As of yesterday, news sources were reporting that the bike registration bill proposed by Rep. Thomas Walsh of Hooksett had received up to 13,000 negative responses through the link for public comment. He ventured that the bill would probably not move forward at this time.
Regarding the $50 fee, he stated that it was "just a place holder." Pretty hefty place holder there, Bub! A friggin' dollar is a place holder. Fifty smackers is a shot across the bow. Be warned, freeloading cyclists!
According to New Hampshire Public Radio reporting, "Walsh, a Republican who serves as chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said that "he proposes the bill as a way to help address the $400 million funding gap in the state's 10-year highway plan." Makes sense to try to dig a big chunk of a $400 million deficit out of the lowest cost and least impactful road users in the state. He probably saw our vulnerability to impact from larger, more damaging vehicles on the road and thought it showed that we're completely defenseless. Now he's digging himself out from under a metaphorical pile of 13,000 angry bodies that tackled him.
In possibly related news, a judge has blocked the termination of motor vehicle inspections, after the (for profit) company in charge of administering emissions testing filed suit. According to the suit, ending emissions testing without EPA approval violates the Clean Air Act. Twenty-one states already do not have emissions testing, presumably with the EPA's blessing. In any case, that puts the average $45 per vehicle back into the state's coffers. I don't know how much of that goes to pay the Kentucky-based company that handles the emissions portion of the annual exam. Some of it must make its way into that beleaguered highway fund.
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