The Indiana General Assembly adjourned in late April. The bills we were watching (HB1200, and HB1491) made it through both Chambers with amendments we were comfortable with.

 

The language we were concerned with in HB1491 made it easier to register autocycles that were built before 2015. The bill originally stated that any autocycle registered before 2015 would be able to register in Indiana. The amendment we were hoping for that was eventually added changed the wording to read that autocycles manufactured before 2015 could be registered in Indiana.

 

HB1200 was a bill that requires all operators and passengers of OHVs to wear a helmet if they are under the age of 18. There was only one amendment to the bill and it was introduced in the Senate. It makes it so the owner of the OHV gets a ticket if someone underage is on the OHV without their helmet. That makes a lot of sense to me. A couple of months ago I witnessed a rider of an atv that had two passengers. On child could not have been over three years old and the other appeared to be less than six years old. Neither child was wearing a helmet. Not only were they without helmets the had no eye protection and no protective clothing. That situation makes the amendment to HB1200 a good one. It would not have made much sense to ticket the three and six year old passengers. I definitely believe the adult in this situation should receive the citatation.

 

Although this year there were only two bills were closely watching, it still took a lot of visiting the State House and talking to Legislators. I guess you could call that lobbying. Which is OK. ABATE of Indiana is a citizen lobbyist organization and the State of Indiana allows for it's citizens to lobby. If you have never lobbied at the State House, I recommend to go Indianapolis and engage in one of the most satisfying adventures you can have.

 

That's it for this month. If the rain slacks off I urge you to RIDE far, RIDE safe and RIDE FREE.

 

Later,

 

Mike Meyer

State LINC Director