Posted November 18, 2008

New Threats Require More Staff

By Royce Wood

Indications are that ATVers and motorcyclists will be under attack like never before in 2009.

As a result, the AMA/ATVA Government Relations Department will beef up its staff to handle the onslaught.

A major mission of the AMA/ATVA is to protect ATVers’ motorcyclists' rights now, and to protect them into the future. To do that, the AMA and ATVA are making a major effort to launch pre-emptive strikes and to react forcefully and effectively when we see threats.

The AMA and ATVA have never had a legal arm, and doesn't plan to have one in the future.

What the AMA/ATVA does have, and will continue to have, are dedicated riders who are experts in the government and grassroots arenas. They are hard at work daily analyzing issues affecting motorcyclists at the local, national, and even international levels.

They are experts in how government agencies work, in the legislative arena, and at grassroots organizing. They know the best strategies for blocking proposed restrictive laws or even with dealing with an ATVer's neighbors who complain about sound coming from their ATV.

In 2009 the AMA/ATVA Government Relations Department will add even more experts so that the AMA/ATVA is even more effective at the local, state, national and international levels.

Some of the biggest threats ATVers and motorcyclists face in 2009 will occur at the federal level, both from the new president's administration and from the new Congress.

Members of Congress gave us a taste of what we can expect in 2009 when they held hearings on proposals that would ban off-highway vehicles from millions of acres of public land by designating them as "Wilderness."

For both road and off-road riders, Congress will be reauthorizing federal transportation legislation that includes everything from allowing motorcycles in High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to providing gas-tax money for the construction and maintenance of trails.

Bad laws aren't the only way that ATVers can suffer. Federal agencies also make decisions and rules that have the force of law.

In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that included language prohibiting employers from denying health-care coverage based on a worker participating in legal activities such as riding ATVs or motorcycling.

But when federal bureaucrats wrote rules to implement the law, they reversed the intent of Congress. The federal officials allowed health-insurance benefit discrimination against ATV riders, motorcyclists and others to continue.

We need to change that.

These are just a few of the challenges we face in 2009.

With more experts joining the AMA/ATVA Government Relations Department, the staff will be ready to tackle those challenges head on.

Royce Wood is an AMA/ATVA government affairs manager. He can be reached by telephone at (614) 856-1900, ext. 1225, by e-mail at rwood@atvaonline.com, or by mail at Royce Wood, ATVA, 13515 Yarmouth Dr., Pickerington, OH 43147.

© 2008, All Terrain Vehicle Association