Hundreds of bikers lobby lawmakers
Motorcyclists' top issue is getting their education fund back.
By Stephanie Wang
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Motorcyclists from across Texas filled the halls of the Capitol on Monday to talk with lawmakers about preserving bikers' rights during this legislative session.
"We want to remind legislators that this is our house," said the chairman of the Texas Motorcycle Rights Association, a statehouse regular who goes only by the name of Sputnik and has "Free" tattooed across his forehead.
 Jay Janner/AMERICAN-STATESMAN Willie Paredez of New Braunfels joined an estimated 2,000 motorcycle riders at the Capitol on Monday. Bikers came from around the state to lobby their representatives about bikers' issues.  Jay Janner/AMERICAN-STATESMAN Sputnik
Motorcycle association chairman.
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Their top concern this year is reinstating a motorcycle education fund. Bikers pay an extra $8 for motorcycle licenses and license renewals, a fee that is supposed to be earmarked for teaching motorcycle safety.
For about four years, the money has been funneled into a general pool instead, and motorcyclists are owed about $8 million for rider training, Sputnik said.
Motorcycle clubs also want tougher penalties against inattentive drivers who collide with pedestrians or bikers and equal access to restaurants and hotels that refuse service to riders decked out in leather vests and patches, he said.
Bikers have to battle a "bad boy" image that leads many to approach them in fear and classify them as gang members, said Lee Stewart of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club in Austin.
This is the eighth time the organization has held a lobby day for bikers to meet their legislators, and event organizers estimated that about 2,000 people rode to the Capitol on a foggy morning to participate.
When the House of Representatives convened in the afternoon, motorcycle-riding Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, read a resolution honoring the motorcyclists for their cooperative legislative work. Wearing a black leather jacket with her name in an emblem on the back, Chavez counted herself and Gov. Rick Perry among the 887,000 licensed motorcycle riders in Texas.
Some bikers praised Chavez and other legislators for their receptiveness.
Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, overcame one stereotype of lawmakers: that they are out of touch with the public. James Merriman, president of the Alternative Motorcycle Club in Waterloo, said Strama and his staff researched proposed legislation so that the lawmaker could talk more knowledgeably about it.
"His response made me feel that by having the courage to come here, there is an open line of communication between us," he said.
swang@statesman.com; 445-1712
