A look at 2010 and the Motorcycle Bills

As we look at the first five (5) months of 2010 and the bills that have made it to the House and Senate and on to the Governor for signature to become law, it has been a very successful first five months. Let’s take a look at the three (3) bills that we have worked on and what happened.

HB2033 a revision to extend the date in law relating to Vehicle Emissions Testing. Having completed the State Implementation Plan revision process, ADEQ submitted the SIP to the EPA for their approval in October of 2009.  The purpose of HB2033 is to extend the EPA deadline to allow sufficient time for them to complete their review and approval process.  As the current ‘conditional enactment date’, for the removal of motorcycle emissions in Area ‘A’, is July 1^st, 2010, this Bill to extend that date to 2012 is considered an ‘emergency’ request. This bill was signed by the Governor on 4/14/10 and extents the date for EPA to do their study. This will eliminate the need for Motorcycle Emission’s in Maricopa County. Our hope is that in 2011 there will no longer be a need for Motorcycle Emission’s in Maricopa County.

SB1023 motor vehicle accidents; death; injury(Right of Way)- ADDS 3 categories, pertaining to ‘merging’, ‘improper lane change’ and ‘pulling out from intersections’- ADDS that upon a Second or Subsequent Violation of 28-672 within a 36 month period, that the court 'SHALL' not 'MAY' suspend the violators license for 90 days for Serious Physical Injury or 180 days for Death - ADDS 3 categories, pertaining to ‘merging’, ‘improper lane change’ and ‘pulling out from intersections’- ADDS a Classification of driver, referring to the driver that ‘Does NOT have a valid License or Endorsement’, which is currently not addressed within the 'classification of driver'. This bill was signed by the Governor on 4/26/10

HB2475 is for one year in Maricopa County and was created due to Safety. One
of the main accidents for Motorcycle riders is rear end accidents. This
allows the Motorcycle to split lanes ONLY when traffic is stopped which
helps prevent motorcycle rear end accidents. This is different than
California. California allows for traffic to be moving. When splitting lanes
it needs to be in stopped traffic and safety is the number one concern from
the standpoint of the rear end accidents and as the Motorcyclist is
splitting the lanes. This bill was transmitted to the Governor on 4/29/10.

A great year on Motorcycle bills and it couldn’t have been done without the support of the Motorcycle Community and their many calls and emails to the Legislative folks asking for their support of the bills.

Mick Degn

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