News from the Genreal Assembly January 21, 2010

It's that time of year again. I will be sending out periodic updates on what is going on at the Virginia Capitol with regard to legislation affecting motorcyclists.

VCOM (Virginia Coalition of Motorcyclists) has two bills that we are pushing this year. One is House Bill 1267 being carried by Delegate Gear. (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+ful+HB1267) It would make the penalty for a helmet violation the same as that of a seat belt violation. Currently if you prepaid a helmet violation you would pay in excess of $80.00 when court costs are factored in. If you chose to go to court to fight it and lost, it could be much more. The penalty for a seat belt violation is a $25 civil penalty which does not carry court costs. HB 1267 attempts to address this inequity in the law.

The second is House Bill 752 which is being carried by Delegates Greason and Janis. (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+ful+HB752) This legislation would allow us to do what motorcyclists in nine other states do. Under this proposed legislation, when a motorcyclist stops at a traffic light and is not recognized by the sensor, upon waiting 120 seconds the motorcyclist would be able to treat the red light as a stop sign and proceed so long as the way was clear. This would help all of us who have at one time or another been stuck at a light that will not change.

There are numerous other pieces of legislation that we are watching and actively working against that we believe have a negative impact on motorcycling. There was action on several of those today.

House Bill 395 (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HB395) carried by Delegate Lohr would remove the exception to section 46.2-910 which currently allows riders of motorcycles with wheel diameters of 8 inches or less to choose whether or not to wear a helmet. This bill was carried at the request of the Harrisonburg Police Department and we believe that it was targeted at a single individual who rides a motorcycle which falls under the exception. Our research has been failed to turn up a single death or injury that has occurred as a result of a person being injured on such a motorcycle due to not wearing a helmet. This piece of legislation was defeated this morning in sub-committee.

House Bill 579 (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HB579 )is a troubling piece of legislation. It would require that all motorcycle exhausts meet federal standards. This bill was passed out of sub-committee and heard in full committee this morning. However, as a result of some productive meetings with several members of the House Transportation Committee last night, the bill was re-referred back to sub-committee where it appears it has little chance of passing. That being said, we are not taking that for granted and will stay on top of this piece of legislation.

There were two other pieces of legislation at the capitol today of interest to motorcyclists. One is House Bill 145 (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+ful+HB145) carried by Delegate O'Bannon. It would require utility trailers with an unloaded weight of 3,000 pounds or less to have reflectors. At first we were concerned over some of the language in the bill but we have ensured that so long as the trailer has two approved reflectors on the back it will be in compliance with the law should this bill pass.

The last bill on which there was action today is Senate Bill 321(http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+SB321) carried by Senator Reynolds. It would allow law enforcement to operate motorcycles two abreast in the same lane. As many of you know Virginia and Vermont are the only states that prohibit this and only Virginia makes it a jailable offense. For the life of me I cannot fathom a benefit that law enforcement gets from being able to ride side by side that is unique to them and not applicable to the rest of us. That being said we are continuing to watch this bill which was passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee today.

We will continue to update as necessary. As usual if anyone has any questions or comments about any of the legislation discussed, please feel free to contact me at 1-800-321-8968 or matt@motorcyclelawgroup.com.

Matt Danielson
Tom McGrath's Motorcycle Law Group
1-800-321-8968
Virginia Coalition of Motorcyclists
1-800-437-9434

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