Legislative Report - November 2025

Steve Panten

I have said before that fall is my favorite time of year, and especially October. The weather is still nice, but I enjoy the chill in the air, the leaves are starting to change colors, and of course, ABATE has its Annual Meeting. Before the actual meeting on Sunday, we get ideas of what we should be working on for the next year during our Legislative Committee Meeting.

Before we get into what was discussed for 2026, I would like to make a few comments about the Annual Meeting itself. This event is usually very relaxing with plenty of time to enjoy talking with members that I don’t get to see very often. I really appreciate going to the banquet on Saturday night. The awards portion of the banquet is a great way to recognize members who, without even knowing it sometimes, stepped up the past year and went above and beyond to support our organization. Sometimes it’s just one thing that they saw that needed to be done and stepped up to do it without being asked, and sometimes it’s someone who takes a needed task and runs with it. One of the best parts is when that person is recognized with an award that they were not expecting. I realize that many members really step up and do a lot to support our organization without expecting to be recognized for it. We all do as much as we can and even though you may not be recognized for it, we do it anyway. Without these dedicated members, we would not be considered one of the strongest Motorcycle Rights Organizations in the nation.

Sunday is the third most important day for motorcyclists in the State of Wisconsin. Well…in my opinion….Lobby Day is the most important day, Bikers Inside the Beltway is the second as that is Lobby Day in Washington DC where things can happen that affect us and then setting our legislative agenda for the next year.

2026 is a mid-term which means it is a short legislative session to clean up anything that the legislature has not yet finished. Right now, the session calendar shows the last floor session is March 17-19 which is why our Lobby Day is on February 17th. If we do not have our bills passed by the March 19th date, we will need to start over in 2026 so that is our focus.

As I am writing this, our bill to prevent government regulations regarding the fuel source for our next vehicle or device (SB184) is waiting to be sent to the governor for him to consider. Again, according to the session calendar that you can access from this website, https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/related/session_calendar/calendar, the next time bills are sent for his consideration is December 4th, 2025, unless he calls for them sooner, so we are still waiting to learn its fate. We are working with Husch Blackwell to try to get a meeting with his staff since he has declined our meetings in the past. They told us that the governor’s office is having some staffing changes so it might take a bit to get the meeting set.

Our Right to Repair bills AB135/SB127 are still waiting for a Public Hearing to be scheduled. We were hoping that it would be on the calendar for the meeting that they had on October 22nd, but it did not make the cut. Representative Swearingen is Chair of the committee holding the hearing and his staff said that they have it on their list, but this meeting was full. I asked for as much notice as we could get because we are a grassroots organization and it does take a bit to get the message out to the independent shops.

Since we have this extra time, we have more time to meet with these independent shops to get them to understand how this could affect their business. It is important that we get these small business owners from across the State to organize and support our efforts, but especially if your Assembly member is on the Committee of State Affairs. The Committee members are Representative Swearingen who is the chair of the committee, and then it is Rep Green (Vice Chair), Reps Summerfield, Moses, Wittke, Spiros, Piwowarczyk, Sinicki, Kirsch and Roe. If your Representative is part of this group, please reach to the independent shops in their districts and ask for their support. The best support would be to have them attend and speak at the Public Hearing, but even an email to their office stating that passing this legislation would help their small business.

Ok, one more thing about the Annual Meeting. I push for our members to know and recognize their legislators and know how they stand on our issues. Do they support them or are they opposed to them? Are they signed on as a cosponsor or maybe they are the bill author, either way if they walked into a room would you recognize them, and would they recognize you? Friday night we left the venue to support a local bar that is an ABATE member for dinner. When we finished dinner, I saw Senator Tomczyk walk in with his wife for dinner. The Senator is Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and is the lead author on our bill SB184. After he got settled in and ordered his food, I went over by him to introduce myself and thanked him for all his support. It wasn’t a long discussion as he was enjoying a night out with his wife, but it was long enough to show him respect for helping us. Later he came up to the bar and sat with Michelle and I, so we were able to spend more time with him. Even though he is not my State Senator, he appreciated that we knew who he was and where he stood on our issues. It is just small thing, but he will remember that next time we see him, or we need his help on an issue.

That’s it.

Steve