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Safe Passing Bill
Hearing in State Senate Transportation Committee!
An
Update, and What You Can
Do.
What's
happening now.
The
2009 Safe Passing Act, Senate Bill SB 488 will be heard by the
Texas State Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland
Security on Wednesday morning, March 11, 2009 in Hearing Room
E1.016 in the Capitol Extension.
The bill includes the "3-feet clearance" provision for
cars passing cyclists. It has also been expanded to address
right and left hooks and harassment for a range of "vulnerable
road users" including pedestrians, persons in wheelchairs,
utility workers, motorcyclists and others on the road or
roadside not in a protective steel vehicle shell. Click here for
the current text of the bill.
What
you can do to help.
Below
are the Senators on the Transportation Committee, with their
party affiliation and general district areas.
Supporting SB
488
John Carona, (chair and bill co-author)
R-Dallas, Dist. 16
Kirk Watson, (vice-chair) D-Austin,
Dist. 14
Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, Dist. 10
Rodney
Ellis, (bill co-author) D-Houston, Dist. 13
Eliot
Shapleigh, D-El Paso, Dist. 29
Jeff Wentworth, R-San
Antonio, Dist. 25
Uncertain on Support for SB
488
Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, Dist. 3
Joan
Huffman, R-Houston, Dist. 17
Florence Shapiro, R-Plano,
Dist. 8
Click here to
identify the Texas State Senator who represents you.
- If you are
represented by a State Senator who serves on the
Transportation Committee, please call or email your Senator
by Tuesday to ask for their "Yes" vote. If they
already support SB 488, thank them. If they are uncertain on
SB 488, urge them to vote "Yes". Communication should
be direct and frank but should always be respectful. If you are not a constituent of
any of these Senators, please do not contact their offices
because it creates additional unnecessary staff work. They
naturally place much higher value on contact from
constituents.
- If you live in
the Austin area or can easily travel to Austin, come to the
hearing at 8:00 a.m. (More details are below.) Please
wear business attire including coat and tie for men. Even if you do not have a Senator
on the committee who represents you, your presence is very
important. RSVP to Mark Stine at ma...@biketexas.org or 512-476-7433 is
appreciated. We also appreciate cc's or forwards to
Mark of email communication sent to and received by you from
your Senator.
- If your State
Senator is not on the Transportation Committee, please do
not contact them yet. Your communication will be much
more effective once the Safe Passing Bill has its language
finalized, passes the Transportation Committee and goes to
the full Senate. BikeTexas will keep you
updated.
- There is no
need to contact the Texas House Representatives yet.
We hope to see movement for the companion 2009 Safe Passing
House Bill HB 827 soon. The process will be the same, with a
House Transportation Committee hearing first, and then
introduction to the full House. Again, BikeTexas will notify
you during this process.
Information
for attending the hearing.
The
committee session will start on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at
8:00 a.m. You can expect to spend most of the morning
there. The Chair often switches agenda items so we never know
exactly when our bill will come up for
action.
BikeTexas has promised the Committee Chair to
limit our testimony to four witnesses addressing four
different aspects of the bill. In this way, we present this
case effectively but succinctly so that limited Committee time
is used wisely.
Click here for
maps of the Capitol area, including the public parking garage
(parking rates are reasonable), and the Capitol
Extension.
Please
contact Mark Stine (ma...@biketexas.org) at 512-476-7433 if you
have questions. Call Mark at cell 512-921-0581 the day of the
hearing if needed.
We've
been working and waiting long for
this.
All
of us know how important this bill is for the overall safety
of cyclists in Texas. We are optimistic that we will have
success but we all must still work every step of the way in
this laborious process. Our sincere
thanks to all of you who have stepped up to support BikeTexas
in this effort.Please forward this to friends!
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