March 30, 2000

The Florida House of Representatives, daily calendar shows the Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee will meet twice next week.  They will first meet on Wednesday April 5, 2000 from 8:30 AM until 9:45 AM and then again on Thursday April 6, 2000 from 230 PM until 5:00 PM.  There is an excellent chance that HB0117 will be discussed at one of these two meetings.  There are 12 members in this committee.  Five of them are co sponsors of the HB0117.  We need to concentrate on the members that are not cosponsors.  To those members, we must call, write or email them and ask for their support to pass HB0117.  If you are against the insurance clause then ask the members of the committee to amend HB0117 to remove the insurance requirement.

In the Senate we still are on the Calendar awaiting the second reading.

Even though it was an anomaly and not related to the present legislation, we have the tragic events of BIke Week working against us.  The only way to prevent this from hurting us now and in the future is to contact our local House Representatives and Senators and give the the Facts about the helmet issue.

I have appointments on Monday April 3, 2000 in Tallahassee with Representative John Morroni, House District 50 and with Senator Jim Sebesta, Senate District 20.  Morroni is at 10:30 AM and Sebesta is at 11:30 AM.  If you are from either of these districts and would like to join me please email me to let me know.  With both of these legislators we need numbers to help sway them.  As you know, Senator Sebesta changed his vote at the last minute.  Also if anyone is leaving from the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area to go to Tallahassee on Sunday afternoon let me know, maybe we could hook up for the ride.
 

March 28, 2000

The Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee will not meet today to discuss any bills.  The daily calendar for next week hasn't been posted yet so I can't tell you what the schedule is for next week.  As soon as it is posted I will let you know.

In the Senate SB0126 is still on the Calendar and awaiting it's second reading.

As many of you know on July 15, 1998 Kentucky had it's helmet modified.  The new law allows a motorcyclist to ride without a helmet if they prove that they have health insurance at the time of registration.  They then obtain a decal to affix on there license plate as proof of health insurance.

If everything goes as expected, and the Governor of Kentucky does what he committed to do,  Kentucky will lose the insurance requirement on July 15, 2000.  Here's an email from Jay Huber
KMA/KBA President:

   Subject:    Kentucky Repeals the Health Insurance Requirements
         Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 2000 20:54:02 -0500
        From:    "Jay Huber" <Jay_Huber@email.msn.com>
 Reply-To:    <Jaybo384@hotmail.com>
             To:    <Jay_Huber@email.msn.com>

At about 7:00pm ET 3-27-00 the Kentucky House of Representatives concurred with HB 619 (SFA 1) with a vote of 68 yeas 25 nays and 7 not voting. HB 619 (SFA 1) removes the provisions requiring health insurance for motorcyclists to ride without a helmet. Basically getting rid of the no helmet sticker requirement and the exorbitant fines associated with it and goes into effect on July 15, 2000. The bill now goes to Governor Patton for his signature.  While coming down from the House Chambers we ran into the Governor and his staff in the hallway near his office where he congratulated us on a job well done. We fully believe the Governor will not veto this bill due to our
conversations with him and his staff in the past.  This victory serves to prove once and for all that the states rights organizations know what is happening in their state and should be left alone to their own devices and not adversely interfered with by either National or other state's rights organizations.  The KMA/KBA did exactly what we sought out to do and did it in the manner that worked best for our situation.  As the saying goes all politics is local so therefore locals know best how to effect their politics.

Jay Huber
KMA/KBA President
1-800-68-CYCLE
http://www.kmakba.com/

While this certainly may make you feel somewhat warm and fuzzy about a helmet modification law, it shouldn't and doesn't support the acceptance of a $100,000 insurance requirement.

Have you made plans to attend the ABATE Freedom Run on April 3, 2000?  If not, get the information you need by going to the events page.  Also, I have an 11:30 appointment to meet with Senator Jim Sebesta in Tallahassee on April 3.  If anyone else from Senate District 20 would like to attend this meeting with me you are most welcome.
 

March 23, 2000

Forty Three days remain in the 2000 legislative session.

It doesn't seem like there's much of a chance to delete the insurance clause from HB0117.  I emailed Representative Russell to give him my opinion and ask if he, as sponsor, would amend the bill to remove the insurance clause.  Here is his response:

Subject:   RE: HB0117, A bill relating to motorcycle riders/safety equipment .
    Date:   Tue, 21 Mar 2000 11:50:27 -0500
   From:    “RUSSELL.DAVE" <RUSSELL.DAVE@leg.state.fl.us>
       To:    Frank & Vicki' <email@tampabay.rr.com>

Dear Frank and Vicki,

Thank you for sharing your view on HB 117. Unfortunately, we cannot delete the insurance clause.  For that matter the Senate wants $ 100,000 instead of what we have proposed, or they will kill the bill.  I agree with what your saying but this bill has been around for quite some time and we need to move it.  So whatever it takes we will do.
Again, thanks for letting me know your view on this issue and I will certainly pass this on to the Lobbyist.

Kindest Regards,

Dave.

The Lobbyist he referred to is James “Doc” Reichenbach II who is also the president of ABATE of Florida, Inc.

I have been trying, but in vain, to get either a personal meeting or a personal telephone call with Senator Sebesta.  I will let you know what he has to say about voting down SB0126 if I ever get to hook up with him.

SB0126 remains on the calendar in the Senate awaiting the second reading and eventual vote on the Senate floor.

HB0117 is still in the Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee.  The committee will meet on Tuesday March 23, 2000 at 9:00 AM.  No official agenda has been released for this meeting.

You should be contacting your legislators in both the House and the Senate and the members of the House Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee letting them know what you want them to do.  Now is also a good time to register to vote is you are not registered in Florida.  Click here to begin the process.  I also would suggest, if you have not do so, you continue to read the remainder of the March updates to get an idea of what has transpired in the Florida legislature the past week or two.

One of the most effective things you can do is to participate in the ABATE Freedom Run to the Capital in Tallahassee on April 3,  2000.  You can find the detail about this run in the events section of Helmet Law 101.  You can meet up with ABATE at the Monticello KOA located at Exit 33 on I-10 in Monticello.  ABATE Plans on leaving for the capital at 9 AM.  You do not need to be a member of abate to participate in the run and all bikes are welcome.  If you want to do it alone or with your own group by all means do it.  Either way, call your House Representative and you Senator and make an appointment to meet with them while you are at the Capital.  Wouldn't it send a hugh message if thousands and thousands of bikes filled the courtyard of the capital?

Lastly, I need your opinion.  Here's your chance to let everyone know how you feel.  Click here to Voice Your Opinion.
 

March 17, 2000

I just wanted to bring you up to date on the Banking and Insurance Committee amendment and give you some food for thought.

The amendment that was presented for SB126 increases the insurance requirement from $10,000 to $100,000.  It further provides that a person who does not wear protective headgear and does not have the prescribed insurance coverage is subject to the same penalties that exist for operating a motor vehicle without required security as provided in s. 627.730 through s. 627.7405.

The penalty is suspension of the person's driver's license or registration and payment of a license/registration reinstatement fee of $150.00. The reinstatement fee is $250 for a second reinstatement and $500 for each subsequent reinstatement during the 3 years following the first reinstatement.  You will also pay a premium to purchase the non cancelable policy that is required under s 627.733.  Oh, and don't forget the $30.00 fine required by subsection (6a) of the proposed amended SB0126 for not wearing a helmet.

Here is some information on other helmet modification States.  Texas was the first State to pass a helmet modification bill.  Their law requires $10,000 in health insurance or, no insurance, if you successfully completed a motorcycle operator training and safety course.  Kentucky was next.  Their modified helmet law simply requires health insurance without any qualifying limits.  The most recent State to pass a helmet modification bill was Louisiana.  Their helmet law requires $10,000 in health Insurance.  During the Month of March, I have posted opinions from MRO’s in Texas and Kentucky concerning their modified helmet laws.  I hope you take the time to read them both.

The action in the Banking & Insurance Committee should be a wakeup call for all MRO’s and motorcyclists in the State of Florida and in the Nation for that matter.  Why is $100,000 unacceptable and $10,000 acceptable?  The increase in limit may not make that much difference in premium.

If either HB0117 or SB0126 becomes law in the State of Florida, the State of Florida will still have a helmet law that applies to all Florida's motorcyclists regardless of their age.  It will be the exact same statute, 316.211. IT WILL STILL REQUIRE ALL FLORIDA'S MOTORCYCLISTS TO WEAR A HELMET.  All that is in doubt now is how much insurance the Government will MANDATE you to buy to ride without a helmet.  If you want to ride without a helmet, it's not freedom of choice, you must buy insurance for that “privilege.”  You either buy insurance or you wear a helmet.  No helmet repeal, only a different helmet law.

Freedom has its price.  It takes time, hard work, a lot of letter writing, hours of getting our point across and challenging those that oppose us with the truth.  The price of freedom should not be how much money will it cost you for insurance.

Five years ago changing the helmet law in Florida, in anyway, was unthinkable.  People would say, “You will never pass a law to ride without a helmet!”  Today, motorcyclists in Florida are trying to pass such a law and people say, “You will never get the legislators to agree to pass a law to ride without a helmet unless it has an insurance clause.”  Things have changed due to much hard work by Florida motorcyclists to this point.  Is it not worth some more hard work to have true helmet law repeal?  Can't we work together to get our legislators the information to come over to our side?  Are we so anxious to ride without a helmet that we will buy that freedom at the cost of paying for insurance?  Do we concede to the claim that we are a burden to society?  Read what the Banking & Insurance staff analysis has to say about motorcyclist in Florida.  Is this how we want society to perceive us?

Thinking someone else will do the work almost killed the issue as it did with SB0224.  Something good can come out of this situation.  We have been pushed by the Banking & Insurance Committee.  We need to push back and push back hard by calling, by writing and by visiting our State Legislators.  We need to get our family, our friends, our neighbors, and our co worker to do the same.  Our message has been clearly defined by Banking and Insurance.  We will not accept any insurance requirements to gain the freedom to make an adult choice!  We are not and have never been a burden to society!  It is very easy to put into words:

Dear State Legislator,

Soon a bill will be before you that will amend Florida's helmet law.  It is (HB0117 or SB0126).  I ask that you support this bill when it comes to the floor of you chamber, but only if it is amended to remove any insurance requirements that may be included within the bill or that is traveling with the bill.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report to Congress, the CODES Study, in 1995 reported that helmets are minimally effective in preventing most injuries.  In June 1992, a University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center study revealed injured motorcycle operators admitted to trauma centers had lower injury severity scores compared to other road trauma victims.  They accrued lower hospital charges. They were less likely to rely on Medicaid and Medicare, and they had about the same level of commercial or private insurance as other road trauma victims.

There is much conflicting data being put forth by both sides in this issue.  Those of us that support helmet repeal are really under no obligation to prove anything to you, even though the facts support our position.  Those who oppose helmet repeal need to prove the benefit of a helmet.  They cannot convincingly do this.  In the absence of any convincing data demonstrating that helmets increase the survivability of a crash, or any reliable research showing that helmets reduce societal costs, it must be concluded that the state has no compelling interest in mandating helmet use by all motorcyclists.

Responsible adults should be entrusted by the state to make certain personal safety decisions, and the right to decide whether or not to wear a helmet should be among those choices. Please restore my freedom of choice by passing an unencumbered helmet repeal bill.

Sincerely
 

The letter above or something similar needs to be sent to all of the following individuals:

Your State House Representative
Your State Senator
The Sponsor of the Bill in the House
The co sponsors of the Bill in the House
The Sponsor of the Bill in the Senate
The co sponsors of the Bill in the Senate
Each Member of The Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee

I am interested in any comments you may have about this issue, especially if you think the insurance requirements are acceptable.  Either post your opinion in the guest book or send it to me in an email.  I will put you comments in this section unedited.
 

March 15, 2000

Although SB0126 passed the Banking & Insurance Committee by a 7 to 1 margin, all is not well with the Bill.

According to Paul Hull, legislative assistant to Senator Jim King, a co sponsor and member of the Banking & Insurance Committee, the opposition was stiff and it appeared the Bill would lose by one vote in the Committee.  Senator Walter Campbell offered an amendment that increased the insurance requirement from $10,000 to $100,000.  The Committee then passed the Bill 7 yea to 1 nay.  The lone no vote came from Senator Jim Sebesta of District 20.

Senator Sebesta is my State Senator.  On January 19, 2000, as Vice Chair of the Transportation Committee, he voted to pass SB0126 so I was surprised by his vote today.  I called his office and spoke with Dave Winialski, an aide to the Senator.  Mr. Winialski was is a rush, but still took the time to give me HIS point of view to the extent of telling me what type of helmet HE would recommend we wear.  It took all the effort I could to be polite and not tell him, “I don't care what you think, what is the Senators opinion.”  Anyway he finally did tell me that Senator Sebesta made a last minute decision to vote against the Bill.

The driving force behind the Senator's decision, according to Mr. Winialski, was, “12 people were killed at Bike Week.”  Senator Sebesta now feels the insurance requirement should be higher then the $100,000 set forth by Senator Campbell's amendment.  I sent him an email and I hope to meet with him Friday at his office in St. Pete to talk with him first hand.  I guess the Senator missed the fact that all individuals killed were wearing helmets.  I was told another reason he voted against SB0126 was other then yours truly, no one from his district has contacted him concerning this issue.  This may be hard to believe but it shouldn't be.  I called Representative John Morroni’s office today and was told they still have had only two calls on this issue.  Representative Morroni is my House Representative in District 50.  It appears the people in Pinellas County don't care about this issue. Sometimes I feel like I'm just pissing in the wind with this website.

I talked to Ed Garcia in Senator Saunders’ office concerning the results of the Banking and Insurance committee vote.  Senator Burt Saunders is the Sponsor of SB0126.  Mr. Garcia explained that the amendment is a floating amendment.  This means the amendment is not attached to the Bill.  The amendment will travel with the bill and will be voted on separately by the entire Senate when SB0126 is on the floor of the Senate.  The hope now is for the amendment to fail, and the Bill to pass on the Senate floor.  Another tactic is to wait and see what happens in the House of Representatives.  Should HB0117 pass through the House with no amendments, the Senate then could consider HB0117.  If all fails and the $100,000 amendment does pass on the Senate floor, SB0126 will be withdrawn or killed in some manner.
 

March, 14 2000

SB0126 has passed the Banking & Insurance Committee in the Senate but with a damaging amendment.  The amendment increases the insurance requirement to $100,000 and makes the penalty for violating the insurance requirement the same as driving without insurance in an automobile.  The vote was 7 to 1  Details to come later.
 

March 10, 2000

SB0126 is scheduled to go before the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance on Tuesday, March 14, 2000 at 9:00 AM.  If the bill gets past this committee it will be ready for the Senate floor. Call or email each member of this committee and ask them to support this bill when it comes before them.  If you do not favor the insurance clause in the bill, ask each member to amend the bill to remove the insurance requirement.  Please keep in mind that there are 11 members on this committee but only one members is a cosponsor of SB0126.  Your help is needed to contact this committee.  For those of you who may have forgotten, on March 23, 1998  the Banking and Insurance Committee killed SB0224 with an unfavorable recommendation to the Senate.
 

March 09, 2000

The 2000 session has begun and only 58 days remain.

By appearing in each Chamber's respective Journal on March 07, 2000, House Bill 0117 and Senate BIll 0117 both were introduced and read for the first time.  Remaining for SB0126 is the Committee on Banking and Insurance, and for HB0117 is the Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee.  We then need the second and third readings, debate and voting.  Things can begin to move very quickly so if you haven't  contacted you legislator and asked everyone you know to do the same, time may run out on you.

The Insurance requirement in both of the bills has troubled me from the start.  I have pretty much made up my mind and I am asking the legislators to please amend the bills to remove the insurance requirement.  To better help you decide, I have contacted motorcycle organizations in States that have passed helmet modification bills.  In the March 03, 2000 update I presented the views of the Kentucky Motorcycle Association.  In this update, I want to share with you the opinion of Elmer H. McKeegan, a member of the Texas Motorcycle Rights Association.  Mr. McKeegan emailed me the following as to how the helmet modification bill is working in Texas.  I think you will appreciate how candid he is:

Subject:  RE: Nice site
Date:       Wed, 8 Mar 2000 17:55:21 -0600
From:      Elmer McKeegan <Elmer.McKeegan@RIAG.com>
To:          'Frank & Vicki' <email@tampabay.rr.com>

If you can get the Helmet off without the insurance mods then by all means do it.

Brief History...

We got a fairly clean bill passed in the Senate with only the over 21 rider attached to it.  But when we got the bill in the House, we were overwhelmed by the amount of support we got.  The House stripped off all the riders and sent a clean bill back to committee.  We were on fire.  However when the bill made it back in the Senate, one lone Senator opposed the bill and tried to do everything to kill it.  As he was speaking about why not to support this bill you could see a light go off in his eyes.  He convinced the Senate to attach an insurance clause to the bill.  We tried to foil this attempt with the House backing us, but the Senate told us that the bill will not return to the floor without this clause attached.

We were about to kill the bill when it was decided that the membership should actually have the vote on this.  The membership decided to keep the bill alive with some mods we could put in to lessen the insurance requirements.  The restrictions were reduced and the bill passed.  We've gotten great respect from the House (because we were willing to work with the system) and any bill we offer them is passed without problems at this time.  The Senate is where our battles are most of the time and we have been working actively to rid ourselves of the problem Senators.

Moral of the story, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Real Life

The helmet law in Texas requires insurance ($10,000) to ride unhelmeted.  Most people's medical insurance from work covers that.  The sticker is an a proof of compliance, however it is not required.  Also proof of insurance is not required during the stop.  But you would have to show proof in court.  Our law states that medical insurance is not required if the Rider Safety course has been taken.  Again no proof required during the stop, only in court.

The majority of riders have not been stopped or harassed about the law.  However there are some areas (cities, counties) that are a problem and we do have to address.  Typically if a person is harassed by the cop, the court will throw the ticket out.  Some Judges however think they are the ones that write the law and we have to convince them they are wrong, or in one case we are now working our first appeal.  In another case the person was really harassed by the cop and the city was forced to pay the person $25,000 to keep the case out of court.

Myself I've never been pulled over in the Dallas Fort Worth area.  Sputnik our chairman has been waiting for the first officer to pull him over for a helmet violation, no luck.  I know several people that have never been pulled over, some even before the helmet modification was put in place.

I can't speak for the 1% clubs, but I bet they feel the harassment from the law.  This law is a good excuse to harass.  We are trying to see if we can convince the Senate to at least allow the Insurance to be a secondary violation, that way the police cannot pull you over unless you actually commit another offense.

If you think this law can be easily changed a couple of years down the road, your dreaming.  You need a strong legislative force to get that to happen.  That means getting your own people elected.  Most reps feel they have served the public while also giving in to your wishes.  Reps that originally didn't oppose you, will oppose any further change after the law is in effect.

Elmer H. McKeegan
Member TMRA2
http://TMRA2.org

If you live in any of the helmet modification states or you have an opinion you'd like to share please leave a comment on the Voice Your Opinion Page or email me with you comments.
 

March 03, 2000

This coming Tuesday, March 07, the year 2000 legislative session is set to begin for the Florida Legislator.  Unfortunately, we are no further along with the Helmet bills in the House and the Senate then we were in the middle of January 2000.  There was hope that we would enter the new session with both HB0117 and SB0126 through their respective committees and ready for floor action.  What we have is one remaining committee to get through for each of the bills, and no committee meeting scheduled to discuss either of the bills during the first week of the session.  In the Senate, SB0126 is not scheduled to be discussed when the Committee on Banking and Insurance meets on Monday, March 06, 2000.  On the House side The Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations will meet four times next week but no schedule has been released for these meetings.

Although things have slowed down in Tallahassee we need to keep moving forward.  Your first step is to write the members of the Banking & Insurance Committee in the Florida Senate and the members of the Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee in the Florida House.  Ask them to support their respective bill when it appears before their committees.

Call, write or email your State Senator and State House member.  Remember, they may not be aware of this issue or the legislation.  Educate them.  Go to the How To Lobby State Legislators Page.  Here you will get ideas of what you need to do to get legislators informed about this issue.  Go to the Sample Letters Page.  This will give you some ideas of how to get your points across.  Go to the Statistics Studies and Information Page.  Here you will find the information to inform and educate the Legislators.  If nothing else call, write or email your legislators and simply ask for their support when the bills comes to the floor of the House and Senate.”

Share this information and this website with your family, friends, coworkers and neighbors.  This website is geared mainly to Internet users but many people are not on the net.  Let these people know what is going on and what they need to do.  Give those that are on the Internet this website address so they can become more aware of the issues and what needs to be done.  Remember you don't need to have a motorcyclist to be concerned about personal freedoms.  Keep in mind; we will need 61 votes in the Florida House and we will need 21 votes we need in the Florida Senate.  Unless the motorcyclists in this state become involved in the legislative process we may not get enough votes.

Make sure you are registered to vote.  Your opinion will mean much much more to your legislator if you are registered to vote.  To start the registration process Chick Here.

Finally I want to share with you an email I received from the President of the Kentucky Motorcycle Association, Jay Huber.  I email him to ask how the modified helmet law was working in Kentucky.  Here is his response.

Subject: Hello
Date:  Mon, 28 Feb 2000 19:55:05 -0500
From:  "Jay Huber" <Jay_Huber@email.msn.com>
Reply-To: <Jaybo384@hotmail.com>
To:  "'Frank & Vicki'" email@tampabay.rr.com

Since its inception July 15, 1998 the new helmet law for the most part has worked well. Due to the vagueness of the statute concerning health insurance the initial period of implementation was confusing for a while for all parties concerned. After some time and tribulation we were able to have the standards defined and became educated in the administrative regulations process which is every bit as important as the legislative process. While the police basically wrote some tickets to see how the courts would interpret the law, the courts have thrown out every ticket which has been challenged consistently.  Those reasons were listed on our website under the Ky Helmet Law Section.  We are currently in session and trying to remove the additional insurance requirements.  We will know if we are successful in about a month. How this applies to yours or any other state that must be decided by those within that state. Depending upon how the statute is written and the stipulations that are contained you must decide if that is in your interest or not. Politics is a slow process and some things cannot be accomplished all at once. Our freedoms were taken in a single stroke and cannot be won back in a single stroke either. Fighting for those rights whether inch by inch or foot by foot we must continue to proceed forward and never retreat. Make the decision which is the best for you and move forward. Even though you may not attain everything you desire the first time there is always a second time around. Perseverance is the key to anything in life and politics in particular.

Jay Huber
KMA/KBA President
1-800-68-CYCLE
http://www.kmakba.com/