Legislative Report - September 2025

Steve Panten

We’re Gaining Momentum and We Need to Keep it Going

The days are starting to get shorter and cooler, but there is still plenty of time for some great riding. It’s no secret that fall is my favorite time of year to get out and ride in this beautiful state, so I am excited about the cooler days and nights.

Even though the days may be getting shorter, we still have a lot of work to do before the end of May 2026. Right now, May of 2026 is when the State Legislative session is scheduled to end, so we need to keep that in mind as we move forward. Everything needs to be done before then, or we start all over with a new Legislature in 2027.

We are starting to gain steam on our Right to Repair bills AB135/SB127. Last month, I heard from 2 groups looking at possibly supporting these pieces of legislation. The first one is an advocacy group called Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG). Husch Blackwell in Madison sent me a position paper that this group drafted, asking their members to support the Right to Repair bill for ag equipment that was drafted by Senator Pfaff, SB148/AB147. I had a conversation with them about what we are trying to do and asked them to look at AB135/SB127 to see if they could support it. On their website, they have a Call to Action for their members to contact their State Legislators and ask them to support any Right to Repair legislation, so I think we made progress. We are gaining momentum!

Although WISPRIG may have a different reason to support Right to Repair, we have a common goal: giving consumers a chance to repair their own equipment or device. Now we need more help. I reached out to the Farmers Union of Wisconsin to discuss how we can get their support on our bills. The Farmers Union has signed Senator Pfaff’s bill, so I was hoping we could get their support as well. We have more discussions coming up, but I am hoping that we can get their support, too. We are gaining momentum!

We need to keep this going. There are many groups that we all belong to, or that we run across in our daily lives. We really need the aftermarket parts companies, or parts manufacturers that have lobby organizations in the State to register in support of our bills. It won’t be long before the legislature is back in session, and we need to keep up the momentum. If you have a group that you would like me to contact, please reach out to me.

Last month I was also contacted by a representative from a company called Cenovus. They are a Canadian company that works in the fuel refining and distribution methods business. The person who reached out to me is Todd Washam, who remembers ABATE from his time working for Congressman Sensenbrenner. He remembers our concern with increased ethanol and is now in that industry with the same concerns. Although his office is now in Ohio, he sent some great information, giving us a heads-up on what we should watch out for in Wisconsin and in Washington, DC. Having a friend like this in the industry is so important to making sure we stay on top of where the industry is headed.

We are starting to gain some momentum, and we need to keep pushing forward. Although we still have 8 months to get our agenda passed and signed into law, it will go fast. We need to find more support and keep friends like Todd Washam in mind. Imagine that we impressed him so many years ago, he thought to reach out to us regarding this topic. We can build more relationships; I just need your help in finding who these groups are. Every time that you get to speak to a group of Snowmobilers or ATV/UTV riders, you never know who is in that group that may be a contact we can use, so please keep talking about our issues and ask people for help. Save our last Call to Action and have them complete it. It is a great way to get them interested and involved, and in return, it helps us.

This month is the Motorcycle Riders Foundation’s Meeting of the Minds. I am looking forward to joining a group of Wisconsin ABATE members in learning from the best motorcycle rights advocates in the nation. We also get one more chance to learn tips and tricks for hosting a successful event since we are hosting this national conference next year. More to come on what we learned next month.

That’s it.

Steve