May 12th MRANJ teamed up with groups from around the country for the 3rd Annual Michael "Boz" Kerr Bikers Inside the Beltway event held in Washington DC. The event sponsored by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is a day of action for motorcyclists to come to the Capitol meet with their elected officials and discuss issues affecting motorcyclist.
After a meet and greet and informative briefing with members of the MRF our legislative committee immediately setout to lobby for three key pieces of legislation;
HR 904 Would prohibit The Department of Transportation from future funding of mandatory motorcycle only roadside checkpoints.
HR 412 Kids Just Want to Ride Act which would exempt motorcycles (dirt bikes) and ATV’s from anti lead in toys legislation.
HR 239 Supports the NHTSA lobby ban and asks the agency to focus on crash prevention rather than injury reduction when addressing motorcycle safety (i.e. no federal helmet law)
Our committee met with congressional aides from the offices of Congressmen Andrews, LoBiondo and Runyan and dropped of information packets to five additional congressional offices.
The following week MRANJ legislative committee met with Congressman Runyan directly to discuss support of the bills as a result Congressman Runyan has cosponsored bill HR 904 and Congressman LoBiondo has cosponsored bill HR 412.
To follow up MRANJ legislative committee will continue to lobby for co-sponsorship of the House Resolutions, schedule a meeting with Congressman LoBiondo and develop a strategy at the state level to prohibit motorcycle only profiling.