If you ride a bike in New England, you MUST read this and DO SOMETHING!

[Woodcraft]

There is a critical group of laws that is under review THIS WEEK and must be addressed by all owners of any recreational vehicle. If these laws are not changed (which can happen if we get to our government in the next few days) then there could be serious reprecussions for people who own bikes, quads or any ORV.

Here is a quick summary of what I know about (there is much more):

ORV's are now "including, but not limited to, all-terrain
vehicles, off-highway motorcycles, dirt bikes, recreation utility vehicles
and all registered motor vehicles while not being operated on a public way
as defined in said chapter 90". This could some day be extended to race bikes and track day bikes as well.

1) Anyone operating an ORV, even on private property, will have to register their vehicle. This means motocross tracks, backyards, practice facilities, you name it. Not only can you not play in your own back yard without a registration sticker, anyone who visits you from out-of-state will have to do the same thing.

This will devastate all racetracks and practice facilities, and make it completely impractical for riders from neighboring states to come here to ride.

2) No one under 18 can operate any type of ORV without going to a state-run safety course. This takes the training and responsibility away from the parents and placed it in the hands of some state-assigned moron. Plus, riders from out of state who want to compete in Massachusetts will have to go to a safety course in order to race here?! This will KILL the races.

3) No one under the age of 10 can operate any type of ORV. So, all the 50cc - 65cc bike sales will be completely gone! Kids will be denied the right to ride an XR50, or a mini 4 wheeler. The government should not be watching our children, that is the decision of a PARENT!

4) All ORV's made after 1998 must have a spark arrestor and produce no more than 98 db at 20 inches. Many of these bikes are made for closed competition and are not set up for this regulation. This is not an enforceable law. The way it is written, you cannot operate OR SELL a vehicle that does not pass this test. Really??!?

If these laws are left unchanged, racetracks and practice tracks will be placed under undue hardship. Within a decade, we will have lost a whole generation of youth riders and our sport will decline. Finally, ORV owners will not be free to use thier own equipment on their own property without being encumbered by the state.

These laws need to be changed, we only have a couple days to act before it's too late. PLEASE, take 10 minutes and write a letter, make a call or send a fax to your legislator.

Please do the following:

You guys need to find your MA state rep here as well as your ma state
senator by putting in your house number and street along with zip and it
will spit out all your elected officials.

http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php

http://www.malegislature.gov/people/findmylegislator

In addition, please contact each of the following:

Rick Sullivan - Secretary of EOEEA
lisa.capone@state.ma.us 617-626-1119

Phil Griffith s- Undersecretary of EOEEA
philip.griffiths@state.ma.us 617-626-1126

Ed Lambert - Director DCR
ed.lambert@state.ma.us (617) 626-4990

Aaron Gross - Director DELE
aaron.gross@state.ma.us (617) 626-1651

Here is the link to the online source for all of this info but I am glad to pass it on.

http://www.ijustwannarideinma.com/Home_Page.php

[tsanterre]

Anything us that aren't from MA can do to help?

[LiterR1]

Bloody Beurocrats as if we do not have enough red tape and hoops to jump around.

[union]

There is a ton of info about this on www.nedirtbikes.com

There is a meeting tonight about it

http://www.nedirtbikes.com/content/S..._243733/tm.htm

And one tomorrow

http://www.nedirtbikes.com/content/S..._243732/tm.htm

This also has a lot of info

http://www.nedirtbikes.com/content/O..._242693/tm.htm

[Woodcraft]

People from out of state should write letters for a number of reasons.

1) If you ever want to ride in Mass, it's now a pain.

2) This will hurt race tracks, which will have an affect of motorcycle racing in all of New England

3) Politicains talk to each other. If these guys get wind that Massachusetts is creating an income stream from state stickers and mandated education of 17 year old motocrossers (or even hunters with ATV's) - this could be coming soon to your home state!

Stop the insanity now!

[tsanterre]

Somebody want to draft up a form letter that all of us out-of-staters can copy / paste?

Then we can just bombard the email addresses listed...

[Lucas]

+1

[DuncanMoto]

Somebody want to draft up a form letter that all of us out-of-staters can copy / paste?

Then we can just bombard the email addresses listed...

Sample letters attached.

Be short, professional and to the point guys.

[scottfromboston]

Taken literally, some provisions of this could affect trackbikes.

[DynoTune]

anyone hear about the results?

[Chippertheripper]

Copy paste from a guy that went from another forum:

It is difficult to tell what/if the results of this meeting will be. Turnout was about 50-70 people with about 15-20 electing to make statements. Only one person chose to make statements requesting stricter regulations and that person's testimony was that wetlands should not need to be signed to restrict the use of ORVs. Many people made statements regarding the wording of the law but not the wording of the regulations; unfortunately this hearing can only deal with the wording of the regulations. A state senator was present and indicated that they are working on correcting problems written into the Massachusetts General Laws and he did stick around and listen to testimony so while the environmental office appeared to be annoyed by receiving testimony they had no ability to act on the people presenting it may not have been doing so in vein. There were also present lawyers representing NETRA and the state's dealer association that pointed out significant flaws in the interpretation of the environmental agency. The persons recieving testimony seemed receptive and remained responsive throughout the two hours so while they are not obligated to act, we do have a reason to believe they will.

[j4eric]

i got this email response from my rep.
========

Dear Eric,

I would like to thank you for taking your time to personally write to me regarding this matter. I do have trouble with this bill, but unfortunately it passed. It is extremely important that individuals write testimony and attend these hearings to express their frustration on these regulations. As they are currently drafted, I do not support these regulations. I will be sending written testimony to the agency stating my concerns, as well. I feel that young individuals should be allowed to us ATVs that are sized appropriately, as a minimum. Please do not hesitate to contact me again, in the future, should the need arise.

Sincerely,

Rep. George N. Peterson, Jr.
House Assistant Minority Leader
State House, Room 124
Boston, MA 02133

T: 617-722-2100
F: 617-722-2390
George.Peterson@mahouse.gov

legislative aide: David Muradian
David.Muradian@mahouse.gov

[Chippertheripper]

Also, there's another meeting tonight, in Shrewsbury.