South Carolina Motorcycle Rights Association

It has been a busy couple of weeks, so let me apologize for the radio silence from D.C. First, it was Heartland STEAM held this year in Bismarck, ND to deliver a legislative report to the group. ABATE of North Dakota did a bang up job hosting and facilitating the event. It was a great event with a great turnout. I got some serious face time with the guest speaker, Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), who happens to be the sponsor of the U.S. Senate bill to provide for privacy when it comes to the event data recorders (EDR) installed on most modern vehicles (S.766). Senator Hoeven is a fantastic legislator with a less is more approach when it comes to government intrusion into our lives.

Then I returned to D.C. and the bikers started to show up. Several states came early to Bikers Inside The Beltway (BITB) to lobby their federal elected officials. Most of the meetings were extremely positive. Overall we had 22 different states represented through out the week. If you couldn't make it this year, you must come next year. Imagine hundreds of bikers walking the halls of Congress. It’s an amazing sight to see.

In the wrap up at the end of the event, we heard from Representatives Scott Riggell (R-VA), French Hill (R-AR), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Randy Weber (R-TX), Tim Walberg (R-MI), and Morgan Griffith (R-VA). If one of them is your home member of Congress, let them know you appreciate their dedication to motorcyclists.

Not skipping a beat, the MRF May board meeting kicked off Friday morning at the Motorcycle Riders Foundation world headquarters in downtown D.C. We had a couple of new board members join the board of directors this May. Welcome to Glenyce Jackson (seated in September) and Todd Riba (replacing Wayne Weirson in interim). Much work was done over the weekend board meeting. I can tell you that the MRF is going into Meeting of the Minds in great shape. You are planning on attending Meeting of the Minds aren't you? This will mark the 31st Meeting of the Minds, descending upon Milwaukee, Wisconsin September 24^th, 2015. See you there.

Jeff