ALERT: Stop a bill discouraging Missouri cities & counties from working with bike, ped, and trails groups

[UPDATE 16 May 2014:  Success! This anti-sustainability bill was stopped this year.  Now the legislative session is over and there is no chance the bill will pass.

Many thanks to everyone who contacted their Senator this year - your voice was heard!

Now please consider making a donation--small or large--in support of MoBikeFed's legislative work.  This is our most important, most effective but also most expensive work.  Help refill our treasury so we can finish 2014 strong!]

[ADVOCACY ALERT - PLEASE SHARE WIDELY THROUGH 16 May 2014]

ALERT: Stop a bill discouraging Missouri cities, counties, & agencies from working with bicycle, pedestrian, and trails groups.

Yesterday the historic $6 billion transportation funding plan--first in Missouri history to fully integrate bicycling, walking, and trail funding--finally passed the Missouri General Assembly.  

If approved by Missouri voters in November, it will solve a century-old problem for bicycling and walking in Missouri:  The Missouri constitution prohibits use of our state transportation funds for biking and walking.

With your help, we are adding bicycling and walking to the Missouri Constitution!

And thanks to your help last month, we won the victory of the decade when the anti-bicycle proposal was resoundingly defeated. That proposal would have removed bicycling from the Constitutional amendment for Missouri Transportation funding.  Instead, we won a strong confirmation of the importance of including bicycling in the Constitution.

Could I now ask your help in two ways?

#1. Make a donation in support of our Legislative Advocacy - your support gives bicyclists a voice in Jefferson City.  Our legislative advocacy during the spring legislative session is by far our most effective advocacy--but also our most expensive.

Please help us refill our treasury so that we can move forward to ensure that the project list for the $6 billion Missouri transportation funding plan includes a full share for Missouri bicycling, walking, and trails.

#2. With two days left in the legislative session, there is just one troublesome issue remaining--a quick call or email to your state senator will help make a difference

HB 1647 discourages Missouri cities, counties, and government agencies from work
HB 1647 discourages Missouri cities, counties, and government agencies from working with bicycle, pedestrian, and trails groups and other nonprofit and intergovernmental organizations working on issues related to sustainability

Call or email your State Senator, contact info below, with this simple message:

"Please oppose Rep. Moon's HB 1647 which discourages cities, counties, and agencies from working with nonprofit agencies on sustainability issues like biking, walking, and trails.
Many thanks for your support of HJR 68 this year.  The inclusion of bicycling, walking, and transit in our state's transportation funding plan is a historic moment."

Look up your Missouri State Senator's contact information here.

More information about the purpose of HB 1647 here.

NOTES 

  • Jim Farrell, our lobbyist in Jefferson City, is our most effective line of defense. He represents bicyclists in Jefferson City and makes sure that bad legislation like this does not move forward. That is why your donation of support for our legislative advocacy is so vital.
     
  • Calling and emailing your senator are both very effective. Please cc: director@mobikefed.org on your message--it really helps to know how many people are contacting their legislators.
     
  • Please be polite and persuasive when you call or email--we need friends in the Missouri House on this issue.

THANK YOU! 

When you contact your elected representatives in Jefferson City, it really does make a difference.

Join MoBikeFed's Advocacy Network

MoBikeFed is a statewide group of people like you, working together for better bicycling, walking, and trails in Missouri. When you join our advocacy network you receive occasional important advocacy alerts and bicycle, pedestrian, and trails news from around Missouri.

Working together we make a real difference! Join our advocacy network:

Want better bicycling and walking in Missouri?
We rely on the support of members like you.  Please join, renew, or donate today.