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TO: NEW YORK STATE OHV TRAILS ENTHUSIASTS
FROM: NYS Off-Highway Recreational Vehicle Assn. (NYSORVA)
RE: Your Help is Needed -- ATV Trail Funding Legislation Renewed for 1999
**Please share this information with your club members and friends**
Your help is requested to get the
ATV Trail Fund re-established in
There is currently no funding
mechanism for public OHV trails in
ATV Trail Funding Legislation has been re-introduced for the 1999 session in both houses of the NYS Legislature. Assembly Bill 1060 and Senate Bill 632 are bills written to re-establish the ATV trail fund which was diverted to the general fund and made unavailable for trail projects several years back. The state continues to this day to require ATV registration by law and collect a $10 registration fee per machine from ATV owners but provides no service in return. 1999 DMV statistics show that just over 55,000 ATVs and trail bikes were registered: that's $550,000 for the benefit of the General Fund that will not be available for trail development!
In 1997, the Motorcycle Industry Council estimated a total population of ATVs in NY to be over 142,000 units, and trail bikes over 47,000 units. Comparing that to 1997 Registration statistic of 40,502, possibly less than 22% of the machines in operation are registered. As of January 2000, DMV reports over 55,700 ATV registrations are currently in effect. That means there has been over a 37% increase in registration of ATVs and trail bikes since 1997— Doing the math, we estimate our numbers are growing to well over a quarter million!
Your action is requested in contacting your state Legislative
representatives and sponsors of the bills as soon as possible. Timing is
everything, and these bills must get in on the first chance for consideration
if they are to come to a vote. Your letters and calls will cause your
representatives to move this issue to the top of the pile if everyone chips in
now.
We respectfully ask that you write, call,
fax or e-mail:
At
a minimum, please contact…
·
Your Assembly
Member asking for his or her support of A1060.
·
Your Senator
asking for his or her support of S632 (you may combine the letters to your
district’s representatives into one).
And
if you have additional time, please contact…
·
The bill sponsor
to express your appreciation for taking our needs seriously (you may combine
the letters to the sponsors into one).
·
The Senate and
Assembly Transportation Committee Chairmen to ask that S632/A1060 be promptly
considered and reported to the floor for a vote.
·
Copy your note
to the Senate bill sponsor to the Majority Leader Sen. Bruno.
·
Copy your note
to the Assembly bill sponsor to Speaker Silver (the sponsor IS the majority
leader).
·
Copy all your
notes to Governor Pataki.
If this is all a bit much, please at least write to your
district’s Senator and Assembly Member.
Three Sample Letters are provided at the bottom of this article for cut
& paste into your word processor.
Although failing to come to vote in the 1998 Legislative session, the sponsors
of the 1998 bills had enough confidence in the OHV community for its support,
that they reintroduced the failed bills in very short order.
How to look up the information on your
district’s representatives:
Use this excellent web site to look up all
your representatives by ZIP code, name or district:
Project
Vote Smart (includes addresses, phone/fax
and e-mail links for reps'
(The above link goes directly to their NYS search page. Their base address is http://www.vote-smart.org/.)
If you have a problem with the link above,
try these alternatives on state-run web sites:
[Who is my Senator?]
[Who is my Assemblyman?]
If e-mailing, be sure to include your full name and mailing address as e-mail without may be discarded, and you will likely receive no response.
Please ask for expeditious
consideration of the bills by each Transportation Committee:
Senate Transportation Committee Chair--
Sen. Caesar Trunzo
Room 711 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: 518-455-2111, Fax 516-360-3386
(Fax at Hauppauge District Office)
E-mail: trunzo@senate.state.ny.us
Assembly Transportation Committee Chair--
Rep. David, F. Gantt
New York State Assembly
830 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-5606, Fax 716-328-6118
(Fax at Rochester District Office) No E-mail
Please express your appreciation to the following sponsors:
Assembly Bill 1060 Sponsor--
Rep. Michael J. Bragman
New York State Assembly
LOB 926
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-4567, Fax 518-455-5375
E-mail: bragman@assembly.state.ny.us
Senate Bill 632 Sponsor--
Senator Michael F. Nozzolio
New York State Senate
902 LOB
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: 518-455-2366, Fax 518-426-6953
E-mail: nozzolio@senate.state.ny.us
Additional addresses:
Senate Majority Leader--
Sen. Joseph L. Bruno
909 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: 518-455-3191, Fax 518-583-4458
(Fax at Saratoga District Office)
E-mail: bruno@senate.state.ny.us
Assembly Speaker--
Rep. Sheldon Silver
New York State Assembly
LOB 932/CAP 349
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: 518-455-3791, Fax-Albany 518-455-5459, in District 212-385-6799
E-mail: speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
Office of the Governor--
Governor George E. Pataki
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Phone: 518-474-8390 or 518-474-7516
Fax 518-473-7669
E-mail: gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us
Thank you for your help in this matter,
Alex Ernst
NYSORVA Communications Director
For information about NYSORVA on the above memo please reply to aernst@albany.net.
[Back to NYSORVA Home Page]
SAMPLE LETTERS
A personalized hand written letter to the officials noted above is always best. But if you don't have the time for that, copy and paste the letters below into your word processor (or just "Save As Text File" this page to open and edit).
Copy this letter (block out these instructions!) and distribute 2
copies to each of your members, 1-each to go to Senator Nozzolio
and Assemblyman Bragman. Each letter should be signed
at the bottom with the name, address, and phone number of the sender printed
below the signature. Letters without return addresses are thrown away! Each
letter should be individually mailed in hand-addresses envelopes for best
results.
The Honorable Michael F. Nozzolio,
902
The Honorable
926
RE: ATV Trail Funding Bills A1060/S632
Dear Senator Nozzolio and Assemblyman Bragman:
I am writing you today to thank you for sponsoring of bills S.632/A.1060 to re-establish the all terrain vehicle trail development and maintenance fund under the jurisdiction of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. This legislation proposes the direction of a portion of each ATV registration fee collected by DMV to a dedicated trail fund and provides that cities, towns, villages and counties may apply for monies from the fund for the development and maintenance of all terrain vehicle trails and facilities.
With the re-introduction of this legislation, you recognize that ATV and
trail bike use is a valid form of recreation that adds to citizens' quality of
life and to the economy of
I write to you both today to request that you work together to ensure the continued movement of the most current versions of the bills. Furthermore, I ask that you contact the Transportation Committee Chairmen in both houses and request that these bills be included on the next committee agenda to be reported to the respective bodies for a vote.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Copy this letter (block out these instructions!) and distribute 2
copies to each of your members, 1-each to go to Senator Trunzo
and Assemblyman Gantt. Each letter should be signed at the bottom with the
name, address, and phone number of the sender printed below the signature.
Letters without return addresses are thrown away! Each letter should be
individually mailed in hand-addresses envelopes for best results.
The Honorable Sen. Caesar Trunzo
Chairman,
711
The Honorable Rep. David, F. Gantt
Chairman,
830
RE: ATV Trail Funding Bills A1060/S632
Dear Senator Trunzo and Assemblyman Gantt,
Senator Nozzolio reintroduced Bill S475 from the 1998 session as S632 fort the 1999-2000 Session, and Assemblyman Bragman reintroduced Bill A1669 from the 1998 session as A1060 for the 1999-2000 Session. These bills propose to restore a state-administered ATV trail development and maintenance fund with the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The new legislation proposes that a portion of each ATV registration fee collected by DMV be remitted to the trail fund, and provides that cities, towns, villages and counties may apply for monies from the fund for the development and maintenance of all terrain vehicle trails and facilities. The original fund created in 1986 was abolished in 1990, and the accumulated fund was diverted to the general fund to the tune of over $500,000 plus interest.
I am writing to ask that your respective Transportation Committees take up the matter of A1060/S632 and report these bills expeditiously so that they may be voted on this year.
A trail fund is needed to support ATV trail development and maintenance. Trail projects are on hold due to the lack of a fund. This bill would establish a user-based funding mechanism analogous to the very successful snowmobile trail fund that supports the vast network of official state trails. The state, and the estimated quarter-million ATV and trail bike riders like me, will benefit much in the same ways as we have from the snowmobile trail fund.
Thank you for your kind consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Copy this letter (block out these instructions!) and distribute 2 copies
to each of your members, 1-each to be addressed to the members' local Senator,
and to the members' local Assemblymember. Use the
links noted higher up on this page determine the
correct address to fill in. Each letter should be signed at the bottom with
the name, address, and phone number of the sender printed below the signature.
Letters without return addresses are thrown away! Each letter should be
individually mailed in hand-addresses envelopes for best results.
The Honorable Sen. ___________________
___________________
The Honorable Rep. ___________________
___________________
RE: ATV Trail Funding Bills A1060/S632
Dear Senator and Assemblyman,
I am an ATV/trail bike rider and a voter in your district and want to bring to your attention the matter of a bill that I would like you to see passed into law. A1060 and S632 call for the direction of a portion of each ATV registration fee collected by DMV to a trail fund and provides that cities, towns, villages and counties may apply for monies from the fund for the development and maintenance of all terrain vehicle trails and facilities in the various counties of the state.
So that I may have a legal place to ride my ATV or trail bike, a trail fund is needed to support ATV trail development and maintenance. With regard to trails on public lands, I am told by DEC officials that trail projects are on hold due to the lack of a fund. And for clubs trying to develop trails on private land, where most of the trail might go, they face the same funding problems. This bill would establish a funding mechanism analogous to the very successful snowmobile trail fund that supports the vast network of official state trails. The state and ATV users like me will benefit much in the same ways as we have with the snowmobile trail fund.
Thank you for your kind consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
(c) 1999-2000 NYSORVA, Inc. All rights reserved. The above text constitutes an
expression of opinion by NYSORVA staff and must not be construed as legal
advice of any kind.
Updated