Legislative update on Missouri's Bicycle Safety Bill

An update about the events of last week (April 11-15, 2005) from MoBikeFed's lobbyist Jim Farrell:

A quick update:

As you are aware SB372 was presented to the House Transportation Committee by Senator Engler followed by testimony from you and Karyn, Parks and Recreation Association and the insurance industry. The hearing went fine as the Committee had heard extensive testimony the week before on Representative Sutherland's bill. No questions were asked of Sen. Engler. Following the meeting the committee went into executive session to vote out the bills. SB372 was voted Do Pass however, when they were to vote on the consent passage a question was posed by Rep. Rex Rector (124 Harrisonville) whether the bill should go consent and the Chairman had some hesitation thus they deferred the vote until the afternoon executive session.

We then had to work the entire committee to ensure we had a unanimous vote for consent. Brent and I met with Chairman St. Onge and each member individually to account for each vote and address any concerns. We also informed Sen. Engler of the situation. Our meetings were very positive and we went back to Executive session and the bill was passed out of Committee 14-0.

On Thursday the bill was voted Do Pass out of the Rules Committee 6-0. The bill will now be placed on the House Calendar for floor debate.

Now would be the time for your members to contact your Representatives to voice your support for House Committee Substitute for SB372.

The substitute just took out some minor technical changes identified by Sen. Engler. I will let you know when I anticipate the bill to hit the floor for debate. Thanks for your support.

Jim