FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MMA UPDATE - New Hampshire Anti-Motorcycle Bills
On Thursday, January 28th, representatives from the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association (MMA) joined their counterparts from the New Hampshire Motorcycle Rights Organization (NHMRO), the American Motorcycle Association (AMA), and Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) at the New Hampshire State House in opposition to NH House Bills 1162 and 1262 pertaining to Helmet Use and Motorcycle Sound Emissions. See “MMA joins NHMRO in their fight against anti-Motorcyclist Bills” on the MMA website for more information:
http://www.massmotorcycle.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=769540&item_id=12037
As previously reported, both bills were marked “Inexpedient to Legislate” in Executive Session unanimously by the NH House Transportation Committee. The next step in the NH Legislative Process is to add the recommendation to the “Consent Calendar” for vote by the full NH House of Representatives. Unfortunately, any member of the NH Legislature can “pull” a bill from the Consent Calendar and call for a full vote, which is what was done in these cases.
The NH House met on Wednesday, February 10th to vote on HB 1261 – concerning Motorcycle Sound Emissions. The vote was 267 to 28 in opposition of the bill, effectively killing it for this Legislative Session. If passed, this would have required all Motorcycles to be equipped with OEM exhaust systems bearing an EPA stamp, detailed opposition to which was outlined in the MMA testimony (see the MMA Update Link above).
Remaining for vote is NH HB 1161, which would require Motorcyclists in NH to wear Helmets. This has not yet been voted upon by the NH House, and we expect that to occur when the House is in session, next Wednesday.
The MMA will report further when NH NB 1161 has been voted upon.
For More Information, see http://www.massmotorcycle.org or contact LegislativeDirector@MassMotorcycle.org