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MRF E-MAIL NEWS
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
P.O. Box 1808
Washington, DC 20013-1808
202-546-0983 (voice)
202-546-0986 (fax)
jeff@mrf.org (e-mail)
http://www.mrf.org (website)
#06LR06 - MRF LEADERS' REPORT – October 26, 2006
TO: The Leaders of the American Motorcyclists' Rights Movement
FROM: Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice President - Government Relations
LAUTENBERG LETTER - Recently, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) sent a letter to all fifty governors praising the benefits of compulsory state helmet laws. Eighty-two-year-old Lautenberg is gearing up for a fifth Senate term in 2008 and appears ready to continue his efforts to mandate safety. While Lautenberg played down his sound defeat on the Senate floor last year following his call for a vote on a mandatory motorcycle helmet law amendment, he closed his recent letter suggesting similar legislation may be introduced in the United States Senate in the near future.
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), along with Garden State ABATE (ABATE of NJ) and the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), arranged a meeting with Mr. Lautenberg’s DC office staff. The purpose of the meeting was to attempt to determine if the Senator’s goal is to save lives or merely to grandstand, using the helmet issue for personal political gain. During the meeting, staffers revealed that while Lautenberg is a tireless advocate of highway safety, his preferred method of achieving his goal is with a federal or state mandate.
Safer highways are important to both the MRF and Mr. Lautenberg. However, historically mandates prove not to be the solution to the problem, as Mr. Lautenberg would have you believe. The MRF position will always be that quality education and effective measures assuring road user accountability will result in safer roads for everyone. The MRF will continue to educate Mr. Lautenberg, informing him about the methods and practices that do work when it comes to motorcycle safety. We will continue to closely monitor his intentions. Intuition tells me he is not prepared to abandon the concept of helmet mandates any time soon.
You are encouraged to contact the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative in your state and inquire about the letter. Ask if a response has been or will be sent to Lautenberg’s office by your state. The MRF does not recommend that you contact Senator Lautenberg’s office at this time. If history is any indicator generating a national response will only serve to provide unwarranted attention and validation for his unsolicited letter.
MORE GOVERNORS’ LETTERS - Another letter arrived in most gubernatorial mailboxes recently but this time it was good news. Forty-four states and Puerto Rico received notice they would be receiving at least $100,000.00 for motorcycle rider education and awareness campaigns. The actual amount awarded to each state is determined by a complex formula, taking population and public road miles into account. Essentially, more people and more miles of public roads in your state result in more money. The amount awarded has no bearing whatsoever on the existing rider education and safety community at large in each state. The states not listed either failed to qualify or did not apply for this round of grants.
Knowing how much money your state has received will enable you to keep your state motorcycle safety division accountable when they start spending. According to the public law that created the grant program, your state can make some of the funds available to a non-profit organization incorporated in your state. Whether your non-profit organization obtains a portion of the funds or not, at the very least you can make sure that the money is used for motorcycle safety and awareness as it was intended. If you are having problems with the way the money is being used in your state, let the MRF know and we will do what we can to help right any wrongs. The chiefs at NHTSA have already agreed to help direct the money to quality rider education and awareness campaigns and away from useless studies and government waste, fraud, and abuse.
Applications for next year’s grants are due August 1, 2007 and will be open to the fifty states and all US territories. The program will spend another six million dollars from 2007 through 2008 and climb to seven million dollars in 2009 when the program expires. The states include:
STATE FISCAL YEAR 2006 GRANTS
ALASKA $100,000
ARIZONA $104,577
CALIFORNIA $412,672
COLORADO $103,649
CONNECTICUT $100,000
DELAWARE $100,000
FLORIDA $225,414
GEORGIA $148,666
HAWAII $100,000
IDAHO $100,000
ILLINOIS $195,477
INDIANA $122,952
IOWA $100,000
KENTUCKY $100,000
LOUISIANA $100,000
MAINE $100,000
MARYLAND $100,413
MASSACHUSETTS $111,845
MICHIGAN $167,290
MINNESOTA $120,614
MISSOURI $125,360
MONTANA $100,000
NEBRASKA $100,000
NEVADA $100,000
NEW HAMPSHIRE $100,000
NEW JERSEY $132,247
NEW MEXICO $100,000
NEW YORK $253,711
NORTH CAROLINA $143,946
NORTH DAKOTA $100,000
OHIO $180,080
OKLAHOMA $101,629
OREGON $100,000
PENNSYLVANIA $189,804
PUERTO RICO $100,000
RHODE ISLAND $100,000
SOUTH DAKOTA $100,000
TENNESSEE $117,703
TEXAS $316,210
UTAH $100,000
VIRGINIA $127,286
WASHINGTON $118,102
WEST VIRGINIA $100,000
WISCONSIN $120,353
WYOMING $100,000
TOTAL: FORTY FOUR STATES AND PUERTO RICO $5,940,000
Motorcycle Advisory Council Holds Inaugural Meeting
The recently announced Federal Highway Administration Motorcycle Advisory Council (FHWA MAC) met on October 24th in Washington DC. The council, created in the last Highway Bill (PL 109-59), was formally introduced by the Department of Transportation last month. Five of the ten seats on the council are held by the MRF, ABATE of OH, ABATE of SD, AMA and the MIC. The remaining seats are held by state department of transportation officials and traffic safety engineers. The group’s charter is to advise on motorcycle safety and infrastructure issues.
The meeting was also attended by the newly confirmed Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Mary Peters. Secretary Peters opened the meeting by sharing her love of motorcycling with the group and how important it is to her to see the fatality numbers come down while keeping motorcycling as pure as possible. She encouraged the members of the advisory council to be thorough as they explore the issues before them. Secretary Peters is the proud owner of two motorcycles that she rides as often as possible.
The Council decided to focus on a number of large issues such as pavement surfaces and markings, barriers, signage, roadway design, and Intelligent Transportation Systems, just to name a few. The council will also work to increase awareness of the issues with highway engineering firms, state transportation officials, and others in the highway and road industries that make critical decisions when designing our nation’s roads, bridges and barriers. The council will compile a set of recommendations over time and report those recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation. The council is set to reconvene sometime this coming spring.
OOPS!
MRF PAC recently announced its endorsement of Mr. John Gard, who is running for the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin. The official announcement sent out by the MRF PAC was subject to a technical problem that prevented the correct version of the release from going out. The result was a release littered with typos. The MRF PAC would like to publicly apologize to Mr. Gard and ABATE of Wisconsin for any confusion or embarrassment this may have caused. I can assure that every safeguard has been installed to ensure that this won’t happen again. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me in our Washington, DC office with any questions, comments or threats at jeff@mrf.org or 202-546-0983.
Jeff Hennie
MRF Vice President – Government Relations
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(c)All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction permitted with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation, incorporated in 1987, is a membership-based, national motorcyclists' rights organization headquartered in Washington, DC. The first motorcyclists' rights organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington, DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice devoted exclusively to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in the early 1990s to advocate the election of candidates who would champion the cause of rider safety and rider freedom.
The MRF proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and the very founders of the American riders' rights movement among its leading members. The MRF is involved in federal and state legislation and regulations, motorcycling safety education, training, and public awareness. The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights organizations with direction and information, and sponsors annual regional and national educational seminars for motorcyclists rights activists, as well as publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF REPORTS.
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