South Carolina Motorcycle Rights Association

Highway Bill Holds Potential Wins for Motorcyclists

This week the House began to do some substantial work on the highway bill. If you have been playing along at home you already know that elimination of motorcycle-only checkpoints and tougher new rules for NHTSA are already in the bill under its Science Committee portion. The checkpoint language even got an upgrade, as it now contains an additional provision that calls for a study from the National Academies to determine the most successful tactics for avoiding a motorcycle crash. This is all from the good work of the honorable James Sensenbrenner and his fellow committee member Randy Hultgren.

There’s even more good news: the lobby ban also got an improvement in the bill. Currently, the Department of Transportation is prohibited by law from lobbying state governments. The new ban would include federal and local governments as well, effectively cutting off the DOT at the knees!

Additionally, an amendment is at the ready to reinstate the federal motorcycle advisory council. It is way too early to determine if it will be address in full committee or perhaps on the House floor. If my crystal ball were not so cloudy, I would know the answer. So we wait.

Possible Government Shutdown on the Horizon
Another month, another serious threat of a Federal Government shutdown. The beginning of the fiscal year—October 1—is rapidly approaching, and there is little agreement on how to set funding levels for next year. A raucous faction within the Republican Party on the House side of Capitol Hill has vowed to vote against any spending measure that keeps Planned Parenthood’s funding intact. Planned Parenthood, a healthcare provider for women, has been embroiled in controversy ever since video surfaced reportedly showing Planned Parenthood leadership negotiating the sale price for body parts harvested from fetal tissue. The abortion issue is a top-tier issue for many conservative Republicans, and often just as important to Democrats is the issue of keeping as much availability to the procedure as possible. All that’s to say that we could be marching into a government shutdown, again.

Hope to see you at Meeting of the Minds next weekend September 24 – 26 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.