 
 Legislative Report
By Dave Dwyer 
Madison -- AB 25 and SB 16 These bills
would establish a special plate for motorcycles
owned or leased by veterans with disabilities that
limit or impair the ability to walk. These bills
were also scheduled for a hearing at the same
committee meetings as AB 21 and SB 11 but were
removed from the agenda. The fiscal estimate for
these bills shows that there is an estimate that
the DMV would issue 37 of these plates, and they
expect the cost to be over $11,800 to implement
the process and produce the plate. This special
plate would entitle the disabled veteran to
certain parking privileges and may be
personalized. Department of Transportation (DOT)
would also be allowed to issue a temporary
disabled veterans plate if the disability is
temporary.
We were instrumental in passing the Veterans
Motorcycle Plate and Disabled Motorcycle Plate.
Now ABATE is supporting passage of these bills.
Please contact your State Senator and
Assemblyperson and ask them to support these
bills. The Disabled Veterans who are still able to
ride motorcycles should be able to have their
service recognized when they are riding a
motorcycle as well as when they are driving their
car or truck. These plates already are available
for their cars and trucks. The services these
Disabled Veterans have provided to our country
should make the cost of administrating this
program seem like a bargain.
AB 21 and SB 11 deal with special license
plates for cars displaying either the symbol of
the Lions Club or Harley Davidson. Money from
these plates in excess of the normal registration
fee is put into a fund, and, when the amount reaches
a pre set level, it is distributed to the
designated agency to be used for the stated
purpose. In the case of the Harley Davidson plates
the money is to be used for "Motorcycle
Safety." On April 5th SB 11 was
passed out of the Senate Committee on
Transportation, Public Safety, and Veterans and
Military Affairs, and on April 11th AB
21 passed out of the Assembly Transportation
Committee. AB 21 was then scheduled for an
Assembly floor vote on April 17.
These bills would lower the amount of revenues
retained by DOT for the initial costs of
production of these special plates from $23,700
to $6,580 for Lions Club plates and from $23,700
to $16,100 for motorcycle safety plates for
automobiles. When the original Harley Davidson
Share the Road bill was introduced, ABATE of
Wisconsin took a neutral position due to these
being automobile plates and not knowing how the
extra money would be spent by our DOT. Other than
ABATE continuing to remain neutral on these bills,
the only difference that I see is that the
reduction of retained revenue between the Lions
plate and the Harley plate is $9,520 more for the
Harley plate than for the Lions plate.
Vulnerable Roadway Users -- The Bicycle
Federation of Wisconsin is working on introducing
a bill to make it a felony to injure or kill a
person that they consider a "vulnerable
highway user." Their definition includes
bicyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, moped and
motor scooter operators, skate boarders, roller
skaters, farm tractor operators, law enforcement
officers and EMT personal along the road, and
others. Chubby, Steve Panten, and I attended a
meeting with the lead sponsors and the Bicycle
Federation lobbyists to discuss our differences on
this proposal. ABATE is adamantly opposed to
motorcyclists being put into a "protected
class" of "vulnerable roadway
users." We are the only group in this list
that is fully a part of the normal traffic stream.
Everyone else listed is what could be considered a
side stream of slower or stopped traffic or
persons. At a minimum, motorcycles, mopeds, and
motor scooters will be removed from the list.
This proposal would create two separate classes of
roadway users, vulnerable and the remainder. If
you were to injure or kill one of the vulnerable
class, your penalty would include fines up to
$10,000 and years in jail. Injure or kill any
other highway users and the regular traffic
penalties apply.
Part of the problem of including motorcyclists in
this protected class is the fact that sooner or
later, if we are considered vulnerable and we
agree to that classification, some do-gooder is
going to work to pass more laws to protect us from
ourselves: mandatory helmets, leg protectors,
armored riding suits.... The list could go on and on,
and so would the fight against them.
We will continue to work with the sponsors and
other interested parties to shape this into
something we can agree on.
Washington D. C. -- Later this month we will
be making our annual ride to our nation's
Capitol for our spring lobbying trip. Some of the
bills we will be discussing include:
S 344 has been introduced by Sen. Wicker of
Mississippi and now has 4 cosponsors, none from
Wisconsin. This is a bill to prohibit the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) from approving the introduction into
commerce of gasoline that contains greater than
10-volume-percent ethanol. Please contact our US
Senators and ask them to sign on to this bill.
HR 875, introduced by Rep. Sensenbrenner
with 12 cosponsors including Rep. Petri, will
require the EPA to perform an evaluation of the
short-term and long-term environmental, safety,
durability, and performance effects of the
introduction of mid-level ethanol blends on
on-road, non-road, and marine engines, on-road and
non-road vehicles, and related equipment. This
bill, if it passes, will also halt all sale of any
fuel with greater than 10% and less than 20%
alcohol until the evaluation is completed. This
should not affect the current flex fuel vehicles
on the road or the sale of E-85 for those
vehicles. We need to get more sponsors from
Wisconsin signed on to this bill so call your US
House member and ask them to sign on to HR 875.
HR 1462, introduced by Rep. Goodlatte, is a
bill to amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate
certain requirements under the renewable fuel
program, to prohibit the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency from approving the
introduction into commerce of gasoline that
contains greater than 10-volume-percent ethanol.
Rep. Sensenbrenner is the only person from
Wisconsin signed on to this bill so we have our
work cut out for us.
Dwyer, Dave. "Legislative Report." ABATE of Wisconsin Newsletter May. 2013.
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