Tom Gordon- Legislative News - July 2007

All of us on your Legislative committee wish Rudy a speedy recovery from his motorcycle accident on Saturday June 9. Rudy was on his way to the ABATE /SW camp over when an old lady did a left hand turn in front of him. Luckily Rudy sustained only minor injuries. Sadly his 1982 Harley that he bought brand new sustained major damage. Rudy just finished a major restoration on this bike.

Thank you to all our hard working members of ABATE. The letters to your elected officials are paying off.

Our May Motorcycle Awareness Bill is scheduled for a full vote in the State Senate on June 17.

A big thank you goes out to Senator Madden and his staff for their hard work on this bill.

We have biker friendly candidate running for President! Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He has always been motorcycle friendly and is supported by biker’s rights organizations. Please go www.teamtommy.org and www.tommy2008.com for more information.

On the federal level legislation has been introduced to close the loophole allowing union’s and health insurance providers to deny insurance coverage for accidents that stem from horseback riding, snowmobiling, snow skiing, motorcycle riding etc. Please contact Senator Lautenberg and Senator Menendez to support US Senate bill S 616. Also contact your representative in the House of Representatives to support the same bill HR 2006. Representatives Andrews, LoBiondo and Pallone have always supportive.

On the state level we need to have every one keep on contacting their representatives to keep our pending bills moving along. The latest bill that needs our support is Senate Bill 1004 introduced by Senator Sweeney (D-3). This bill is consistent with the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) Justice for All Campaign. Those convicted of right of way offences that result in harm to others will face increased fines and jail time. In my last report I mention that was a similar bill A-3613. This was false information that I passed on from another MRO source.

We will be electing 40 State Senators and 80 Assemblymen in November. Your legislative committee needs your help in compiling names and addresses of all candidates. We will be sending letters to all candidates by the end of the summer. Many of these candidates will beat various functions campaigning. If at one of these events introduce yourself . Let them know you are member of ABATE. Get contact information to set up a meeting.

Please keep up the correspondence with your legislators on these bills.

Establishes a splitting task force A- 3701.

Your legislative committee has contacted Senator Madden and Sweeney to have a senate version of A3701.

Please when you contact your elected officials ask them for a written reply. Let them know you are a member of ABATE of the Garden State- a state motorcycle rights organization. Remind them this is an election year and we will be looking at getting motorcycle friendly people elected in office. Tell them it is not acceptable to let bills introduced die in committees because they refuse to act upon them

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We are not inventing anything new. As concerned citizens and motorcyclist in New Jersey we want the same rights as other states. We all want New Jersey to be a safer and better place to ride our motorcycle.

Is anyone interested going to Washington DC to meet with the MRF and then going to Capital Hill to meet with your member of the House of Representatives?

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Ride Safe!

American by Birth/ Biker by Choice

Tom Gordon