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ABATE Day at the
Statehouse
January 17th 2012
This is The Most important event on the ABATE Calendar. This is where the
grassroots part of our organization really shows it's stuff. Last year the
event was canceled because of demonstrations at the Statehouse, this year
there wasn't any difference in that part. We all understood that staying
away too long would mean a lesser influence in the future.
This year there were three bills of interest to bikers. Two are "clean-up"
bills, their purpose was to correct mistakes or wording without changing the
actual law (HB1197 & SB 137). The third bill was the California Emissions
Bill (SB257) by Senator Zakas. The bill would effect mainly straight pipes
on bikes newer then 1982. It died in committee last year and our hopes
are that it will do the same this year.
With the large demonstrations planned about the time the House and Senate
went into session (around 1:30) we couldn't waist much time and contacts
with legislators had to be done early. By noon you were lucky if you could
get in contact with a Legislative Assistant. Either way the message was
simple and not overly time consuming.
Wandering the halls meant intermingling with all the other groups there at
the Statehouse. It was good to see an interest from the many riders there.
Whether they were young or old, there was enough curiosity about our bills to
get questions started and even the odd remark that their LINC Rep didn't
mention that at their monthly meeting (hmm, ABATE members are everywhere).
February 2, 2012
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