AMA Action Alert

Attend a Congressional Town Hall Meeting Near You!
Congress will be in recess this week and many of them will be working in their home state offices. This is a great opportunity to meet your elected officials and discuss issues important to the riding community. Some current topics to discuss with your elected officials are access to public lands and the future of youth motorcycles and ATVs.

If you are interested in meeting your Member of Congress you can call their home office closest to you and request the time, date and location of their next public meeting or to schedule a meeting of your own.

If you would like to access your Member of Congress and their contact information, please click here, and enter your zip code.

If you are able to attend a public meeting with your Member of Congress and would like some ideas on current issues affecting the riding community, we have included some suggested talking points below.

1) AMA Opposes S. 22, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, because it imposes blanket regulations which will result in restricting the use of millions of acres of public lands. Please ask your Senators and Representatives how they voted or will be voting on S. 22.

If speaking with your Senator, please click here to see how they voted
If Representative will be voting "No", thank the Representative for keeping public lands open to responsible access for current and future generations
If Representative will be voting "Yes", let the Representative know of your concerns with the bill. You can let them know it will:
Create 80 new federal wilderness designations or additions to public land
Consist of approximately 150 separate bills, which 77 has never been considered in the House of Representatives
Designate 2.186 million acres as federal wilderness land, which eliminates all motorized off-highway recreation
Make the National Landscape Conservation System permanent. This system creates an additional level of bureaucracy for the National System of Public Lands and would remove much of the authority of the existing agency in managing nearly 25 million acres
Costs $10 billion to enact

2) The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) threatens to end youth off-highway vehicle (OHV) riding entirely. The AMA is concerned with the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) interpretation of the CPSIA.

The CPSC has interpreted the CPSIA to apply to various components of youth motorcycles and youth ATVs including the engine, brakes, suspension, battery and other mechanical parts
The unavailability of youth OHVs will devastate family OHV recreation and cripple amateur competition, creating a domino effect across all aspects of motorized recreation
In order to assure continued availability and access to youth OHVs, ask your Representative to urge the CPSC to approve the industry's petition to exclude youth OHVs from the lead content standard

Thank you for taking an active role in helping promote and protect the future of motorcycling and the motorcycle lifestyle. If you would like more information on meeting with your Member of Congress or on the issues, feel free to contact Rick Podliska at rpodliska@ama-cycle.org.