Press Releases, News & Notes
November, 1997

CONGRESS STALLS HIGHWAY BILL

NCOM, November 12,1997 - The U S Congress passed a stopgap highway funding bill today that will extend current state funding levels until next Spring, since members of the Senate and House could not reach agreement in time on a federal highway bill that will define our national highway systems and transportation projects into the next millennium.

S.1519, which will ensure that states receive necessary federal funding for highway projects through May 1,1998, was passed by the Senate on November 10, and the House on November 12. President Clinton is expected to sign the stopgap measure, which became necessary when current funding provisions expired on September30 and Congress could not reach agreement on a multi-year reauthorization measure before adjourning until next January.

At that time, the House reauthorization bill, H.R.2400 or BESTEA, and the Senate version, 8.1173 or ISTEA II, will again be taken up, including several motorcycle4riendly provisions: H.R.2400 contains sections to guarantee that motorcycles will be taken into consideration during the development of our nation's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), to prohibit the banning of motorcycles from federally funded highways and streets, to keep motorcycle safety a national priority within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) while emphasizing "accident prevention" instead of "injury prevention," and to provide $270 million for recreational trails maintenance and development; 3.1 17a originally only contained anguage for recreational trails funding but has since been arnended to include motorcycles in future ITS technology.

Since the stopgap measure does not affect any policy changes1 the only motorcycle provision contained in the legislation ensures$7.5 million already budgeted for off-road recreational trails through the first half of the fiscal year.

In related matters, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), a member of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) Legislative Task Force, and Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) have offered an amendment to ISTEA 11(8.1173) which would prohibit NHTSA from lobbying state and local legislators on such issues as helmet laws. Similar provisions to ban NHTSA lobbying activities have been amended into two House bills which are expected to be merged with BESTEA (H.R.2400) when it reaches the House floor; H.R.860, the "Surface Transportation Research and Development Ad," and H.R.2691,the "National highway Traffic Safety Administration Reauthorization Ad."

All of these motorcycle related issues will be addressed when Congress reconvenes in January, so the time is NOW to contact your federal legislators and ask them to support the inclusion of these items in the final version of the highway reauthorization bill next year.