Bikers Of America, Know Your Rights!

For Immediate Distribution



June 25, 2010

Dear ABATE Brothers & Sisters,

We are at a very difficult juncture in our fight against SB-435. By now, most of you are aware that Jim Lombardo has negotiated an amended bill with Senator Pavley and the Assembly Transportation Committee. While it is not what most of us had hoped for, it is a far better resolution than what we were looking at in the original bill language. Because of the highly charged nature of this issue and rapidly changing developments, Jim Lombardo, Legislative Director, Sarge Matthews, Chairman of the Board, and myself, Anthony Jaime, Executive Director held a conference call early yesterday evening to discuss the latest developments, our options, and possible direction the organization should take. At this point, we reserve our personal comments until the members of the Political Action Committee have had a chance to look over Mr. Lombardo’s latest communication and vote on a course of action.

I would ask that all of you to take a moment and think hard about the possible pitfalls and consequences of both forks of the road that lay before us. To accept the bill as amended through negotiation or go for broke are the choices. I have been reading all of your emails and comments and there are definitely some passionate folks out there with extremely clear-cut ideas on which direction to proceed with this bill. There have also been a great many heated exchanges that have occurred but I would caution all to direct that passion and energy into finding the solution that best works for ABATE of California, and the entire motorcycling community that we represent. I would also caution us to NOT let our differences of opinion drive divisive wedges between those of varying viewpoints. That definitely plays into our opponent’s game plan and it is only through the incredible display of unity we have put forth so far that we have been so successful with SB-435 to date. Truly, it is times like these that try men’s souls and many of us are wondering if all of hard work and efforts put forth by so many have been in vain?

Let me briefly sum up the where we currently stand. As a smog bill, SB-435 has been killed! What we are dealing with now is SB-435 as an EPA noise label-matching bill. We have been successful in getting most of the teeth pulled from the original amended bill language. The item most favorable to us is that ALL motorcycles currently on the road would be grand-fathered in; it has gone from a moving violation to a fix-it-ticket; no points; reduced from $300 to $25; it is now a secondary offense; no roadside inspections; and no inspections while parked. Moreover, we are all in agreement that we feel that even as written, SB-435 will still be unenforceable. To say that we have not managed to accomplish much of what we set out to do would be untrue. Whether or not we can we kill it outright is anybody’s guess but this is a far cry from the bill we were faced with a few short weeks ago and that is a testament to all of your hard work!

After conversing with Jim Lombardo about the terminology of “going neutral” on the bill, I am less concerned about that aspect as he explained to me that “going neutral” simply means we accept the bill as revised and amended with the changes we negotiated for. ABATE of California is still listed as being in opposition in the legislative analysis. As I understand the use of the term, it means we scored some good ones and we now have to go to our corner of the ring and wait. We didn’t score a knock-out but the judge’s scorecards reflect that we have won almost every round on points, and while it is not a perfect outcome we can walk away with a win. And yes, it is a split decision and an ugly win but it is a win nevertheless. Given the nature of our opponent and the political climate in California, we have acquitted ourselves incredibly well. That is all I am going to say other than to urge all of the PAC members to think long and hard as you weigh the options and possible consequences. And thank all of you who have worked so hard to gather signatures, write letters and send faxes and make phone calls to the Transportation Committee. We would not have gotten this far without you. The 36,000 plus signatures all of you gathered in opposition to SB-435 certainly made an impression with the Transportation Committee and gave Jim the necessary leverage to get these concessions from Senator Pavley.


Sincerely,

Anthony Jaime
Executive Director
ABATE of California