S.B.99 was passed by the Senate with two (2) amendments. (1) Require PIP insurance of not less than $10,000 and (2) no money from the State Rehabilitation Fund could be used to treat a head injured rider who was not wearing a helmet at the time the injury was incurred. It was necessary to accept these amendments as the Texas Senate requires a 213 majority vote on 2nd reading to allow a Bill to come to the Floor for passage. Only a simple majority is required for passage.

    Most of those who read this report have "been there done that" so we won't go through the tedious process of how we built support in the House to be able to remove those amendments. This is the 1st time TMRA2 has dealt with the House on this issue and the number of Representatives we were able to convince to support our Bill was overwhelming (120 of 150) including the Speaker and most Committee Chairmen. Thanks to Chairman Alexander, the amendments were stripped in Transportation Committee with no discussion or testimony. S.B.99 was voted out of the House by a large majority and returned to the Senate for concurrance.

    At this point the Senate was Blue Carded again and showed 18 yes votes with only 16 needed for concurrance. When the vote was taken 4 Senators jumped ship and voted to postpone the final vote. We missed passage by 1 vote. We later learned Senator Jeff Wentworth was threatening to kill every Bill the swing voters had in the hopper if they voted to pass S.B.99 without his insurance amendment. When the Bill came back to the floor 3 of the Senators returned to our side of the issue but 3 others switched sides and we again lost by 1 vote and the Bill was sent to conference.

    When the Bill came to conference we asked both House and Senate Conferees to bring the Bill out just like it went in and make the Senate vote up or down. We wanted to take our chances on a clean Bill, win or lose. All S House Conferees stood firm but the Senate would not act so the vote was rescheduled for the following monday. It was then we learned that the Lieutenant Governor had said there was no need to bring the Bill out unless Wentworth was happy because it wouldn't go back to the Floor. Decision time!

    We then offered a either or situation of any type medical insurance or take the Rider Ed. Course. We also asked for a sticker on the license plate which "would carry the presumption of compliance and leave no probable cause for a helmet stop". There is no requirement to show proof of compliance and no penalty for non-compliance. Our Chairman accepted on those conditions and the Bill came out of committee.

MRF and AMA step in:

    When S.B.99 came out of Conference a call from Wayne Curtin came in asking what we planned to do with the Bill. When told the membership would vote that weekend Wayne asked if our chairman would read a letter at the meeting expressing MRF's views and concerns with the Bill. A Fax was received shortly thereafter stating that this Bill would harm other states efforts and ultimately destroy motorcycling, where have we heard that before, and asked that we kill our Bill. AMA sent the same type Fax's to some of our Advisors and State Secretary (not the chairman)' We have just spent several months being told by AMA and MRF that the combination of AIM & NCOM was going to destroy motorcycling and we should not be a part of this group as long as they remained combined. Do the leaders of these groups think motorcycling is so frail it can that easily be destroyed? Wannabes will quit anything quickly but Bikers will ride forever!!

    These letters along with one from Sherm Packard and Bob Latourneau of New Hampshire were shared at our state meeting. The State Chairman of TMRA2 had the authority to make the decision to kill the Bill on the spot. Since he does not wear a helmet and S.B.99 affects all riders who do, he decided to have those present at the state meeting vote on it. After laying out all that had transpired during the past few days the issue was put to a vote with the instruction "How you vote today is how the vote will go in Austin". In essence Texas riders were voting on their own helmet Bill. The vote was overwhelmingly YES to accept the amendments. These instructions were taken back to Austin.

    Another Fax was received from MRF with the lead sheet stating "I hope you are there to read this as it is being sent to all states shortly." Our chairman was in Austin and the letter was distributed immediately, without his having seen it. While we accepted suggestions from these groups on a personal level this blatant blasting by MRF nationwide was uncalled for and this release is our official response.

    We have just come off a national victory giving states the right to make their own decisions without being blackmailed. Who the hell gave MRF the right to try and coerce Texas riders into killing a state Bill by inciting public opinion against it? MRF did a great job co-ordinating efforts in DC to change ISTEA but it was the states, including Texas, sending delegates to the Capitol which made it happen. While it is great that we can all come together to work on Federal Legislation through a

    National MRO states must make their own local decisions with input from each other. That is how our country was intended to work. WE have become top heavy as a nation and that must not be allowed to happen to motorcycling. We feel MRF's assumptions were made without substantive facts on our plans other than we had chosen to accept the amendment. To wit: Texas riders have never accepted that riders are a societal economic burden. Our testimony was in fact that riders pay more taxes than the average car driver, have far less injuries paid by public assistance and therefore subsidize injured car drivers health care. If indeed there is a public burden it is to motorcycle owners not by them. This testimony is public record and for MRF to state otherwise is malicious and unfounded. To say we broke rank with other states is an outright lie. We have shared any information we have with other states and our Senate Sponsor, Jerry Patterson, spoke with legislators in another state (at their SMRO leader's request) in a successful attempt to gain support for their helmet amendment Bill. We have moved motorcyclist Rights to the front page of all newspapers and local TV stations in Texas. Even in 2 cases to national TV. That doesn't sound like breaking rank.

    To say we compromised is true but many states have restrictions on motorcycling which are not in effect in Texas. To say minors should wear helmets when we say they not only don't work but are unsafe is a compromise accepted by all but one state which calls themselves helmet free.

SUMMARY:

    Texas would never pay any fee to the state to remove our helmets. Unlike other states our goal is not just to change a few laws but rather to take over the entire political process in our state. We feel S.B.99 as amended can be turned to our advantage in that effort. To any state who is quick to follow the path taken by MRF in condemning our decision to accept S.B.99 we say this. Contact our state chairman and discuss it. See if there truly is a negative impact on your state. Contrary to what MRF says we believe Texas "Warriors" just may have a few surprises in store for everyone. We have gotten the final bit of information we needed from our legislators to move on to the next phase of our goal. We tested our legislators, we tested the system and we tested our "Warriors". We are happy to say all three turned out just fine. As J.W. said "They will rue the day they awakened the sleeping giant." Bet your ass our "Warriors" will make sure they do.

    That's the TMRA2 position on S.B.99. Personally, I am proud of our "Warriors." At no time did they flinch at the work to be done or shy away from our opponents which were many. I will not flinch from their decision now. They were aware when they voted I wanted to pull the Bill. I asked that they not consider my choice but vote on the outcome they wanted. They passed the Bill by a Big majority and we immediately started planning how this lemon could become lemonade. Each "Warrior" pledged to turn it up a notch and get someone else involved. I respect and support their choice and I take full responsibility for this controversial decision.

    Destroy motorcycling? I think not!! The only way anything can truly be destroyed is to reverse the polarity of it's core. As long as there is a positive core anything stays together. A negative core will cause an object to fragment and self-destruct. Riders across this nation proved their core was positively charged when they joined to fight ISTEA. The AMA-MRF v/s AIM-NCOM incident and now this Release from MRF appear ready to damage that core since they bring only negative vibes to the table. While these two events may have that effect in some states, it won't in Texas. We shall keep our positive core and get on with the business at hand by moving into positions of legislative power.

    "We are not recognized for having always won,
But for having gotten back up each time we are knocked down. "
Confucius

Sputnik
State Chairman
Texas Motorcycle Rights Association

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