From: tulsavicrider
Subject: [Reps] Oklahoma bills
To: reps@mrf.org
Date: Monday, February 15, 2010, 8:22 PM
Oklahoma is on fire. On Wednesday, Feb. 10th, we had one of the most successful Legislative Breakfasts that ABATE of Oklahoma has sponsored in many years. Below are the bills we are working this season:
SB 1324 "Gunner?s Bill" This bill will add $3 to every motorcycle registration. The money collected will be placed in a "lockbox" to be used for motorcycle education and safety. A similar bill passed both houses by a huge majority last year, but did not get any further as the legislators did not want to pass any fee bills.
HB 3339 Motorcycle Advisory Committee This one is, in a way, "part 2" of Gunner's Bill and may be merged with SB 1324 in the future. This bill will change the make up of the existing advisory committee, which has only 3 riders on it and has never met. The purpose of this committee is to advise and assist the Commissioner in the development, administration and operation of the Motorcycle Safety and Education Program and the setting of goals, objectives and priorities for the Program. In other words, how to spend the money.
The new committee is to be made up of (from the bill) the Administrator, who shall serve as chair of the Committee and shall be a nonvoting member, and seven (7) voting members, six of whom shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety and one of whom shall be appointed by the Insurance Commissioner. One member shall be a certified instructor of motorcycle safety and education; three members shall be a licensed and safety course certified motorcycle owner/operators; one member shall represent private sector motorcycle rider education schools; one member shall be a representative of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office; and the member appointed by the Insurance Commissioner shall be an employee of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
SB1320 Malfunctioning Traffic Light This bill allows motorcycles to treat stop lights that fail to sense them as a 4 way stop. A similar bill passed both houses by a large majority last year only to get stalled.
One major issue is that this is an election years and, once again, those pesky legislators are hesitant to pass a fee bill. We have a lot of help to get Gunner's Bill passed, so we are optimistic.
Robert "Gunner" Catcher
