ABATE of Oklahoma

Ooh Rah! Our right of way bill (HB 2706) has been signed by the governor! This fixes the flaw in Oklahoma traffic law that prevented the person who turned left in front of a US Navy SEAL from being prosecuted. It was a fatal crash that occurred in OKC. This is a bill that was on its way to dying when Suzette rescued it.

We are now five for five.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE NEWSFLASH MAY 4, 2010

We Got the Red Light Bill Passed!

It’s official. Our malfunctioning traffic signal bill/red light bill/dead red bill will now become the law of the land here in Oklahoma come November 1^st. You will be able to proceed cautiously through a malfunctioning red light or turn left when the left turn light won’t turn on for you. The Governor signed it into law this afternoon.

I have to admit, this one was a struggle. It started five years ago with Tiger Mike and Holly and they worked it well for three years. I started working on it two legislative seasons ago. Suzette and I spent as much time tromping around for this one as we did for Gunner’s Law. Suzette met with the OKC Chief of Police among other outside people about it. I met with Tulsa PD about it etc etc. We had countless meetings with legislators. Anyway, I’m sure Suzette, and we ducklings who follow her around, will find something to work on next year but it won’t be a malfunctioning red light bill.

Here are some answers to the public criticism that will follow when news of this bill is made public. You will see headlines that read: New Motorcycle Law Allows Motorcyclists to Run Red Lights!

The defense: The traffic control system is to allow all of us to move around safely. It should control and protect all licensed motor vehicles that travel the public roadways. Motorcycles are licensed motor vehicles in this country. We should not be denied safety and convenience because of our choice of a motorcycle as our mode of transportation. Some censored traffic lights do not detect us so therefore, the system fails us. Not all the lights can be adjusted to detect us. We must have a legal solution for when we are caught in one of these signals.

The solution is this law. You must know: 1. that the light is sensor controlled. 2. that it has not detected you. Having satisfied both of those requirements, you may proceed through the intersection when it is safe to do so.

We didn’t ask for this law for our convenience. Every year, motorcyclists are killed or injured while waiting for a traffic signal that will never come.

There will also be raving letters to editors about blood in the street. The smart ass answer to them is to say that we didn’t suddenly get stupid just because we passed a law. Please hang onto this email as it gives you the tools you’ll need to answer other riders and the newspaper. I’ll be glad to help you with them.

So far, we’re doing fairly well this year. We will keep on truckin” til we’re successful with our last bill. It has to do with intersection right of way.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE NEWSFLASH APRIL 27, 2010

Good news is coming in pairs for us.

SB 1329, our malfunctioning traffic light bill, has now passed in both chambers of the legislature and is headed for Governor Brad Henry’s desk for his signature.

SB 1917, the bill that will make ABATE specialty license plates available, has passed in both chambers of the legislature and is now headed for Governor Brad Henry’s desk for his signature.

We still have one bill left to pass - HB 2322, known as the Casey Lewis bill. Casey Lewis was a US Navy SEAL who was horribly killed by an Oklahoma City motorist that turned left in front of him. No charges could be filed against the motorist due to a subtle flaw in Oklahoma ’s right of way law. HB 2322 slams that loophole shut. It needs to pass in the House before being sent to Governor Henry’s desk for his signature. We are confident that it will pass in the House.

We owe Suzette a lot. She has taken a part-time job and turned it into a full time passion for motorcycle legislation. For two sessions now, she has remained doggedly focused and single minded about working these bills through the complex rules of the Oklahoma legislature. The contacts she brought with her have been invaluable. We also now have a lot of new contacts who have been instrumental to our success. Please let Suzette know how much we appreciate her efforts on our behalf. Her email address is: oksuzette@yahoo.com

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

Please pass this good news on to your chapter members who may not be on this list.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE APRIL 12, 2010

I just got a call from Suzette and it gives me great pride and pleasure to announce that Gunner's Bill is now Gunner's Law! The Governor signed it this afternoon. (HB 2264) Also signed into law was SB 1670 - the bill that changes the makeup of the Oklahoma Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee. So, not only will we generate about $400,000 each year but we will also have a substantial say in how it is spent. This will, for the first time, give Oklahomans a statewide comprehensive motorcycle safety program. There is no doubt that this victory will save lives. No legislation is more important than legislation that saves lives. .

Most especially we must thank Suzette Rhodes for being the brains behind this great accomplishment. After that, there are literally hundreds of people who helped make it happen. At the top of the list are all of you who made it to the Legislative Breakfast and everyone who wanted to be there but, for one reason or another, couldn't come. A big thank you goes out to all of you who contacted your legislators and those chapters that invited legislators to come speak and get acquainted. We are also greatful to those who put there money where their beliefs are and joined ABATE of Oklahoma. The COC with their thousands of members and tight organization also made a very positive force.

I would like to particularly thank the ABATE Board of Directors who took a big leap of faith in voting to hire a professional lobbyist. Some of you had to wrestle with that vote. For those Representatives, it was not an easy decision.

Thanks also goes to the Oklahoma Office of Highway Safety. It was their inspiration that got all of this started. Thank you Scott and all of the wonderful members of your staff. We literally couldn't have done it without you.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE APRIL 5, 2010

Gunner’s bill passed in the Senate this afternoon with a vote of 44 – 0. Now, it will go to the Governor for his signature. There is no indication that the Gov. wants to veto this bill. Additionally, when a governor vetoes a bill, the veto can be overridden by the legislature. It requires a 2/3 vote to override. This bill passed in the House with a big majority and in the Senate, it was unanimous. We are one signature away from Gunner ’s Bill becoming Gunner ’s Law.

Just by joining ABATE, everyone of you had a part in passing this bill.

Job Well Done!

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE REPORT MARCH 29, 2010

The legislative news for this week is as short as it is sweet.

Gunner’s Bill, HB 2264, will most likely be heard in the House tomorrow, Monday, Mar. 28. If it passes in the House (and we have every reason to believe it will), it will then go for its final vote in the Senate, possibly on Wed. March 31. This same bill passed in the Senate last year with a large margin of votes. Next stop after the Senate will be the Governor’s desk.

SB 1329 the malfunctioning traffic light bill passed in the House Safety Committee by a vote of 11-0 last week. That’s a big sigh of relief and the unanimous vote just put the frosting on it.

Also last week, SB1670, our bill that will change the composition of the Motorcycle Safety Committee, passed in the House Safety Committee by a vote of 11-0. How sweet it is.

The bill to fix a loophole in the right of way laws has been re-written at Suzette’s request and is moving nicely through the process. Before Suzette worked her magic, the bill was dead in the water.

And finally, our bill that will create motorcycle ABATE tags is moving along as well. It has been rolled into a single bill that now has about 40 other tag requests in it. Generally, these composite bills just move right on through without a lot of notice or opposition.

So, the news is good. We’ve got five bills moving nicely through the process plus the May as Motorcycle Safety Month that is being very competently handled by Tiger Mike.

Never, ever, plan a party until a bill is actually signed into law by the Governor. However, all indications are that ABATE of Oklahoma is going to have a good year.

This week’s team will be Suzette, of course, plus Arlene Urias, Jim (Radar) Koelle and yours truly. We’re all working hard but having fun doing it.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE MARCH 20, 2010

Even though the weather has been bleak all weekend, the news from our legislative efforts is anything but bleak. We had two crucial meetings on two different issues.

First, a little background. We’ve been trying to get motorcycle awareness messages put on the state’s electronic highway signs for some time. We hit dead end after dead end. Suzette Rhodes, our professional lobbyist, came up with a winning idea. Representative T. W. Shannon, from Lawton, is the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee. Suzette has worked with him successfully in the past. She asked Chairman Shannon if he could set up a meeting in his office with some of the Oklahoma Transportation Department officials. On Tuesday, March 16, Suzette, Jim Koelle, and I met with Mr. Gary Ridley, Secretary of Transportation and two of his staff members. The meeting went very well with Chairman Shannon backing up our request. During the Motorcycle Awareness month of May, there is one week that is designated as the federal “Share the Road Week”. Secretary Ridley agreed to run our awareness messages during that week. OK, one week isn’t a lot but it’s one week more than we’ve ever had before – and we’ve gotten our foot in the door. As Jim Koelle (Radar) said, one week down and 51 to go.

Chairman Shannon (R-Lawton) believes in our cause and has done us a great service. Please make a phone call or send an email to his office thanking him on behalf of ABATE of OK. Calls or emails from our Lawton members would be particularly helpful.

tw.shannon@okhouse.gov

505-557-7374

Suzette also set up a meeting with Scott Watkins of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office. Dir. Watkins, plus an attorney and an engineer from OHSO, met with Suzette, Radar, and me, also on Mar. 16. The OHSO believes that we’re going to get Gunner’s Bill (HB 2264) passed. That will result in a substantial sum of money coming in for a motorcycle safety program. If everything happens as it should, the first of the money will to go to the lockbox as of November of this year. No one wants to get caught unprepared so the OHSO has done a lot of pre-planning for how the program should work and how the money should be handled. The purpose of the meeting was to present that plan to us for our comment and approval. Let me say that again. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office presented their preliminary motorcycle safety plan to OK ABATE because they “wanted to make sure this was okay with you guys”. God bless Oklahoma and these state officials. The plan surpasses anything we had even hoped for. More on that later.

I’m happy to let you know that Arlene Urias from Three Sands is going to join us next week during our rounds of the Capitol. That means that Mother Suzette is going to have three ducklings following her around as she puts her pumps on marble. If anyone else would like to join us, please let me know. We’ll be glad to include you.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE MARCH 2, 2010

On Tuesday afternoon, March the 2^nd, the Senate of the Great State of Oklahoma passed Senate Bill 1329 which is our Malfunctioning Traffic Light bill. The vote was 45 in favor and 0 against! The primary authors were Senators Bass and Hoskins. Co-Authors were Senators Anderson, Lamb, and Ownby.

The same day, Tuesday, March 2^nd, the Senate passed Senate Bill 1324, also known as Gunners Bill. It adds a $3.00 fee to the cost of motorcycle tags. The money goes to an administrative lockbox which specifies that the money can only be used to promote motorcycle safety and awareness. The vote was 41 in favor and 4 against. The authors were Senators Sullivan and Russell.

As you’ll all remember, we’ve been chasing the Malfunctioning Traffic Light Bill for several years. It’s been controversial and at times, difficult to promote.

Gunner’s Bill will fund Oklahoma’s first ever statewide motorcycle safety and awareness program. It’s our signature bill for this year and we’re all very determined to get it passed. In loving memory of Gunner, we could do nothing less.

Having been successful in the Senate, the action now moves to the House of Representatives. The House members will note the wide margin these bills passed by in the Senate and that will help us.

We’ll put out more information later this week but when you see bills like these that we’ve had a tough time with in the past getting passed by 45 to 0 and 41 to 4, it tells us one important thing. These bills have been lobbied hard, skillfully, and successfully. We have our professional lobbyist, Suzette Northcutt, to thank for making it happen. In supporting roles, we have Jim (Radar) Koelle and yours truly, John Pierce. What is meant by supporting roles is that we follow Suzette around the Capitol and try to keep up.

The most important part of the team however is you, the ABATE members. Nearly 200 of you took a day off work, got up early, came to the Capitol, and let your legislators know that you believe in citizen involvement in government and that you care deeply about these issues. That’s a lesson that none of them missed.

These Senators voted to give us what we asked them for. We must thank them for that. Call, write, email, whatever, just let them know that we appreciate what they’ve done for us. Our members and lobbyists cannot pass legislation. Only legislators can do that. As a closing thought, there were four Senators who voted against Gunner’s Bill. Thank them too and maybe it will embarrass them a little and next time they’ll vote with us.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator

ABATE of Oklahoma

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FEBRUARY 17, 2010

We’re off to an early start! On Tuesday, Feb. 2^nd, HB 3339, our bill to change the membership of the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee, was scheduled to be heard by the House Public Safety Committee. The bill is being sponsored by Rep. Mike Christian of Oklahoma City. The meeting started way late in the day and our lobbyist, Suzette Rhodes had to leave to teach a class. Brook Bullock had joined us so he and I went to the committee meeting. There was a lot of discussion and questioning by the committee members. Scott Watkins, Director of the Oklahoma Office of Highway Safety, was called upon to testify, and so was I. Apparently, the Representatives liked our answers. They voted unanimously to pass the bill and sent it along to the full House to be heard and voted upon there. It should be scheduled to go on the floor soon and when it does, I’ll let everyone know so you can listen to it live if you have the time.

Yesterday, Feb. 17, we had two bills scheduled to be heard in committee. First thing in the morning, SB 1329, our Malfunctioning Traffic Signal bill, was heard in the Senate Judiciary committee. It is sponsored by our good friend from Lawton, Sen. Randy Bass. The bill was unanimously passed by the committee with no discussion. Before the meeting started, I overheard one of the Senators ask if this was the old “Dead Red” bill. When she was told that it was, she said, “It’s about time we get this thing passed. It’s been around forever.” I’m sure that we all wholeheartedly agree with the Senator.

In the afternoon, SB 1670, the Senate version of our motorcycle safety committee bill was heard in the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. It, too, is sponsored by Senator Randy Bass of Lawton. It also passed unanimously with no questions or discussion. Hey, we’re on a roll here.

Jim (Radar) Koelle made a very early start from Broken Arrow so that he could join Suzette and me for the day. He sat in on the two committee hearings and went with us as we lobbied a number of the legislators in their offices. He knows the issues and helped explain some of our requests. With three of us going in and out of doors plus the tremendous turn out for the Legislative Breakfast, the legislators can’t help but notice that we are the most passionate and committed grass roots outfit in Oklahoma. They also understand that with so much passion and the fact that we cover every corner of Oklahoma, we are good friends to have come election time. If anyone else would like to join us at the Capitol, please let me know. We love to have help.

Today, (the 17^th) was an absolutely crucial hearing. Gunner’s Bill (SB 1324) was heard by the Senate Appropriation and Budget Committee. It passed out of the committee with, once again, a unanimous vote and was sent to be heard by the full Senate. Only one Senator had any questions about the bill and those were very ably answered by Senator Steve Russell of Oklahoma City. Senator Russell, BTW, is very interested in veteran affairs and goes out of his way to protect our 2^nd amendment rights in everything he does. He is truly a friend.

I’m very pleased with our progress. We are light years ahead of where we were at this time last year. The new connections and friendships we’ve made in the last year are really paying off. We now have people other than ABATE members who believe in what we’re doing and are willing to help us behind the scenes. It makes a big difference.

John Pierce

Legislative Coordinator