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*** FREE *** LEGISLATIVE TRAINING SEMINAR *** FREE ***
JULY 13, 2013
DENVER, CO
OPEN TO EVERYONE -- MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS
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HB 13-1083 CONCERNING THE MOTORCYCLE OPERATOR SAFETY TRAINING PROGRAM TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE HEARING THURSDAY, FEB 7TH UPON ADJOURNMENT HOUSE COMMITTEE ROOM 0112
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Victory for Colorado Motorcyclists |
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ABATE of Colorado reports that February 21, 2012, SB12-089, Repeal the Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (M.O.S.T.) Program has been postponed indefinitely on a vote of 4-3. There have been issues with the MOST program over the past few years and ABATE tried unsuccessfully to remedy the issue in 2010, with SB10-40. As a result of SB10-40 being introduced ultimately a Legislative Audit of the program was ordered. The Audit didn’t reveal much that was not already known. The Audit contained several recommendations including one to repeal the program. In November of 2011, ABATE attended the Legislative Audit Committee hearing to review the audit findings and to decide if legislation should be drafted to repeal the program. Members of the committee were split on whether the program should be fixed or go away. Both motions (1) to draft repeal legislation and (2) to legislate ‘fixes’ ended in tie votes so nothing further was done at that time. When the 2012 legislative session began in January, Senator Renfroe renewed efforts to repeal the program. The repeal of the program would be a huge injustice to the riders of Colorado. ABATE of Colorado members, Colorado Sportbike Club members, Motorcycle Roadracing Association members, CDOT, Powersports Dealers Association, the American Motorcyclist Association, Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Motorcycle Riders Foundation and most of the rider education community in Colorado rallied their efforts to defeat this legislation. Job well done to those that participated and thank you for your efforts!! The MOST program still needs a lot of work and CDOT along with stakeholder input has a list of initiatives to implement in the program. We look forward to working with CDOT in the coming months to make the MOST program a more effective and viable program to benefit the riders of Colorado. |
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SB12-089 - CONCERNING THE REPEAL OF THE MOTORCYCLE OPERATOR SAFETY TRAINING PROGRAM
Introduced January 19, 2012 - Assigned to transportation Committee
Bill Summary: The bill repeals the motorcycle operator safety training program administered by the office of transportation safety in the department of transportation and repeals all license and registration fees imposed to fund the program.
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Senate Transportation Committee Members |
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Scott Renfroe |
Nancy Spence |
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| Linda Newell | Gail Schwartz |
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PRESERVE THE MOST PROGRAM !!
Motorcyclists: there is an important issue happening at the Capitol November 7th and possibly beyond. I don't know how many of you are aware of the Motorcycle Operators Safety Training (MOST) program and how it works. For those of you that don't here's a quick lesson. The program was established in 1990. Motorcyclists worked with the Legislature to impose fees upon our registration and licensing to create a fund to assist with rider training in Colorado. We even went back to the Legislature in 2006 to raise the fees. Each of us pay an additional $4 on our registration every year and when we renew our driver's license we pay an additional $2. These fees are collected and put into the MOST program to offset training costs to CO residents and military. Every training company that works under MOST gets a subsidy per student to reduce the costs of the courses offered. The amount varies from year to year dependent upon how much money is in the fund. There have been some issues with the program. Until recently it was not well managed. ABATE tried to correct some issues Legislatively in 2010. The bill was ultimately defeated by competing training companies and a faction of motorcyclists. It did result in an Audit of the MOST program which was completed last week and heard by the Legislative Audit Committee. There were several recommendations (surprisingly familiar to what ABATE asked for in 2010) that should be implemented in the program. There was also a recommendation to close the program. The Audit Committee voted to draft a bill to close the program. ABATE's members have chosen to fight to preserve the MOST program with the other recommendations implemented and we need your help if you agree with us!! When the Audit Committee meets again November 7th they will vote whether to move the bill forward to shut down MOST or they will kill the bill. We'd like to convince them to kill the bill. There is still a chance that another Legislator will decide to introduce a bill in 2012. We will compose a plan of action if that happens. If you feel this program is valuable to Colorado and want to help us here is what you can do. Contact these Legislators and tell them we want to keep the MOST program.
If you have more questions call Terry 303-789-3264. Thanks for your help. REMEMBER this is NOT a government imposed program, motorcyclists of Colorado imposed this program!! It's OUR money not the general taxpayers!!!
Some simple points that need to be taken into consideration with the MOST (Motorcycle Operator Safety Training) program.
First and foremost: this program is paid for by motorcyclists, not the general public ref (C.R.S. 43-5-504, also 42-2-114 (2) (b) and (4) (b), 42-2-118 (1) (b) (II) and 42-3-304 (4)), by our own choice. We asked for the extra fees to help further rider training. In fact we went to the Legislature again in 2006 to increase the fees.
Second: “The intent of the statute is that the Department of Transportation (CDOT) use Motorcycle Operator Safety Training Funds to establish, administer, promote, provide motorist awareness programs, and participate in the costs of the Program, so that Motorcycle Safety training would be more accessible to a greater percentage of Colorado consumers and would be less costly to consumers, thereby enabling more persons to enroll in and complete such safety training.” Verbatim from the MOST Rules and Regulations
What happens if MOST is shut down?
- Funding which cannot be transferred to any other fund would be eliminated that would have been used to educate new and existing riders resulting in a savings of $4 to $6 per year per motorcyclist
- Cost of training will increase, making courses less affordable in a poor economy, increasing the number of untrained riders on the roads of Colorado
- More self-taught riders and less safety knowledge
- Some training schools will go out of business, making training less accessible especially in rural, underserved areas of Colorado.
- DOR will need more staff to provide/administer testing due to reduction of training schools increasing the fiscal impact to the state budget
- Substandard safety training provided due to no oversight
- Possible reduction in Federal funds for motorcycle safety and awareness campaigns making the motoring public less aware of motorcyclists
- There will be an increase in motorcycle related accidents/fatalities (studies indicate a reduction in accidents/fatalities due to rider training)
Why do the motorcyclists of Colorado want to keep this program?
- This is a safety program that teaches proper riding gear, techniques, braking, accident avoidance, etc.
- We pay for it
- It helps reduce the cost of training classes so more riders will get training
- It provides mobile training to outlying areas of the state
- It is an integral part of assured Federal highway funds for Motorcycle Safety and Awareness funds in CO
- It oversees the schools/companies and instructors providing classes to assure approved curriculum and safety measures are followed
- It reduces accidents/fatalities by putting more trained riders on the road
- Education will make a rider safer and more skilled
Give CDOT and the MOST program with a Legislative Appointed Task Force (stakeholders) 2 years to implement the recommendations provided by the Audit and re-write the Rules and Regulations. Give the motorcyclists of Colorado (your constituents) a chance to make this an effective viable program. Please SUPPORT the preservation of MOST.
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THE STORY OF COLORADO’S SENATE BILL 040: Motorcycle Safety Education Program Fund, and
Sixteen Cents
Colorado Senate Bill 10-040 (SB040 – Tochtrop/Soper) “Concerning Motorcycle Safety Education Programs” was put down on May 10th, in the last days of this years’ legislative General Assembly. The bill was PI’d (Postponed Indefinitely) at the request of the House sponsor in the House Transportation & Energy committee, and the committee voted unanimously to honor the request.
A lot of controversy was generated by a consortium of opponents to the bill – a bill that sought to protect and define the use of the funds in the Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program, administered within the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
So why was the bill brought forth, and what was seemingly so controversial about it? Let’s get into it, and start with some history…
ABATE of Colorado designed and pushed for this bill – and we’re proud of it. In conjunction with a number of long-time, altruistic training associates and MOST program founders, as well as previous and current ABATE state officers and coordinators, ABATE has the benefit and distinction of a long institutional history and knowledge of/with the MOST program and training in Colorado. We were there in the beginning. ABATE has remained upright in keeping with our mission statement “…to preserve freedom of the road, to unite motorcyclists, to promote fair legislation, safety, and rider education and to provide a network for communications on issues affecting motorcyclists.” Of course, no small part of this is the eventuality of saving lives and reducing injuries by providing formal training to motorcyclists so they are better skilled and aware on the roadways, a mission that ABATE takes seriously and strives for every day. As an original stakeholder, with the benefit of the rider in mind, we also consider ourselves to be a ‘watchdog’ over the state-administered program, a position we also do not take lightly.
The MOST program was created and signed into law in 1990. ABATE was training riders that same year. A ‘Rules’ committee was established by law “…to assist in the development and implementation of the program.” Under the Colorado Code of Regulations (2 CCR 602-3 RULES AND REGULATIONS TO ESTABLISH, IMPLEMENT AND ADMINISTER A MOTORCYCLE OPERATOR SAFETY TRAINING [MOST] PROGRAM)
I. “These rules are adopted pursuant to the authority contained in sections (of statute – editors’ note)… The purpose of these Rules is to adopt necessary provisions and procedures to establish, implement, and administer the Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) Program intended and required by the Statute. The intent of the Statute is that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) use Motorcycle Operator Safety Training Funds to establish, administer, promote, PROVIDE MOTORIST AWARENESS PROGRAMS, and participate in the costs of the Program, so that Motorcycle Safety training would be more accessible to a greater percentage of Colorado consumers and would be less costly to consumers, thereby enabling more persons to enroll in and complete such safety training.” This is the verbatim language, and you will note that I emphasize the MOTORIST AWARENESS PROGRAMS in the text. It has a history (and we will refer to it again later) because “…provide motorist awareness programs…” became part of the rules at the insistence of the Western slope Riders for Justice organization back then, and by agreement of committee.
So there you have the beginning of the program in a nutshell; there were sponsors contracting with MOST, coming on-board to provide training according to the Rules, and let’s say for the most part the program was humming along and growing.
In about the mid-2000’s, and under the administration of a previous program manager (who is no longer with CDOT), disturbing and troublesome trends were taking place in that the historical MOST Advisory (oversight) Committee was unilaterally disbanded by the manager, payments were being made to reimburse contractors for items/expenditures that should be considered their own cost-of-doing-business (CoDB), and the ‘cap’ (or limit) on what a contractor could charge a student for training was also unilaterally removed in spite of protests. In the same time-frame, it is believed that a few individuals with ties to rider training were exerting pressure and their own type of influence upon the manager to manipulate some outcomes. There won’t be any details forthcoming here or later, but the belief is reliably-based. After a few years of some stagnancy to the concerns, it became time to “right the ship.”
Senate Bill 040 attempted to do just that, by bringing legislative pressure to bear into the program. In all fairness to the current administration and management of MOST, they inherited problems and we believe they have the best of intentions to service motorcyclists’ training and the legislative intent of the program. The bill sought to achieve three outcomes, 1) designate that 80% of the program funds be used solely for student tuition reimbursements and for the travel costs of rider coaches to deliver training to outlying areas of the state, 2) re-implement the cap on what students could be charged for a class by a sponsor, and 3) set-aside 5% of the annual MOST funds for motorist awareness programs. It’s important to know more than anything else, this is a bill about the functionings of MOST and its use of the funds. The concerns of the average rider in the context of, let’s say, their right-to-ride don’t much come into play. Unless they’re keen on the subject, most riders are not much concerned about MOST except they may know they contribute a few bucks into it each year as a collective. And they have an advocate in ABATE. After the bill’s smooth-sail through the Senate, opposition gathered up and decided this was a problem bill that needed to be killed. Why? Much of the opposition doesn’t have a history with the program but somehow wanted to be a dog in the fight. With that stated, let’s take apart each section and the arguments beginning with the 80% use of funds…
1). First of all the MOST fund uses 15% for administrative purposes and that cannot change – it is law. The rest of the fund has historically paid for many things including supplies of all types (and many rightfully so) but had been extended to include coolers, picnic tables, carpeting, window tinting, etc. as reimbursements to contractors, and had gotten out of hand. These are administrative decisions, and once decided upon have a tendency to become future standard practice and even snowball from there. There has to be a dividing line or criteria of what constitutes direct expenses of delivering training and not nuanced decisions based on ‘want’ by sponsors and paid with biker dollars. More on this later…
2). The ‘cap’ on tuition that can be charged by contractors to a student is an historical and functional norm. It has served well and goes right to the very beginning of the creation of the program when legislators insisted - and trainers agreed - that a cap be implemented agreeably among the sponsors. It is NOT an arbitrary figure, and takes into consideration the stakeholders needs. In essence, it is an understanding between training provider and MOST, and part of the agreement that in effect says ‘I will abide by the Code of Regulations, Rules, and spirit of the Program’ which is to deliver quality training with integrity and business acumen. Who can argue with that? Somehow, there’s an argument anyway – one that says “government is limiting my business to an artificial price ceiling per student.” This position has no merit. This is not government – it’s agency rules. Contractors initially agreed to it, and now some don’t like it?
- If a contractor doesn’t like the cap, they are free to exit the MOST program and train outside of the Rules. There is no regulation preventing a motorcycle training company from doing business in Colorado, nor one that governs the price structure in that free-market. Move along then, and best wishes…
- State Coordinator Terry Howard hit the nail on the head in a recent commentary when she stated training businesses that take MOST funds (tax dollars) to offset the tuition costs to students should abide by those functional Rules, and not attempt to change them
- With the number of training businesses operating under the MOST program, I know of none that have not succeeded in generating a profit as long as they have managed their business properly.
- The unilateral decision to remove the cap by administrative diktat may have been within authority, but likely wasn’t without a minority influence.
3). The 5% of the MOST fund that would be used as a set-aside for motorist awareness programs has been assailed by opposition who have characterized it from the beginning as a “raid” on the funds. This sensationalism could not be further from the truth. To read and listen to this bunk proffered, one is led to believe the program is being gored. They initially misrepresented the annual dollar intake into the MOST fund as being six million, and when that figure was challenged as incorrect, revised it to one million, which is still incorrect. At no time have they publicly retracted the statement of their figures. The true dollar amount, based upon the current operating budget, is about $571,000 according to Legislative Council staff, which has the responsibility of perusing finances of any bill before the legislature. Of that, $28,565 would be used for motorist awareness, or 5%.
- The use of MOST funds for motorist awareness is expressly authorized in the Rules and Authority (see article beginning.) This has not happened in the course of the Program, and should – it’s overdue.
- There’s an argument that says “Why should motorcyclists pay for it?” Using that logic, suppose motorists were to say “I don’t want my tax dollars used for motorcycling messages…” How would that go over with you? Because motorists do. In the scheme of public service awareness programs and roadway safety messaging, road repairs, etc. we are all paying the freight. It’s ‘Taxes 101’ – we all pay for everything. This small figure would contribute more to alleviating a dearth of messaging and hard materials, more than we have now. How about the Section 2010 Motorcycle Safety Funds of the TEA-21 transportation bill that ABATE helped to secure for Colorado? Besides targeting the motorcyclist exclusively, they will also be used for motorist awareness – it’s part of the monies’ usage.
- The 2007 NHTSA Technical Assessment of Colorado’s Motorcycle Safety Program recommends point-blank “Develop and distribute informational materials and communications campaigns that emphasize rider conspicuity, motorist awareness of motorcycles, and the reasons why motorists do not see motorcyclists.”
- Another hair-split is about who would carry out the program. The Office of Transportation Safety within CDOT would – the same office with authority over MOST. Yes, they do have expertise in this area, and yes, they do contract with and use outside ad agencies. And yes, motorcycling advocacy organizations could be a part of the process to approve – this does not have to be spelled out in a bill.
- Finally, if certain “reimbursed” items become ‘deniables’, then the savings conceivably translate into funds for motorist awareness.
The bill’s House testimony was on March 23rd in the Transportation & Energy committee. This hearing was nothing short of a disappointment - the committee schedule was overloaded for the date, and by the time SB-40 was up for presentation it was almost 6 o’clock. Opposition was presented first, as is typical because the proponents always want to have the opportunity to present rebuttal. The opposition was afforded over an hours’ time which included much off-topic rambling that should have been shut down. The legislators’ body language signified weariness, a huge Spring storm was moving in, and by the time we had our turn we were given less than half the time. The legislators failed to ask the in-depth questions we had the answers to. Suffice to say we weren’t given fair audience. For the sake of comparison, ABATE invites you to listen to the testimony audio in its entirety (about 1 ½ hrs.) and you can be the judge – we have no need or cause to embellish things in print. Give us a call…
A key to understanding legislation and law, and one that I touched on in an article a couple months ago is that when legislation is passed by a body and signed by the governor, it is always assigned to a department, agency, or instrumentality (or multiples) of the government to carry out the core legislative intent. Not everything about a bill is spelled out on the bill paper – the rest of the authority to implement, carry out, and/or enforce lies with the departments given that charge. At the same time, interpretations have to be made, and they can become lost in bureaucracies and managerial hierarchies. For all that CDOT does, they are also a bureaucracy whereupon actions get gridlocked in the hierarchy of the chain of command and management; policy gets muddled. Not everything about the MOST program is perfect, and some things there are matters of interpretation as well. Generally speaking, agencies have but one Master, and that is usually the legislative branch. Sometimes it takes a shove from the legislature or the specter of legislation to serve notice and move policy where it should go. Such is the case with certain aspects of the MOST program. This is not a jab at the current MOST managers; it’s upstream. Senate Bill 40 brought attention to issues in MOST. Legislatures are not inclined so much to micro-manage, but will review and re-visit existing law. Managers will find a redefined understanding of what the legislative intent is, their legal administrative authority, and what they can do – with the blessing of their superiors they hadn’t had before. This re-definition is taking place now. Before SB40 was killed, the House Transportation & Energy committee would have liked an audit of the MOST program – is CDOT/MOST opposed? No. It is likely to happen. The committee also wanted to consider the possibility of moving MOST under the Department of Public Safety. Do we consider this a viable alternative? No. The logistics of moving this program to another branch and re-implementing for start-up would be nightmarish. Does CDOT/MOST have the authority to restrict previously reimbursed items? Yes. Is CDOT/MOST opposed to a tuition cap? No. Is CDOT/MOST opposed to using some funds for motorist awareness programs? No. So, at the end of the day, there wasn’t much left of SB-40 that really couldn’t be done internally, and in consultations with the bill sponsor we helped put it to sleep. With or without the bill, change is on the horizon – mission accomplished.
The opposition may say they “killed” the bill, and they’re entitled to their opinion. For the sake of argument, let’s say they did. Since they didn’t offer up any improvements or modifications past wanting to kill it outright and attempting to take ABATE to task at the same time, then the logic follows that their coalition is defending the Status Quo. And that is unacceptable.
There are 175,000 motorcycle registrations in Colorado. $28,565 if used for motorist awareness amounts to 16 cents per motorcycle, per year.
‘Raid’??…
