that would end health insurance discrimination against motorcyclists and others who participate in legal recreational activities or use their motorcycles for transportation.

While the action is significant, there is still much work to be done, according to AMA Vice President for Government Relations Edward Moreland.

“The AMA is calling on motorcyclists and others who face health insurance discrimination to urge their U.S. Representatives to support H.R. 1076, known as the HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical Correction Act,” said Moreland. “Time is short. The bill has broad bi-partisan support but we need 218 votes for passage. If we don’t act by April, we will likely miss our chance for legislative action in 2008.”

Read the entire message at

http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/2008/HIPAA.asp