Legislative Update : Transportation Legislative Review Committee and Elections
Hello Motorcyclist Enthusiasts ,
The Colorado General Assembly Regular Session is officially over for 2016 , but the Interim Committees continue to meet throughout the remainder of the calendar year . From my experience , the purpose of the Interim Committees is to get updates and reports from various agencies and departments ; tour facilities to gather first-hand information ; and to discuss topics that could be brought up for legislative action in the next session .
While there are nine Interim Committees , the Transportation Legislative Review Committee ( TLRC ) is the one of most concern to motorcyclists . The TLRC is comprised of the members of the Senate and House Transportation Committees . The Senate Transportation Committee has five members and the House Transportation and Energy Committee has thirteen members ; therefore , the TLRC is comprised of eighteen total members .
The TLRC is chaired by the House Transportation and Energy Committee chair in odd- numbered years and by the Senate Transportation Committee chair in even-numbered years . Senator Baumgardner is the Chairman this year . . The “ official , complete ” Statutory Authority ( purpose ) and History for the TLRC can be found at the June 10th Committee Charge Memorandum on the TLRC page or at : www . colorado . gov / pacific / sites / default / files / TLRC 2016 Committee Charge . pdf .
The agenda for August 1st meeting was a presentation of the Transportation Commission District Research Study pursuant to HB16-1031 . The agendas for the August 31st and October 5th meetings haven ’ t been finalized yet , but I expect the topic of “ Autocycles ” to be brought up . I ’ ve requested it to Chairman Baumgardner a few times during session and the Legislative Liaison for the Colorado State Patrol has also brought this topic to his attention , so we ’ ll see if it gets scheduled . These are open sessions at the Capitol so I ’ ll try to keep everybody informed when I see “ Autocycles ” put on the agenda .
Also of importance , in case you weren ’ t aware , 2016 is an election year ! Colorado had its Primary election on June 28th .
For the Senate seats there were 41 candidates running ( 20D / 21R ). Most of the districts only had 1 candidate , so there were really only 5 contested races for Senate seats . The House seats had 135 candidates running ( 67D / 68R ). Again , most of the districts had only 1 candidate with only fifteen contested races . Actually , that made it easier for me as I only sent out questionnaires to the contesting candidates . I sent out thirty-three questionnaires and received four replies . Of course , all the candidates who replied were motorcycle “ friendly ”. Would you reply if you weren ’ t ? Of those four that replied , only one of them won the primary election . FYI – one candidate won his primary by only sixty-nine votes .
So now I ’ m getting ready to send out questionnaires for the General Election coming up on November 8th . I ’ m looking over the candidate lists , which contain thirty-five Senators and one hundred sixteen Representatives . If I narrow it down by deleting the districts that have one candidate running unopposed and the districts that have “ landslide ” candidate races ( i . e . SD-33 : there were 15,516 Democratic voters and 1303 Republican voters in the Primary ) I will only have to send out seventy-three questionnaires . And since some of those seventy-three candidates I know to be biker “ friendly ” already , I might be able to cut it down even further . Actually , I plan to review all the candidates again before I send out my questionnaires . It might be beneficial to have our “ friendlies ” commit in writing to supporting ABATE . I ’ ll post my findings when I ’ ve compiled all my data .
So what is your part in all this , other than voting for the candidates we find to be biker “ friendly ”? ABATE presented a seminar , “ Working Campaigns and Getting Biker-Friendly Legislators Elected ”? I won ’ t go into the entire seminar , but some of the topics presented are : Why Working Campaigns is so Important ; and What is Required of Volunteers ( Walking Districts ; Help with Mailings ; Phone Banking ; Yard Signs ; Helping with Fund-Raisers ). I will gladly email the entire eight-page outline to anyone wanting to know more . You can contact me through Thunder Roads Magazine .
So get ready to volunteer and persuade others to volunteer . Based on the questionnaires returned and close races , I ’ ll try to pinpoint those candidates that really need help . Even if your candidates are running in a “ landslide ” race , they ’ ll be campaigning and will appreciate and remember bikers helping out . Maybe then we ’ d have a little more clout down at the Capitol ! Stump Legislative Affairs Officer – ABATE of Colorado
6 Thunder Roads Magazine ® Colorado September 2016 www . thunderroadscolorado . com