R
Riley Geary
Guest
Thanks to a huge outpouring of opposition from cyclists across the country and beyond, and a
devastating expose in the Bismarck Tribune about the sordid history of the bill's principal author
(available now at http://www.bismarcktribune.com/30dayarchives/articles/n020503b.html ), SB 2391
received a "Do Not Pass" recommendation from the ND Senate Transportation Committee at Thursday's
hearing (5-0, with one absent and not voting). That should be the end of the matter now for all
practical purposes: no $50 registration fees, and no mandatory single file rule, etc.
I even received a private reply from one of the original sponsors of SB 2391 to the effect that "as
occasionally happens in this process, the law of unintended consequences kicked in and it quickly
became apparent that this is a bad bill which should summarily be dispensed with"--so even among its
backers, no one was willing to risk public ridicule or worse to try and defend this particularly
loathsome piece of anti-cycling legislation (the text of which can still be viewed as a pdf file at
http://www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/58-2003/bill_text/DBNC0100.pdf ).
Major kudos to all those who took the time to write to the sponsors of SB 2391 and the various
members of the ND Senate Transportation Committee, a truly inspiring example of cyclists using the
internet to defend their interests via the political process!
Riley Geary Arlington, VA
devastating expose in the Bismarck Tribune about the sordid history of the bill's principal author
(available now at http://www.bismarcktribune.com/30dayarchives/articles/n020503b.html ), SB 2391
received a "Do Not Pass" recommendation from the ND Senate Transportation Committee at Thursday's
hearing (5-0, with one absent and not voting). That should be the end of the matter now for all
practical purposes: no $50 registration fees, and no mandatory single file rule, etc.
I even received a private reply from one of the original sponsors of SB 2391 to the effect that "as
occasionally happens in this process, the law of unintended consequences kicked in and it quickly
became apparent that this is a bad bill which should summarily be dispensed with"--so even among its
backers, no one was willing to risk public ridicule or worse to try and defend this particularly
loathsome piece of anti-cycling legislation (the text of which can still be viewed as a pdf file at
http://www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/58-2003/bill_text/DBNC0100.pdf ).
Major kudos to all those who took the time to write to the sponsors of SB 2391 and the various
members of the ND Senate Transportation Committee, a truly inspiring example of cyclists using the
internet to defend their interests via the political process!
Riley Geary Arlington, VA