CALL TO ACTION
The MRF and many SMROs worked hard to get funds to bolster motorcycle training, safety, and awareness. However now as some of us feared the FEDs want to allow states to use those funds to push helmets and helmet laws. Please contact your Congressional Representative in Washington and your US Senator in opposition. These funds were won by bike rights activists and should NOT be turned over to safety nannies to be used against us.
Mary Peters needs to take more rider education classes. Her accident was self-inflicted as she crashed her motorcycle into her husband's motorcycle. I would suggest people like her need the training we are trying to encourage with these funds!
~FF
1) FEDs try to steal Motorcycle Safety Funds to Push Helmet Laws
2) Senate finishes immigration bill debate
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1) FEDs try to steal Motorcycle Safety Funds to Push Helmet Laws
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http://pressmediawire.com/article.cfm?articleID=5365
U.S. Transportation Secretary Peters Unveils Legislation to Help States Target Motorcycle Helmet Use
Published 02/14/2008 - 6:20 p.m.
(PressMediaWire) WASHINGTON, D.C. Thursday, February 14, 2008 – U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters today sent legislation to Congress seeking greater flexibility for states to target one of the leading causes of motorcycle deaths across the nation – riding without a helmet.
An avid motorcyclist, she credits her helmet and riding gear for saving her life during a 2005 motorcycle crash.
“My helmet prevented me from being a brain injury patient when I crashed my Harley two years ago,” Secretary Peters said. “We know helmets save lives and I want states to be able to join in urging riders to take personal responsibility for their safety by wearing a helmet every time they ride.”
The legislation submitted to Congress would allow states to use federal motorcycle safety funding to promote the use of motorcycle helmets. Currently, states are limited to using the funds for motorcycle safety training and awareness programs only.
Secretary Peters noted that states need additional resources to combat a sharp increase in motorcycle fatalities. In 2006, motorcycle fatalities reached 4,810, an increase of 127 percent since 1997, Secretary said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that motorcycle helmets not only saved the lives of 1,658 motorcyclists in 2006, but that 752 additional lives could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets, she added.
Calling motorcycles “our nation’s greatest highway safety challenge,” Secretary Peters launched a comprehensive federal initiative to improve motorcycle safety in October 2007. The action plan emphasizes more rider education and training, tougher standards for helmet certification labeling, law enforcement training, and road designs that consider motorcycle dynamics.
For more information on DOT’s motorcycle safety initiative, please visit http://www.nhtsa.gov/motorcycles/index.cfm
Contact: Brian Turmail
Tel.: (202) 366-4570
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2) Senate finishes immigration bill debate
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/feb/14/senate_finishes_immigration_bill_debate30629/
Senate finishes immigration bill debate
By Yvonne Wenger (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, February 14, 2008
McConnell, Campsen say measure has crippling loophole
COLUMBIA — The Senate finished its work on immigration reform legislation late Wednesday but left in what many are calling a giant loophole.
The nearly 30-page bill extends worker verification standards to private businesses, asks the federal government for authority to enforce immigration laws and requires jails to verify the nationality of prisoners, among a long list of provisions.
What the bill does not do is stop employers from using federal verification standards that Sens. Chip Campsen and Glenn McConnell argued perpetuates the broken system. The Senate ultimately voted 39-0 for the bill, which allows businesses to use the federal I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form.
"If you leave an I-9 in here, you're building upon that false foundation," said Campsen, R-Isle of Palms. "People for a while might think you really did something tough on immigration, that you really addressed the issue, but eventually they'll understand."
Campsen and McConnell, R-Charleston, had offered a proposal to require businesses to use only driver's licenses and identification cards issued by South Carolina and other select states. If a potential employer did not have either, employers would have been required to check the validity of Social Security numbers through a federal database run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, E-Verify.
The federal government fails to check whether the Social Security numbers and names provided for I-9 forms are valid, which allows businesses to continue hiring illegal immigrants, Campsen said. His and McConnell's proposals failed to get support, but no recorded votes were taken.
At one point, McConnell had also suggested the state create a special form to strengthen enforcement, but other senators said it was too burdensome for the business community.
"Lord, have mercy," Minority Leader John Land of Manning said. "You're going to put this burden on every honest businessman in South Carolina, and the crooked ones out there are probably not going to file this thing."
The real problem was political pressure from special-interest groups, McConnell and Campsen said. Still, the two said the Senate improved on the reform bill as passed by the House in late January. The next stop for the bill is a conference committee, provided the House insists on its version, which is expected. Conference is where the legislators will reach final accord.
Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Goose Creek, said the community would feel the situation ease over time once the legislation becomes law. He said the Senate bill reflects a hard-fought compromise.
One of the biggest challenges throughout the process was trying to understand where the state could act and what the limitations were, McConnell said.
"Propaganda pumps" were working overtime, McConnell said, telling the public the state can do more to address illegal immigration than is within its power. The Legislature has to be careful not to open the state up to lawsuits on discrimination and other grounds.
"All you're going to do is make a group of lawyers rich," McConnell said. "To the public, you need to understand our hands are tied. This issue ultimately has got to be solved in Washington, D.C.
"The people saying the General Assembly can solve this problem are not telling them the truth. There are limits to what we can and can't do."
Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said the state should have waited for the federal government to act.
"Right now, I am not convinced that we have the constitutional powers to do something about it," Ford said. "I think we are just spinning our wheels."
Reach Yvonne Wenger at (803) 799-9051.
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