We have a correction on the date for the state meeting, it will be held on Saturday, May 5th not May 6th, as previously reported. Members are welcome to come up on Friday May 4th and camp out over night, we will be cooking something and sitting around the camp fire having fun. Then the meeting with the district advisor's will be at 11:00AM Saturday morning, and the general membership meeting will be at 1:00PM.
Also the Austin TMRA2 meeting will be tomorrow night Tuesday, May 1st, at Cindy's Gone Hog Wild on Hwy 71, at 7:30PM.
Update on Bills
HB 727 came out of Committee on Tuesday night. This is our Helmet Amendment Bill that would remove the insurance or medical portion of the current helmet law.
HB 706, the Equal Access Bill has not yet received a vote of the full Civil Practices Committee. Chairman Cooke has been told repeatedly that we are ready for a vote but has not yet held one.
HB 2309, our Failure To Yield Bill has also had a hearing but no vote as of this writing.
We spent a long hard weekend at the Hawgs of Texas Rally in Sommerville and registered only 23 new members, thanks to the Iron Wolves M/C who invited us to set up at this Rally. Terri and I had a really good time and we spoke to hundreds of riders who never heard of TMRA2 and couldn't care less what was happening in Austin. Several took apps and said they would mail them in to the office. Some said they would check out our website.
One man even claimed to be the one who passed the helmet law and swore his name was on the Bill.
We were very fortunate to have been placed in a space next to a fantastic couple. If not for the pleasure we found in this new relationship I would have elected to leave much sooner due to humidity. Thanks to Dave and Tracy for making the weekend great. The Sunday morning service by Tribe of Judah was great. Their Christian rock band that played Sunday morning was the best rock band at the rally. We returned to the office about noon and I have just finished answering the e-mails that need answers and deleting those not important in the realm of politics.
I did buy myself a very unique ride on the last night of the Rally. It will be unveiled at the state Meeting on Saturday. It will give me better mobility at Rallies and in the Halls of the House when necessary.
The following is a message I received from Senator Carona’s office along with my response. I can but assume all Warriors will agree with my answer.
Sputnik -
Would you be willing to meet with Transportation and Homeland Security Staff and some of the previous medical professionals to discuss alternatives to the helmet bill (SB 1368)?
On Tuesday perhaps? We sincerely would like to work towards a compromise that both parties can agree to.
Erika Akpan
Asst. Clerk
Senate Transportation and Homeland Security
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Erika;
We came to Senator Carona to help us stop the Law Enforcement problems we have faced for the past 10 years due to the wording and lack of knowledge of law officers, prosecutors and judges. The senator did not even speak with us in good faith as the next day he filed SB 1368 as a back door Helmet Law.
We were asked to meet with the senator and a Head Trauma expert to discuss the Bill. Instead we met with Lobbyist, an attorney and possibly someone who worked at a hospital who wanted to stress the cost of motorcycle injuries and claimed to not know any details on auto injured patients. Two meetings and not one word on how to stop harassment which is our goal.
If the senator wants to consider adding an amendment to say all Texas citizens riding in or on a vehicle in this state must carry the $150,000 medical insurance and may be stopped by traffic officers to check whether they in fact have the required insurance coverage perhaps we could talk.
We know that this is not going to take place so we can but assume that another meeting would serve no purpose. We have compromised for 10 years and will no longer do so.
Guess this pretty much puts us at a stalemate. We have the support to kill SB 1368 if it comes for a vote and we know we won't get a fair hearing on HB 727 in the committee chaired by Senator Carona. We came to him assuming his honor and integrity but got a rude awakening during this process.
Thanks for the invitation but we shall just have to endure harassment a while longer and get what relief we can through the civil process. We will be here after the good senator has moved on or the new governor gives us a chairman who will really work with us.
Regards,
Sputnik
State Chair
Texas Motorcycle Rights Association
Ride Safe-Ride Sober
Sputnik
