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HB2470 / HB3838 "Malories Law" - Foot Pegs and Grab Handles

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Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

Pulled this from the Texas Legislature Online voting site. The following is the unofficial voting record of the Texas HOUSE members. I'd suggest contacting your rep and letting them know about your displeasure with their prior conduct if that's the case.

Source:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/billlo...2R&Bill=HB2470&RcdVtNo=683&Ch=H&Dt=05/04/2011

Texas Legislature Online
Record Vote Taken
Legislative Session: 82(R) Unofficial
Bill: HB 2470
Disclaimer:This vote has not been certified by the House Journal Clerk. It is provided for informational purposes only. Once the vote is certified, it will be recorded in the journal according to Rule 5 of the House Rules and made available on this web site.

RV# 683 — Unofficial Totals: 141 Yeas, 2 Nays, 2 Present, not voting

Yeas - Aliseda; Allen; Alonzo; Alvarado; Anchia; Anderson, C.; Anderson, R.; Aycock; Beck; Berman; Bohac; Branch; Brown; Burkett; Burnam; Button; Cain; Callegari; Carter; Castro; Chisum; Christian; Coleman; Cook; Craddick; Creighton; Crownover; Darby; Davis, J.; Davis, S.; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Driver; Dukes; Dutton; Eiland; Eissler; Elkins; Farias; Farrar; Fletcher; Flynn; Frullo; Gallego; Garza; Geren; Giddings; Gonzales, L.; Gonzales, V.; Gonzalez; Gooden; Guillen; Hamilton; Hancock; Hardcastle; Harless; Harper-Brown; Hartnett; Hernandez Luna; Hilderbran; Hochberg; Howard, C.; Howard, D.; Huberty; Hughes; Hunter; Isaac; Jackson; Johnson; Keffer; King, P.; King, S.; King, T.; Kleinschmidt; Kolkhorst; Kuempel; Landtroop; Larson; Laubenberg; Lavender; Legler; Lewis; Lozano; Lucio; Lyne; Madden; Mallory Caraway; Margo; Marquez; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; McClendon; Menendez; Miles; Miller, D.; Miller, S.; Muñoz; Murphy; Naishtat; Nash; Orr; Otto; Parker; Patrick; Paxton; Peña; Perry; Phillips; Pickett; Pitts; Price; Quintanilla; Raymond; Reynolds; Riddle; Ritter; Rodriguez; Schwertner; Scott; Sheets; Sheffield; Shelton; Simpson; Smith, T.; Smith, W.; Smithee; Solomons; Strama; Taylor, L.; Taylor, V.; Thompson; Torres; Turner; Veasey; Villarreal; Vo; Walle; Woolley; Workman; Zedler; Zerwas

Nays - Weber; White

Present, not voting - Bonnen(C); Mr. Speaker

Absent, Excused - Hopson; Morrison; Truitt

Absent - Gutierrez; Oliveira
Disclaimer:This vote has not been certified by the House Journal Clerk. It is provided for informational purposes only. Once the vote is certified, it will be recorded in the journal according to Rule 5 of the House Rules and made available on this web site.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

A glimmer of hope

I just received a call and talked at length to policy analyst Lauren in Senator Seliger's office. She asked a lot of good questions about the bill, read it as we discussed the problems, and agreed that it is flawed. She said they would get in touch with whomever is handling it in the senate and express concerns about the language, intent, and definitions. She promised to call me back when she had more info.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

Good news Tim....

Yesterday at lunch we were talking about the process of legislation. I confess I really don't know much about it other than house bills match senate ones and if agreeable, go to the Gov.

But from what I gather, there's also a lot of other little formalities involved. What is the process and honestly, what does it take to quash it once it clears the house. Something about a 'consent' vote?

.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

posted on psycobike as well
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

But from what I gather, there's also a lot of other little formalities involved. What is the process and honestly, what does it take to quash it once it clears the house. Something about a 'consent' vote?

A vote of unanimous consent, as I understand it, is used to ramrod bills through and is not part of the normal process. If I've done my homework correctly, the bill (should it pass the Texas Senate) will go straight to the governor's desk to be signed into law.

Our potential final appeal would be with Governor Perry.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

Sort of long winded, but here's what I sent to my local Senator.... Feel free to copy/paste if you wish.


Sir,
As you are a member of the Transportation and Homeland Security committee, I would like to express my concern regarding HB2470 - Malorie's Law relating to specific classification and safety equipment for a certain type of motorcycle. This is simply bad legislation from both a discriminatory perspective and enforcement potential.

I totally understand grieving parents over the loss of their child with so much promise. But the facts remain that their 18+ year old child made a personal decision to ride that night, and the proposed legislation would not have made any difference in their daughters death.

This proposed legislation is a knee-jerk emotional response which will do nothing to prevent such deaths and only cause confusion in the LEO and riding community as written. Quite possibly, increased deaths may occur as the segment of riders they are targeting will most probably try to flee.

First off, the bill as written is discriminatory against a particular type of bike which should concern ALL riders. It singles out sportbikes as their initial target. Why make it just sportbikes and go to extremes to say so? Why not make it ALL bikes? And the definition of sportbike, even with it's various exclusions is still vague to the vast majority of those who ride and own motorcycles. For example, how about a Harley-Davidson V-Rod? Is that a Sportbike by definition? It could be or not from the legislation, but I'd be willing to bet plenty of V-Rods get pulled over for a chat because Dad has Junior on the back on a Sunday afternoon.

Secondly, from a law enforcement perspective it will be very difficult to enforce as there are no provisions in the DL system to show WHEN someone received their "M" endorsement during a traffic stop. This will most certainly require a financial investment (ie: tax dollars)to fund research, programming and on-going maintenance of the DL system which nowhere is referenced in committee meetings or readings.

The definitions as mentioned are difficult to determine even among riders in the motorcycling community. Aren't ALL motorcycles designed with speed, braking, performance and handling in mind? That's what engineers do for each company - try to optimize everything they can. For example, a Goldwing has a lightweight frame, the pilot sits on/over the fuel tank and the engine is a 6 CYLINDER. On a motorcycle? See where this goes?

There's no provision for equipment grandfathering. If your bike doesn't have hand-holds, you're in violation - period. New bike or old bike, it doesn't matter. And if you look at the big picture, there's the potential for three classifications of bikes. US/Domestic imports, California bikes, and now Texas bikes. This will have a huge impact on the general commerce of motorcycle sales, tax revenues, gear sales and maintenance in the State.

From a physics perspective, I don't know anyone who has grip strength to hold more than 1g of body weight in a controlled swerve or deacceleration. Anything other than a controlled avoidance action would be pure speculation as to 'what if', but sticking with simple 1g numbers of which all bikes are capable of still wouldn't matter.

It's tragic this family lost their daughter. On that I believe we all will agree. But the facts are she was over the age of 18 and both she and the pilot made choices that day.

The law as written and passed through the Texas House is discriminatory and will be problematic to enforce, and there is no mention of training and education of which their proponents speak of.

I ask that you spend a little time in reading this proposed legislation, try to understand exactly what they are proposing and vote against it. The large central Texas riding community is counting on you and your peers to do the right thing and vote NO.

If you have questions, please let me know as I'd be pleased to answer any questions or concerns, or provide clarification if necessary.

Sincerely,
Scott
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

At what point in the audio do they start talking about the issue? I'm not interested in the whole show...
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

Here's mine:

Mr. Deuell,
I am writing you today in regards to House Bill number 2470, also known as Malorie's Law. I am currently and have always been a resident of District 2 and I typically vote Republican. I gained my motorcycle license over ten years ago and ride as often as I can. I strongly oppose this legislation for numerous reasons, the greatest of which is that it is simply unenforceable which in turn means it will do nothing to save lives. I do not know your stance on this bill, so I feel compelled to try to dissuade you from voting for its implementation.

I feel that the law is not likely to serve as a deterrent to stop inexperienced riders from carrying a passenger. It certainly will not prevent the majority of the types of accidents where passengers are killed. Since there currently is no immediate way for a Law Enforcement Officer to know how long a person has held their Motorcycle license, the prohibition period of two years is not reasonably enforceable.

Passengers on any type of motorcycle are at risk of serious injury or death when the motorcycle is piloted by a novice rider. It matters not that the bike is a so-called sportbike. When compared to a typical motor vehicle, most, if not all, motorcycles are "optimized for speed, acceleration,braking, and maneuverability on paved roads"; not just sportbikes.

A belief that the presence of handholds will increase the safety of the passenger is akin to the belief that without them, the passenger has no way of staying on the vehicle. That is simply untrue and empirical evidence would certain show it to be so.

If the true intent of this Bill is to prevent inexperienced passengers from getting on a motorcycle piloted by an ill-equipped, inexperienced rider, it would better serve the proponents of HB2470 to ask for stiffer penalties for unlicensed riders and a greater focus on this aspect of riding in the curriculum taught in the required MSF course. I would not be opposed to a call for these actions nor do I think many other motorcyclist would either.

It is not without empathy for Malorie's family that I oppose this bill. I can only imagine the sorrow of losing a child in the manner in which they did. Unfortunately, I do not believe that HB2470 will have the desired effect that they are hoping for. This is not the type of legislation that the responsible motorcycling community will ever support. We know and accept the dangers of our sport and feel that if addition legislation is needed in regards to motorcycles it is that of protection for us, not misguided and unenforceable legislation that will do nothing but further discriminate against a particular segment of motorcycles. If you feel that what I have mentioned is reasonable and accurate, please do what you can to deny this bill from becoming law.

Also, if you have a chance to vote on HB 1571, please do so in its favor. This is legislation that will do some good for everyone who shares the road with motorcycles.

Sincerely,
Bradley Thurman
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

When posting quotes from other sites like FB or anywhere else, please edit the posts to remove foul/vulgar language. The TWT rules regarding acceptable content still apply!

Thanks.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

man do you guys have jobs? :lol2:
I can't keep up :mrgreen:
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

Just wanted to update you guys I have personally spoken to State Senator Deuell and he said that his office has recieved a lot of communication regarding the bill. I spent 10 minutes answering questions about why we as motorcycle riders are opposed to this bill and provided many alternatives. He and his staff are defnitely hearing our side of the story.

Please continue to contact your local State Senator!

State Senator Deuell said he would keep me updated going forward.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

If I may interject one other issue regarding a two-year M period... my oldest son took the MSF and got his motorcycle license. Six months later, he joined the Marine Corps and his bike was essentially mothballed for four years. Yes, he had his endorsement.

If his records were checked today, he'd have been riding for six years based on the M. He would be the first to point out that he's just getting started again and feels almost the same as he did right after the MSF (which is "I need a LOT of practice!"). Unless there will be a rider efficiency test - sort of like a sobriety test? - does the length of time you've had an M mean anything?

My mother is 78 years old and is truly frightening behind the wheel of a car. She doesn't have one (YAY!) but she still has her license. She can go rent a car and terrorize the streets of Chicago any time she feels like doing so. Having her license for 60 years, give or take, does not make her a better driver.

I would so much rather see this time and energy and money being put into scholarships for MSF courses or contributions for gear for new riders or something positive like that. Wouldn't it be a wonderful legacy to see helmets that say "For Malorie" on the heads of new riders all over Texas? I am so sorry for this heartbroken family.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

I can't keep up :mrgreen:
Sheesh! I thought I'd see a few posts and what happened today, but it's an extra 5 pages.

Will they (Austin) be closed for the weekend?
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

I'm sorry this young lady lost her life. Several years ago, my step-daughter and another young lady lost their lives in an accident that happened when a young man they were riding with lost control of the car they were in and hit a tree. They were a bunch of kids out to a high school football game and I imagine that most of us have had similar outings. I have the moral authority to comment on this issue.

This law in all likely hood would not have saved this young ladies life. It certainly would have offered no physical barrier to keep her off of the bike. People outside of the motorcycling community are unlikely to know about this law and even if is was widely known, we all know how well the law against driving without insurance works. I am well familiar with the compelling need to do SOMETHING - ANYTHING to make sense of a tragedy such as this. Passing this law will not make sense of it. It will cause some kids some trouble, will put out a great many law abiding citizens and may have unforeseen consequences if some immature kid tries to avoid a ticket for this. No, this is not the way.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

From their site...

Conan we were advised not to change to many laws on motorcycle rider because of the voice they have in this country. I've been a firefighter for 26 years a hate to pick body parts.we care about all bike riders all of my firefighters friends... ride bikes . I loss friend on bikes that's their choose. When we talked to the state rep.and about more education he said that the state on Texas has no money to set that up. He said some like making a younger bike have more time poss. 2 years before they have a passenger, the young man only had his sports bike 4 months.I am not trying to change peoples love for bikes just not have someone s family member die like Malorie did. My family is torn and suffer every day.I see deaths not just bikes a lot.I continue to pray this bill passes and I also continue to pray for riders a safe trip. Thanks for you advise.

You know, if we were provided this when we first asked why/how they thought this law would have changed things it would have helped considerably.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

From their site...



You know, if we were provided this when we first asked why/how they thought this law would have changed things it would have helped considerably.

Naw.

The law is still vague, misguided, and ill-concieved.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

I got my license 2 full years before becoming a regular rider.

There are waaaay too many problems with the setup of this bill. Is it a good idea to minimize risk? Sure. But like our current motorcycle licensing requirements mandate a class I think everyone should take, they take away freedom. Period. I can't get on board with a law which holds a (metaphorical) gun to your head to make you do it, or else. The law can't make you do right or fix stupidity.
 
Re: HB 2470 - Heads up sportbikes, they're gunning for you...

What does a "Favorable" status mean on this report?

"Favorable" means the committee essentially recommends passage. It's basically like Cliff's Notes for lawmakers; a go-by providing legislators with a means not to actually read bills before passing or stopping them. That's how we got where we are with SB 2470.

I'd bet a thousand bucks the only two representatives who put their eyes on the bill were the ones who voted against it.
 
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