South Carolina Motorcycle Rights Association

This week saw ABATE of Illinois lobbying Washington D.C. A team of seasoned citizen lobbyists and some newbies did a great job meeting with pretty much the entire delegation. All of the meetings were effective and successful. One office even cosponsored the House stop motorcycle only checkpoint legislation (HR 1861) before the group left for the week.

ABATE of Illinois and I also met with some of the higher-ups at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to talk auto-cycles. We are going to be working with NHTSA to redefine the federal definition of motorcycles to create a proper classification for the new three-wheeled vehicles hitting the streets. In a shocking turn of events, we all agreed that there needs to be a new category to capture enclosed or unenclosed, three-wheeled vehicles, possibly with side-by-side seating and steering wheels.

Motorcycle Awareness Month, a.k.a. transportation authority expiration month a.k.a. May. At the end of the month all federal transportation funding runs out. As of the end of this week, no solutions, extensions or even a Hail Mary plan exists. Please contact the MRF office if you or anyone you know is planning on attending Bikers Inside the Beltway (also you can also register via the MRF website).

The race to replace disgraced Congressman Aaron Schock has begun, and seems to have ended already. Not really, the actual primary is July 7^th, but the heir apparent has emerged. Darin LaHood looks to have laced up the election. He is the son of former Congressman-turned-Secretary of Transportation and MRF Champ, Ray LaHood. Darin's campaign announced that they had over $500,000 in the bank. As a state legislator, he was always supportive of everything that ABATE of Illinois asked of him. So we look forward to working with Darin in D.C.