AB 51 - Time to support it!!

[Cornfish]

Submitted.

 

[budman]

Thanks guys!!

 

[Cyclesuzy]

I'll be sending my letter today.

 

[ZCrow]

Submitted and finally joined the AMA.:thumbup

 

[Cyclesuzy]

In addition to messages sent to my senator (who happens to be on Senate Appropriations) as well as the Chair and Vice Chair, I also sent a support e-mail to Mark McKenzie, staff director for Senate Approps. I got the following actual e-mail back - kinda surprising since mostly I get canned responses from the legislators themselves:

Thank you, Susan.
Because the costs have been deemed to be insignificant, the bill will be sent directly to the Senate Floor, without hearing in Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
Just thought you should know in case you were planning to come to Committee.
Have a great weekend,
Mark

I'm unsure when the bill will be heard on the floor but will keep checking and advise. When I checked again this morning, the bill status online still shows it being heard in Approps.

 

[budman]

I got a confirmation of your note from ABATE Suzy... pretty good news!!
:banana

and

Good for you Zack! :flag :ride :flag

 

[Surj]

In addition to messages sent to my senator (who happens to be on Senate Appropriations) as well as the Chair and Vice Chair, I also sent a support e-mail to Mark McKenzie, staff director for Senate Approps. I got the following actual e-mail back - kinda surprising since mostly I get canned responses from the legislators themselves:

Thank you, Susan.
Because the costs have been deemed to be insignificant, the bill will be sent directly to the Senate Floor, without hearing in Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
Just thought you should know in case you were planning to come to Committee.
Have a great weekend,
Mark

I'm unsure when the bill will be heard on the floor but will keep checking and advise. When I checked again this morning, the bill status online still shows it being heard in Approps.

I got a confirmation of your note from ABATE Suzy... pretty good news!!
:banana

and

Good for you Zack! :flag :ride :flag

I'm hearing that it's actually still going through Appropriations in the "consent" package—bills that there no concerns with, with no cost, typically voted on first. This is from Quirk's office—expect confirmation and an AMA alert on this shortly.

 

[budman]

Well hell since Zack joined and the AMA and they have been awesome on this... I am going to do a shameless plug for our membership drive.

Join thru the barf link in the thread above and you help barf support the AMA History museum with your membership or renewal. (no extra cost).

Sorry for the thread hijack. :teeth

 

[gixxerjeff]

It's ok man,
You can threadjack your own thread.....on your own forum. :laughing

 

[R6lover]

I was there a few days ago for something else in the Capitol. I seen some people supporting the bill.
I will call my Ass Mem to vote Yes.
Also do you want us to send a letter or what? besides calling ?
Im a little confused to know how everybody in here did it? like

 

[R6lover]

June 27th?... Is there people riding to the Capitol to support?

Anybody riding upthere?

California Assembly Bill 51, Lane Splitting: Educational Guidelines, to be heard by Senate Appropriations Committee

Contact your senator today!

Support Lane Splitting


California Assembly Bill 51 would re-affirm the California Highway Patrol’s authority to issue lane-splitting guidelines for the state’s roadways. This important legislation recently passed the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee unanimously and is now scheduled for a hearing on June 27, 2016, in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The American Motorcyclist Association supports this legislation and encourages you to contact your state senator now and urge them to vote for AB 51. Fill out the form at the bottom of this page and click the red “Submit” button.

Background: Lane splitting, also called lane filtering, is the practice of riding a motorcycle or scooter between lanes of stopped or slowly moving traffic. The fuel-saving and congestion-easing practice has been accepted in California for decades but does not have the power of law to protect it.

In 2013, a complaint to the California Office of Administrative Law from a single individual forced the California Highway Patrol and other state government agencies to remove educational information from their websites that was intended to help motorcyclists understand and safely practice lane splitting on state roads and highways.

The CHP posted these guidelines with the intention of helping motorcyclists and other drivers understand clearly identified safe practices and to discourage unsafe lane splitting. The guidelines represent common sense traffic safety tips and were simply intended to raise public awareness.

Given the widespread popularity and general acceptance of lane splitting in California, the AMA believes this legislation will effectively formalize the practice. Riders, and the motoring public alike, benefit from lane splitting, which was documented by a University of California-Berkeley study released in 2015.

The AMA welcomes the opportunity for state agencies like the California Highway Patrol and the Office of Traffic Safety to educate and inform all road users about the benefits of lane splitting. With the passage of AB 51, this will be possible.

To contact your legislator, fill out the form at the bottom of this page and click the red “Submit” button. (At the bottom where it says support lane splitting)

The complete AMA lane splitting position statement is available here.

The deleted CHP guidelines can still be downloaded and reviewed here.

You can also review the history and latest analyses of the bill here.

The AMA is calling on all California riders to support this bill by entering your information in the fields below and clicking on the red “Submit” button.

Support Lane Splitting

 

[Cyclesuzy]

Anybody riding upthere?

As of yesterday, the bill was put on the consent calendar and won't be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday. There's no need to ride up there for the hearing (although it's a nice place to visit if you do want to ride up here). Please see below from the AMA e-mail.

"We just received confirmation that Assembly Bill 51 (Lane Splitting: Educational Guidelines) will not be heard in the Senate Appropriation Committee on Monday, June 27, and has instead been added to the consent calendar.

Riders are asked to continue sending messages of support to their elected representatives, but will not need to be at the hearing on Monday. We will provide additional updates, including information regarding the date of the full Senate vote, as information becomes available."​

 

[budman]

Thanks Suzy.

Keeping the info flowing is great.

 

[Cyclesuzy]

No problem. I'd hate for someone to show up thinking there's a discussion about the bill just to sit around and wait for nothing.

 

[R6lover]

Thanks suzy

Nice, thanks a lot. I was thinking into riding to show some support plus fun ride...

As of yesterday, the bill was put on the consent calendar and won't be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday. There's no need to ride up there for the hearing (although it's a nice place to visit if you do want to ride up here). Please see below from the AMA e-mail.

"We just received confirmation that Assembly Bill 51 (Lane Splitting: Educational Guidelines) will not be heard in the Senate Appropriation Committee on Monday, June 27, and has instead been added to the consent calendar.

Riders are asked to continue sending messages of support to their elected representatives, but will not need to be at the hearing on Monday. We will provide additional updates, including information regarding the date of the full Senate vote, as information becomes available."​

 

[Gabe]

I think the bill in its current form is the best possible outcome for motorcyclists. Define the term without adding laws telling us how to do it, since we all have different ideas about what's safe and reasonable.

 

[gixxerjeff]

Perfectly said, Gabe.

 

[Surj]

The bill passed Appropriations on the consent calendar yesterday. According to Quirk's office, it may be heard as early Thursday, but they're not sure when it'll be brought up for a floor vote in the Senate.

 

[budman]

Lets go folks... hit up the AMA link and get your message sent!!!!

I totally agree Gabe... best of the best of the best of the best. :banana

 

[Project510]

Latepost. Submitted and joined as well.