National Call to Action: I need your help/SB435
Don Blanscet, Deputy Director of B.O.L.T. of California needs your help. He will be personally delivering letters ON PAPER from you, to the appropriations committee. This action asks you write a letter, print 13 copies of it, address each letter per the list below. Snail mail a packet of them to Don so he can deliver them. Please mail them to Don no later than July 25 giving him time to do a final sort.
If you want to edit a sample letter from jan, which is especially applicable to out of staters, one is attached (log in to see it). AS WITH ALL CALLS TO ACTION, THE BEST WAY TO SUPPORT IT IS TO SPREAD THE WORD TO EVERY BIKER YOU KNOW, INDEPENDENTS AND CLUB MEMBERS. Details from Don are below:
I am asking for your help against SB 435.
The following people are members of the Assembly appropriations committee where SB435 will be heard next (8/4/10).
There are 36,661 signatures against SB435
There are 26 letters of support for SB435
Only three of those 26 are from individuals, the rest, are from various government agencies , noise off, cities and counties.
LA County and City, West Hollywood, are the biggest pushers...The rest are various gov. agencies. and charities.
Bottom line? There is no ground swell of support . We need to tell the members of the comm. that fact.
This will place California in violation of Federal Law not bring it in line with Federal Law, our State doesn't need the expense of
litigation that will lose.
SB 435 will effect tourism, costing Calif. millions of dollars.
SB 435 will cost Calif. millions of dollars in lost tax revenue and registration fees due to lost motorcycle sales.
SB 435 will place another government burden on the sellers of new motorcycles in a depressed economy leading to lost jobs.
Pick your favorite argument ,please no loud pipes arguments , noiseoff,org has inoculated them against that one.
Add one of the above and mail it to me, I will personally deliver the letters by visiting each member of the committee myself
and register our opposition in person.
If SB435 passes the comm. , the next action will be in the Assembly. , it will happen fast , if it passes the Assembly, it goes to the
Senate for a concurrence vote, if it is passes it goes to the Governor. So we have several shots at this.
I will get to Jan and see what can be done getting some of those letters sent to me via electronic. I want a handful of letters
when I knock on their door, give me the letters and I'll get the microphone!!!
I need old fashioned paper letters to put in their face, to wave while I tell them whats up.
This is California, if SB 435 passes it will be knocking on your door next!!!!
Won't you join me. B.O.L.T. is ready to make it's presence known at the Capitol
We need to sway DEMOCRAT VOTES. So here they are. Time they meet some Bikers who think "neutral" is the space between gears.
Felipe Fuentes --- Appropriations Committee Chairman Dist.39
Steven Bradford Dist. 51
Charles Calderon Dist.58
Joe Coto Dist.23
Mike Davis Dist.48
Kevin de Leon Dist. 45
Mike Gatto Dist. 43
Isadore Hall III Dist. 52
Diane L Harkey Dist. 52
Nancy Skinner Dist. 14
Jose Solorio Dist.69
Tom Torlakson Dist.11
Alberto Torrico Dist. 20
The proper title of the above legislators is Assemblyman or Assemblywoman
Please pre-sort the letters to make it easier for Don to separate into 14 piles. Send the letters to
Don Blanscet
19238 Branding Iron Rd.
Penn Valley , Calif. 95946
One final note from jan: Expect to see another national call to action to place phone calls to say you are opposed to SB 435 the day before the appropriations committee. Sometimes committees do not get to a bill on the scheduled date, so you can check boltusa.org for any updates.
LET'S STOP THIS FROM COMING TO YOUR STATE BY STOPPING IT IN CALIFORNIA!
Includes all bikes prior to 2011
everyone thinks this bill only effects bikes built on or after 2011. That is wrong and will include ALL bikes that upgrade or replace exhaust systems that are manufactured after 2011. We are spreading the word in SoCal. It is good to see BOLT involved. Keep up the fight Don
This is foothold legislation
This is foothold legislation which will sweep the country like a cancer unless it is stopped in the first few states that try it. The next state might not grandfather in any existing bikes, might make it primary enforcement, and might make larger fines or even imprisonment as misdemeanors.
It is targeting motorcyclists.... I cannot imagine a cop crawling under an automobile or truck to look for a stamp on exhaust pipes. We're getting shafted again.
If you look at the NYC Survey you'll see that this is not a behavioral problem. The lawmakers are targeting individuals who have no control over whether or not the EPA stamp is placed in an easily visible place. If the stamp isn't right in the cops face, they are going to write tickets. It ends up being another unfair criminalization of people for their choice of vehicle.
Think of it as an upstream and downstream situation. The suppliers are upstream. We are downstream. The stamp and mounting of the pipes is done upstream by the manufacturers and small shops that replace pipes. This is similar to all people with property on the banks of a river being fined $5,000 if there is pollution in the water, while it is the paper mill upstream finding it cheaper to just pay the fine than correct the problem, but the poorer people who can't afford the fine may lose the farm. Small pipe shops are going to have to turn away business, making everyone go to the dealers for pipe replacement. If small shops turn away enough business, they often go out of business and people lose jobs.
The Senator who introduced the legislation says the intent of this is to stop those few who tamper with their exhaust systems to either bypass the catalytic converter or to make the pipes louder. Whether or not a pipe has a stamp easily visible or not has nothing whatsoever to do with tampering with the exhaust.
This opens the door to contesting the legislative intent as true or fictional in court. Trials should consider legislative intent. Other than lawyers (who occupy many seats in the legislature) there are no winners in court battles due to the expense of litigation. Aren't we fed up with all the lawmaking done which promotes more litigation business for lawyers? I've had enough of motorcyclists being treated as criminals until proven different.
If a cop wants to ticket someone for tampering, they should have to testify they observed the person tampering or they should have to provide photographic proof of drill holes. Testimony that a cop looked at the pipes and did not see an EPA stamp should not be considered proof of tampering.
We must not just fight this, but must also resent it. They are expecting people to object with hat in hand and make compromises. I say approach this with extreme resentment and NO COMPROMISE.
jan
reference: NYC Survey at http://boltusa.org/library/index.php?title=Noise_laws
SB 435 is JOBS KILLER Legislation
Additional request from Don Blanscet....
Please ask the letter writers to include a new pressure point. JOB KILLER SB 435 is a job killer.
I hate job killers , don't you?
Not to mention that BUBS only makes the certified pipe for the FL and dyna.. Softtail and vrod are
out of luck, according to the BUBS reps. No body makes GSXR pipes, Nothing Honda, Suzuki,Yamaha, BMW so they will all ways wear their factory pipes. Remember that when you talk to a BMW rider or etc.
Small shops will not be able to sell or install certified after market pipes because nobody makes them. JOB KILLER!! Everybody will sound like a vespa.
Now lets get the letters to me, scope out your States Legislative agenda , contact your local rep s trans. aid , inquire about any legislation like Sb 435, ask to be informed if it comes up.