In searching for the status of a bill the other day, I inadvertently discovered a powerful way for people with particular interests to discover bills currently pending before our state congress.  The website for the NYS Assembly (and the one for the Senate) both have a search function that allows you to search by key words.  For example, punch in motorcycle, hit search, and out will pop a list of all bills currently pending that have anything to do with motorcycles.

I wanted to share with readers the complexity and detail of the records the state keeps about pending legislation. You can visit the assembly site and see exactly what’s been proposed, and even gauge when some bills might not have the support to be serious contenders. For any avid motorcyclist, I think this is a great opportunity to keep ahead on safety and legal issues.

There are many bills proposed each year affecting motorcycles. Many are never given serious consideration others are. When you visit the New York State Assembly website and search by the keyword motorcycle, you’ll get to see exactly what is pending.

All of the proposed legislation is sorted by type. A stands for an assembly bill, S for a senate bill.

The secret is that if there isn’t a corresponding bill in both houses, the bill is likely going nowhere, but that can obviously change over time.  And just because a bill has been proposed in both houses doesn’t necessarily mean that it is going anywhere, either.

At the time I’m writing this post, there are  31 bills currently pending in the New York State Assembly. Twelve are Senate bills, and 19 are Assembly bills.

I won’t list every one (just click on the link to see that), but I will give you some hightlights:

• A00691 Exempts motorcycles from tolls collected from the New York state thruway authority
• S06982 Requires five-hour pre-licensing course to include a motorcycle safety and awareness component, and the driver’s license examination to include two questions concerning motorcycle safety and awareness

Those two unfortunately don’t have corresponding bills in front of the other house. Here’s a bill that does:

• A02178 Exempts bicycle, motorcycle, snowmobile and equestrian helmets from sales and use tax
• S03239 Exempts bicycle, motorcycle, snowmobile and equestrian helmets from sales and use tax

So, it looks as though we may not be paying some taxes on helmets pretty soon. Lets hope that one passes!!

It’s a very important part of my job to stay on top of the laws pertaining to motorcycle use in New York state. I’ve found the easy access to lawmaking information to be interesting for my personal interest in motorcycles as well. Check out the Assembly site for yourself, and stay abreast of any issues affecting you and your interests!

Thanks for reading.

_______________________________
ZiffLaw Attorney, Esq.
NY and PA Motorcycle Accident Attorney
The Ziff Law Firm, LLP
303 William Street
Elmira, NY  14901
Phone: (607)733-8866
Fax: (607)732-6062
Email: info@zifflaw.com
www.zifflaw.com