Imre Szauter, AMA Gov. Relations; Ed Moreland, VP Gov. Relations; LarrySchwartz, President AMA D-2NY, MRF workshop presenter, retired journalist, part time lobbyist, husband, father and grandpa.
By Susan Buck
Topeka, Kansas, September 27-29, 2001?Patriotism was exemplified by 318 state motorcyclist rights organization members and activists at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Minds barely two weeks after the devastating attacks in New York City and Washington, DC.
Erwin Renette, president of Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations, offered ?In light of the tragic events on September 11, all I would like to do is express our deepest sympathy and condolences in name of FEMA and all the European riders rights organizations We understand in these difficult times, we stand in solidarity with you and we share your anger.? to rousing applause.
?We?re going to be covering the threats we face as motorcyclists, all the while understanding what we do is democracy in action?and what we do is business-as-totally-unusual, totally incredible?the exercise of freedom.? explained Tom Wyld, MRF?s VP for Government Relations at the opening session. In bikers rights, the focus has shifted from the legislative process to regulators?like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
Wyld, a gifted speaker, was in excellent form:
?Americans and freedom-loving people around the world have a fight on our hands. I think it?s time we say let?s roll.
?Lady Liberty is bleeding, but she might be stronger for it. In this and every free nation, Lady Liberty doesn?t not fall from a single body blow to a building. Lady Liberty has emerged from the ashes of the Pentagon, Lady Liberty has emerged from the rubble in New York. But it?s the tiny cuts that drain Lady Liberty of life.
?As motorcyclists we know, because we bear the cuts. Environmental regulations would make Lady Liberty a criminal for staring at a motorcycle with a wrench in her hand, cutting her freedom. Safetycrats put a bucket on her head and bid her safe crashing, ignoring dangerous drivers who will cut her off and cut her down. And greedy insurance companies who will beat her to the ER and cut her benefits
?A pinprick here, and a cut there, and pretty soon Lady Liberty is bleeding on the side of the road. The MRF and all of you, state motorcycle rights organizations, have plans for Lady Liberty. It?s time to stop the bleeding, it?s time to stop the cuts. It?s time to stop the pricks.?
Riding Through Regulations
In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act passed Congress by staggering majority, preventing millions of Americans who ride motorcycles, horses, ATVs, snowmobiles, or ski, from being excluded from enrollment in employer-sponsored health care plans. HIPAA?s Interim Final Rules for Non-Discrimination in Health Care, released for public comment in early 2001, permit that such plans are not required to provide specific benefits.
The MRF, AMA and dozens of SMRO members made considerable lobbying efforts to address the rule?s obvious contradiction to the spirit of the law. ABATE of IL and WI each visited the Capitol twice and coalesced 70 members of Congress in protest. Yet the Depts. of Treasury, Labor, and H&HS affirmed these rules on May 9, 2001. Insurance companies can legally deny paying benefits for injuries?to enrolled employees?that occur during those legal activities, like a motorcycle accident. The justification is that mandated benefits will raise costs, resulting in fewer insured Americans.
Wayne Curtin, Manager of Government Affairs for Harley-Davidson, was on the team that worked to write and pass HIPPA, then as the MRF?s former VP for Government Relations. He compared this source of injury exclusion to qualifying coverage for pregnancy by position of conception.
Exclusions based on genetic predisposition are prohibited, but since habits are often predisposed, ways to exploit this are being considered. Evel Knievel like to ride, and jump, and often crashed. Like father, so does his son, Robbie. What happens if Robbie needs a new liver someday, too? The pending federal Patient?s Bill of Rights addresses disclosure of exclusions.
When a federal law or regulation denies a benefit guaranteed by the states, state law usually prevails?and can mandate insurers to provide benefits. The MRF and AMA are building a coalition of ?evidence of insurability groups? like skiers, snowmobilers and horse riders. That strategy that helped ABATE of Colorado successfully amend state law in 1997, making denial of medical benefits?based on participation in those activities?illegal. HIPPA can be overridden state by state, theoretically. However, even in what Wyld perceives as a favorable political climate, this is a David-and-Goliath battle against the multi-million dollar insurance lobby.
Riding With EPA
In December, 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new Federal emissions limits for highway and off-road motorcycles. They follow California?s Air Resource Board limits?about a third the hydrocarbons (HC) permitted in 49 other states. Highway bikes were excluded in a 9/01 revision, but a new EPA proposal for them is expected just after press time, in 10/01.
Limit values for one percent of the nation’s vehicles, responsible for six one thousandths of one percent of our air pollution could be cut output by two-thirds, even though the dirtiest highway motorcycles produced in 2001 emit less than half of current Federal limits.
During the required 60- or 90-day public comment period, ?We want every motorcyclist to comment,? Wyld said. ?That?s 12 million Americans who ride more than six million motorcycles.? He urged SMROs to prepare for a grassroots campaign and visits to Washington, DC. SMROs can also develop and circulate letters to be signed by their state Congressional delegations.
Bob Tomlins FEMA, Vince Piacenti MRF, James Wege WA Road Riders Assoc., Tom Wyld, John Paliwoda, Tom Pauley
The MRF will involve small-volume makers, custom shops and the after market, and if necessary, seek the intervention of the federal Office of Management and Budget to quash the rule during the review process.
To meet CARB?s 2008 promulgation, technical modifications either impractical for bikes or not yet developed would be required. Currently, there are no Federal emissions limits for off-road vehicles. The industry faces a new battle or serious a re-inventing of the wheels, these CARB-like limits set in ?97, required dealers to negotiate an exemption for 2-stroke bikes. CA?s Red Sticker Program would require a Federal exemption to continue.
An Alternate Form Of Transportation
Most states don?t license horses, snowmobiles, or OHV like street bikes, which also reduce traffic and parking congestion. The passengers/mile ratio is 1.1 for cars and bikes, and bikes get more than twice the gas mileage. Longtime MRF member Vince Piacenti of Bosche, Inc. reminded, ?A motorcycle is not a recreational type vehicle any more than a car.? Throughout the discussion, other panelists like John Paliwoda, director of the California Motorcycle Dealers Association repeated, ?The justification isn?t there,? for these regulations.
Safety
NHTSA?s motorcycle safety improvement plan, issued 6/01 will only work by accident. Motorist awareness programs don?t become effective till fall 2004. Training programs don?t go into effect till 2005, the target date for a 5% reduction in fatalities. Traffic safety has been a more successful issue, via lots of small sentences put in large, omnibus transportation bills. Wyld credits Jan and Priest, lobbyists from AZ for reaching out to FHA to help establish a motorcycle advisory board to address hazardous crash barriers, guard rails, tar snakes. The new director of FHA, Mary Peters is a motorcyclist, about which the AMA and MRF are pleased. The state of Washington became the first to pass a vehicular assault bill, making it a felony to injure or kill a motorcyclist, bicyclist or pedestrian.
Smoke Across The Pond
Bob Tomlins, Assistant General Secretary of Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations, brought disturbing developments from Geneva. The EU has promulgated stricter-than-CARB limits for bikes in similar stages. ?What we?ve realized in the current round of proposals coming from the European Commission is the test cycle is even more important than the reduction in limit values.? said Tomlins.
The current test cycle, known as EU40, remains effective through EuroII in 2003, (less than EPA Tier 1-2004 limits). The EU has proposed changing to the Modified European Car Test Cycle for Euro III in 2006, but the Association des Constructeurs European de Motorcycles favored the new World Motorcycle Test Cycle, which FEMA supported. At a September 20th meeting with the European Union, ACEM pressed for the MECTC, citing unforeseen technical difficulties with the WMCTC.
Euro III limits are also nearly half of Euro II limits. Changing the test changes the results, so ?We, the riders, developed a strategy which sought to have the World Motorcycle Test Cycle introduced for Euro III and have its inherent reduction calculated within the proposed Euro III reductions over Euro II, which could be quantified and correlated.? said Tomlins. The emissions rule will largely determine future motorcycle designs, and the progress of other World Motorcycle standards, still being developed by a United Nations committee on which Tomlins serves.
As of this conference, FEMA, MRF and AMA have formally coalesced to represent all riders on global harmonization issues in Geneva. Tomlins will serve as representative.
A Civics Course For Bikers
Workshops at MOTM review the lawmaking process from a clean sheet of paper to the governor?s signature. Who remembers the structure of government and every level at which you have access? The internal workings an SMRO, dealing government and media, and one just for arguing against helmet laws round out things. The MRF White papers, a collection of well-researched articles, will be archived?and hereafter, published?on-line only. Regular updates are available by e-mail.
Rod Taylor, an attorney with ABATE Legal Services of IL, IN, KY and OH, shared president Lyndon Johnson?s philosophy about teamwork. Johnson, a democrat, appointed a Republican to his cabinet explaining, ?It?s better to have them inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.?
The weekend?s other running jokes included counting the hours Teri Stobs, of ABATE of IL had been the MRF?s newest director of communications. Also, ?If you can?t hear me, make barnyard sounds,? started by MRF President Tom Pauley testing a microphone. Stobs thoughtfully provided a quacking stuffed duck on cue. Pauley, otherwise a subtle presence, wisely handed out the organizational awards at the beginning of the first general session, making recipients stand a little taller and adding a jolt of energy to the room.
Overall, however, there was less humor and more serious exchange of information and strategy than at any previous conference, despite the cameraderie and availability of refreshments, supplied by ABATE of Kansas. Great idea: a ?Strut Your Stuff? table, in the center of the hotel?s atrium for free exchange of newsletters, stickers, etc. among many of the 37 state groups present.
A generation of motorcyclists is graying, and will eventually retire from riding. The generation behind the baby boomers, today?s 35-45 year-olds, is a smaller population. And if manufacturers continue draping bikini-clad eye candy over their wares, the full market potential of female riders will not be realized. The motorcycle industry, indeed the entire vehicle industry, will at best plateau, and at worst, fall into recession, in the US, at least.
The coming lean years will give manufacturers a chance to reinvent bikes to meet the coming global government regulations and next generation?s as-yet-undefined expectations. Certainly, it won?t be Marlon Brando, or Mad Max. The rest of us who ride will either become a whole new breed of rebel, or go the way of the dinosaurs.
Mark Buckner, former president of MRF, now with ABATE of CO, and its PAC.
Sound files of most of MOTM 2001 are archived at http://www.inbradio.com/mrf/motm2001/
Motorcycle Riders Foundation www.mrf.org,American Motorcyclist Association www.ama-cycle.com
NHTSA Motorcycle Safety Improvement Plan http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/motorcycleimprovement.html
2001 Motorcycle [Emissions] Summary Report http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/veh-cert/cert-tst/01m.txt
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking-Control of Emissions from.Motorcycleshttp://www.epa.gov/otaq/roadbike.htm
