ACTIon InFo
Plan Could Close More PubliC lands Public Input Stifled By Process
President Barack Obama intends to use executive orders to create more national monuments, which could further restrict or end access to millions of acres of public lands by motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle riders. In his State of the Union address on Jan. 28, the president pledged to use executive orders to bypass a gridlocked Congress and “protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations.” The president’s authority to do this comes from the American Antiquities Act of 1906.
Watch For Motorcycles Now is the time to start lobbying your local and state governments to declare May as Motorcycle Awareness Month within their jurisdictions. State, county, municipal and other local legislative and administrative agencies have issued resolutions or proclamations in past years recognizing the spring safety awareness campaign for motorcyclists. The initiative, supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, encourages drivers to watch for motorcycles and understand that motorcycle riders enjoy the same rights and privileges as operators of other vehicles. Copies of past resolutions and proclamations adopted by government entities can be found at www. americanmotorcyclist. com/Rights/ MotorcycleAwareness. aspx). Contacting officials early can help ensure your resolution gets adopted in time for the May campaign.
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AmericanMotorcyclist.com
You can add your voice to those asking President Obama to include the insights of local stakeholders and user groups when designating a national monument by signing the AMA “Public Lands Should Have a Public Voice” petition. Scan the QR code above or see the link on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ americanmotorcyclist. should be made in accord with the act and with input from affected user groups and local and state elected and appponted officials. Public lands should be open to all who enjoy them.
blaCk box bill should ProteCt MotorCyClist PrivaCy AMA Working To Ensure Motorcycles Among Covered Vehicles
While motorcycles are excluded from a proposed Senate bill designed to protect the information collected by event data recorders, commonly known as black boxes, the Senate is now working with the AMA to modify the bill so motorcyclists are afforded the same protection as other road users. The Driver Privacy Act, S. 1925, introduced Jan. 14 by U.S. Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) would classify the collected information as the property of the person who owns or leases the vehicle. The AMA believes it is important to clarify who owns the data collected. Only 14 states have laws relating to ownership of information collected and stored in an event data recorder.
Sen. Hoeven said on the floor of the U.S. Senate: “There are no limitations or restrictions or guidelines or requirements on what manufacturers can have the event data recorder do.” The black boxes are not required for motorcycles, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration already requires all passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses to be equipped with them. The U.S. House of Representatives’ H.R. 2414, the Black Box Privacy Protection Act, covers motorcycles, and the AMA fully supports that bipartisan bill. The AMA wants the protections of S. 1925 extended to motorcyclists, as well.
Halley Miller
May is MotorCyCle awareness Month
Just last year, the administration proposed new monument designations that would lock up at least 13 million acres of public land. A Washington Post story identified two of the sites under consideration by the president for designation: the nearly 500,000acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks area near Las Cruces, N.M., and about 1,600 acres on California’s central coast known as the Point ArenaStornetta Public Lands. Large designations, such as the one in New Mexico, clearly overreach the intent of the act, which states, “the limits … in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” The AMA believes these designations