Home Private: Forums NMA Legislative Alerts PA Legislature Back in Session 9.24.18: 4 Critical Bills NEED YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION!

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      Shelia at NMA
      Participant

      Dear Pennsylvania NMA Members,

      PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION:

      The Pennsylvania General Assembly will come back on September 24, 2018. There has been intense anti-driving activity by paid lobbyists and special interest groups. We need your help, in contacting your elected officials to oppose these bills. The opposition is very well organized and they are getting people to contact their officials also.

      Please tell your officials to inform the leadership that these bills should NOT be brought up for votes. If they do come up for votes, your officials need to be told to vote NO. A PA member wrote a letter, which provides a summary of some key points. Stress that this is an election year, that you do vote, and will get their voting record around. Bring up the bill numbers and topics, to avoid confusion. Also say you oppose ANY bills that enhance current ticketing power.

      SB 172 is our most immediate threat and the worst one too. This adds speed cameras to work zones, US 1 in Philadelphia every day, and gives the state police LIDAR guns. More roads keep being added, which conflicts with a previous memo that the legislators put out saying they would not do this. The bill contains unrelated items and is totally different now, which makes it of questionable legality. This bill is the closest to being enacted of all the bills.

      SB 1098 for stop-arm cameras is a redundant bill. Any school can already use surveillance cameras on school buses to catch illegal passing, so why automate the process? PA law differs from other states with it’s bus laws, plus many buses do not even look like buses. This is on the Senate Calendar. This bill has license points and sanctions, and has no real way to resolve a conflict involving drivers who may share a car, but will not admit to driving.

      SB 251 for municipal police radar is also close to being enacted. The current version gives drivers more rights, but is insufficient. Backers of the bill went crazy when the bill was modified, which shows what the true intent is. The NMA sent a member to testify at a state hearing, and the legislators tried to paint us as a small fringe group.

      SB 1223 is a brand-new bill to allow Pittsburgh to issue parking tickets by mail using cameras. This bill is extremely vague, and that makes it of questionable legality. Seems like they can enforce whatever they want. This has gotten no press at all.

      While at it, ask for a repeal of the current red-light camera law. A PA newspaper has asked for an independent review.

      There has been talk of allowing the use of other types of automated cameras and allowing non-police to issue traffic tickets. It is important to say NO to all of this. These items have not been put into bills yet, though.

      The National Motorists Association will try to put out alerts if there is action on specific bills, but when trying to fool the people, the goal is to try to quickly sneak this stuff through. That is why you need to take action today. None of these bills require best-practice engineering or enforcement, nor do they address errors, or our guaranteed rights to fight tickets. Many bills create new funds, which shows the true motivation.

      Please contact your PA House member and PA Senate member here. You can also contact the governor here.

      You may also contact House leaders and Senate leaders to oppose these bills. All people on the pages. They control what gets brought up for votes.

      Thanks for caring about promoting safe driving and enforcement in Pennsylvania. Please share this alert with others you know.

      Ask them to take action and join the NMA!

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