The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
JW Rock then passed around a picture from a magazine. It showed airbags, seatbelts, and other crash gear on a motorcycle. The picture was a rendition of all the safety proposals before the various legislatures. It was meant as a joke, but some of the legislation for airbags, etcetera on motorcycles is a very serious issue facing us.
We have a lot of announcements and updates from around the state and the country to let you know about today.
The Northwest Texas Confederation has filed a lawsuit against the South Plains Fair in Lubbock for their refusal to allow patch holders from the Cossacks and Brotherhood of 74 to stay at the Fair. The Suit is filed under the Federal Civil Rights Code.
There is now a Confederation of Clubs in Louisiana, which started with help from our own JW Rock. They started off with a tribute from Jimmy Van Zandt and have an attorney/judge in charge of their rights movement. They also have a registered lobbyist. Welcome to the Fight for our Rights Louisiana!
We in the Confederation support the T2 rights movement in Texas. The clubs are the ones who motivate the individuals to join the fight.
There is a benefit after this meeting to support Prospecting USA and Frank Trevino who keeps visual and other records on all the bikers in Texas. What a great job he does.
The National Confederation of Clubs will hold it's 16th annual meeting in Orlando, Florida on May 10 - 12, 2001. These meetings are very informative and motivating. We recommend that you attend and see for yourself.
Minnesota was the first state to pass an Equal Access law and that law has now stood up to the test in court. Equal Access won easily and wholly when it was challenged in Minnesota and their law is more vague than the one we are trying to get passed for Texas during this session.
In Kentucky the gang laws specifically excluded motorcyclists. We really need to look into this language when Texas tries to pass a gang law.
We have the COC reports from all over the Country up here, please pick up one per club and take this valuable information back to your members and share it with them.
The Texas legislative session is FAST approaching us. We know of several bad laws that they are going to try to pass. One is no fault insurance again. The other is a new helmet law. To try to stop these bad laws, JW Rock will be acting as a State Coordinator for all the Confederations of Texas. We will begin meeting monthly while the legislature is in session. We must be ready to ride to the Capital on short notice to stop or support the issues that are important to us.
We are the largest Confederation in the nation. Now, let's get organized and do our job to keep our right to ride free.
January 22, 2001 is Legislative Day. This is an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT DAY! We need everyone there. Riding your scooters is great. But, if the weather is bad, BE IN AUSTIN no matter what type of transportation you use to get there. Be in your colors. Be sure you are a registered voter. Legislative day is always a weekday or a normal workday. Start now to get the time off from work. Each person who shows up to speak with their senator or representative will be counted as 55 to 125 votes. That makes you very important. When we multiply our numbers by 100 we get the kind of numbers that politicians respect and notice. Since we showed up in such force two years ago, they have quit laughing at us and now take our issues seriously. Get as many people as you can to Legislative Day 2001. We don't get another chance for two more years.
We have made arrangements for our legislative bills to be pre-filed for the legislative session. In addition to Equal Access, we have our insurance bill that would place liability on the person and not the vehicle.
Let your members know that this will be a fight this year. They have organized against us and we must be together and in Austin in numbers.
The Confederation also keeps judicial records. Please turn in any instances where you are stopped or ticketed illegally, or refused admittance or service somewhere. When enough evidence is compiled against someone, our AIM Attorney will look into correcting the situation, even to the point of a lawsuit. Don't be silent if this is happening to you or someone you know.
Florida has passed a no helmet law. Congratulations Florida!
A question from the floor asked if we were going to do something about these people on cell phones who are causing accidents. There is legislation being proposed by other groups and we will support their efforts to ban hand held cell phones.
Also some insurance companies are trying to refuse bikes insurance or place them into special categories. We are opposing these efforts. You can help yourself by insuring your motorcycle for the replacement value and not the blue book value or you are out all the customizing you have done. T2 members receive a 10% discount on bike insurance with Dairyland.
Today is Rex Webb's birthday. Many Happy Returns, Rex!
Robert noted that other Confederations take advertising and publish their newsletter for no cost in this manner. A discount price would be given for T2 or COC member clubs to advertise in the newsletter. Got a Rally coming up? Get with Robert to advertise it in the COC Newsletter.
JW said he was glad to see all the faces and thanked everyone for coming. Now, get out there and motivate the other clubs. We have some very serious issues facing us. Get your members prepared to have a COC meeting once a month and do at least one short notice ride during the Legislative Session. Most importantly, get everyone in Austin on January 22nd.
Rex closed the meeting with a prayer.
Next Meeting: November 19, 2000 at Tropical Heat, corner of Braker Lane and 1-35 in Austin.
Last Update: 16 October 2000