Today's Committee mtg
We were the last item on the agenda so a long day.
Highlights and overview
I had advocated in favor and signed up to speak.
Sen Hewitt spoke first and introduced the bill and some background. She then introduced the amendments which were quickly approved that already were previously posted here. Amendments passed very quickly with all most no discussion.
Ryan spoke for a few minutes also in favor and how some of the compromises of the amended bill had been worked out.
55 out; 65MPH in
I was called next and gave my overview and that we had worked out some good compromises but I would like to see the 55mph and interstate restrictions removed. Several senators asked me questions about how & where to buy. That gave me the perfect venue to explain all sales but specifically call out the USMC hmmwv from GP with no restrictions.I think this helped with a later discussion on off road. I was also able to answer questions specifically of what I drive and what they can do. I informed them that my m923 will do 65 and the hmmwv 69. This immediately brought out a comment that the Chair would not want to be around me doing 55 as that would be an impediment. Senator Smith immediately brought an amendment to 65mph which quickly passed with dmv's approval. So 55 is gone and 65 mph is in. I thought it was very good that many questions were asked and that Senators wanted to be clear and understand fully.
I think we all can live with that if you truck is capable and yes I know some can do more but the top speed in La is 70 in the vast majority and 75 only on 150 miles of I-49. So that was a win in my book.
OFF ROAD almost went away
Ann and John spoke next and presented specific problems with the language and brought up problems for older mv's. During this discussion the definition of OFF ROAD in the technical description of the vehicle came up. Some of the senators were discussing it and I feel an amendment was about to be proposed stripping the wording but before it could proceed, Sen Hewitt asked for a deferment till next week and for time for more specific review and revision. I feel very certain we were minutes away from getting rid of OFF ROAD but it was curtailed.
My Meeting after committee was over
I had worked with Senator Smith previously for the Boy Scouts so I made a point to thank him and chat. The chairman and 3 other senators hung together at the same time and I took advantage of the time with them to side bar on several points and Sen Hewitt also came up. These are my impressions of points I was able to get across and felt they would be in favor. I got a good 15 min access to them to advocate for us all.
Ann And John mentioned seat belt restrictions in the cargo area for parades during their presentation. They seemed very willing to add an exemption for passengers with no seat belts during slow moving parades such as Veterans or mardi gras etc.
I explained that most owners would want to have the choice for the new plate or to continue using the stencil law in lieu of a plate for historical perspective. Since the law is already in the books since 1990, they seemed ok. I told them I did not bring it up since the language was not in the bill but they seemed agreeable to it and even suggested amending it in would not be problematic.
I did mention that this provision was written long ago when we only had green trucks and that the law specified yellow or white stencil only. One of the Senators immediately saw where I was going with tan trucks and said they have no problem with this. Adding to this law or later revising the Stencil statue to include black in the colors I was told would be no problem. They all quickly understood Vietnam era to today on color schemes.
I was asked to provide the Idaho, Wis, and Ky laws to them to review as most were not familiar with anything but the Va law barely.
Bottom line, they were all friendly, understanding and I truly believe supportive, get it, and want to help us.
The 2 hurdles left are the off road and we almost had that gone. Just a few more minutes....
Next hurdle is Interstate. I did not push anymore as I felt I had gotten what I feel is lots of progress in 15min to the folks who will push the buttons. My assumption if they got the 65 and amended that in minutes with no discussion, we can get the interstate also removed.
As Doug and Ann have stated. There is a sense of urgency and we need to accept compromise. If this bill does not get out of committee so it can be voted by house and Senate we are done for 2 years plus. La law only allows laws to be introduced in specific cycles. Next year, is only fiscal matters-budget, taxes, spending etc. This year's special session was for also fiscal but we are in the regular session calendar now during this bill. I don't think they have ever called a special session for other matters.
Also remember amendments can be stripped away or added at anytime during house or senate approval.
This has gotten lots better than the original bill and we are getting there. Even if you disagree with a specific point(s), please see the big picture. We could go backwards.......