Legislative Report - July 2026

Steve Panten

Picnics, 4th of July Parades, and Legislators

Last month, 14 members from ABATE of Wisconsin joined motorcyclists from around the country in Washington, D.C. to meet with our elected representatives to discuss what is important to motorcyclists in the state, and more importantly, how they can help. This trip is part of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, and it is great that we had that many members who could take the time to make the trip. Every Wisconsin office had an ABATE member in it, and we were able to share the legislative agenda for the MRF, educating them on why it is important to us in the state. The topics were similar to issues we have, or had, in Wisconsin. Right to Repair, Definition of a Motorcycle, Protecting the Internal Combustion Engine, Autonomous Vehicle expansion without proper testing, but there was the Highway Bill.

Let’s talk about that first. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill, or the Highway Bill because that’s easier, is the largest piece of legislation Congress votes on besides the budget, and it needs to be renewed every 5 years. This piece of legislation determines how much money is spent on the nation’s roads, bridges, and public transportation. It is also an opportunity to put in additional language since this needs to be passed to continue funding these projects. The MRF was hoping to include language to renew the ban on NHTSA for lobbying the states for helmet laws and other restrictions on motorcyclists. This ban has been part of the Highway bill for quite a few years, thanks to WI Congressman Sensenbrenner.

Another item was to renew the Motorcycle Advisory Council which was in the last version although it was never truly established. This council is comprised of motorcyclists, manufacturers, rider training coaches, and others involved in motorcycling across the country that reports to NHTSA on issues affecting motorcyclists. And finally, in this version we are also looking to add language to prevent the profiling of motorcyclists based on the type of vehicle that we operate, the clothes that we wear, or who we ride with. Well, I am happy to report that, because of the efforts of the MRF and motorcyclists across the country, we were able to get all these items in the draft of the Highway Bill. It still needs to pass and be signed by the President, but we have the language that we want in the bill.

Moving on the Right to Repair and Definition of a Motorcycle. It was clear to us that there are other companies and groups that are lobbying against us on these issues. At the meetings that I attended, the offices understood our position on these issues but also made it clear that other groups had strong points in opposition to our position. Just like in Madison, if we are going to be successful in getting these passed, we are going to have show up when there is a Call to Action. We have John Deere in the state and vehicle manufacturers lobbying against us for Right to Repair, and we have Polaris and the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) lobbying against us for correcting the definition of a motorcycle. Please watch for Call to Actions when they come out and respond!

On a state level, I met with the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG or WisPIRG for the state version) regarding their survey from independent shops on Right to Repair. He said that their survey is closed and he would share the results when they are ready but if we wanted to do our own, they would support it. We are working on what that survey should look like and once it is ready, we are going to send it out to the membership to reach out to independent repair shops to complete. This could be an auto repair shop, a bike shop, a small engine shop, boat shop, power sports repair shop, even independent Ford truck repair shops. Anyone that repairs vehicles or equipment. We may have a new alliance with a group out of Madison that is working with another grassroots organization. Conversations were started, but we need to learn a little more about them and who they represent. Stay tuned for more on this coming up. Right to Repair is a critical issue for us so we will need to be ready when the next legislative session starts in January.

One more state issue. We reached out to Brandon, from the Hupy and Abraham office in Madison, to gather more information on how to approach drafting guidelines on allowing autonomous vehicle testing in the state. We know this technology is not safe, reports from around the country show that Tesla says that in their owner’s manual, and the California DMV said that when they banned Tesla from using the terms self-driving or auto-pilot, this may not go away. We need to be ready, so thank you to Hupy and Abraham for their support in helping us learn more.

Even though the legislative session in the state has ended, you can see that we still have a lot going on. Please, stay informed. Get out and meet the candidates running for State, Federal, and Local offices. We need to know who is going to support us and with all the picnics and 4th of July parades going on, they are all going to be out there. Wear your ABATE clothes, be seen, and talk to them about how they stand on our issues.

That’s it,

Steve