AZ Legislative Alert: OHV Registration Legislation

I just received a notice fron Arizona Game & Fish that House Bill 2443 - Off-Highway Recreation Bill has now gone to the Senate for a crucial vote.

A broad coalition of off-highway vehicle users, sportsmen, and conservationists worked hard to get this bill right - it will raise important funds for maintenance of OHV trails and policing OHV activities, by requiring OHVs to be registered annually (currently quads and other OHVs are un-registered, making ID and policing of irresponsible, dangerous, and illegal use nearly impossible).

Here's the release:

Off-Highway Recreational Bill heads to Senate floor for crucial vote
Contact your Senator today and ask them to support HB 2443

House Bill 2443, the Off-Highway Recreational Bill, will head to the Arizona Senate floor shortly for a critical vote to improve off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation and management in Arizona. At this stage in the legislative process, it is vital to contact your senators and ask them to continue to support HB 2443. To locate and contact individual senators, visit
azleg.gov/memberroster.

To read the full text of HB 2443, visit the Arizona State Legislature Web site at azleg.gov/bills.

Also, visit the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Web site, azgfd.gov, for more information on the bill.

The bill is supported not only by the Arizona Game and Fish commission but by a broad and diverse coalition comprised of sportsmen clubs and organizations, OHV recreationists, outdoor user groups, law enforcement agencies and county and local governments.

House Bill 2443:

Would bolster resources for OHV management, including trails and facilities, access, law enforcement, education, safety and mitigation for damage.

Would create a small, annual flat fee for a license plate for off-highway vehicle use.

Would enact new laws that will better protect Arizona’s natural resources from inappropriate use of OHVs.

Would expand safety standards.

Would improve equipment standards, such as muffler and sound requirements.

Would dramatically reduce the current Vehicle License Tax to just $3. This tax allows properly equipped all-terrain cycles (dirt bikes), all-terrain vehicles (quads), and utility vehicles on streets and highways.

The Arizona dirt bike clubs have worked very hard on that bill, we even scraped up $20K to hire a lobbyists.

DesertRose said:

Would create a small, annual flat fee for a license plate for off-highway vehicle use.

Would enact new laws that will better protect Arizona’s natural resources from inappropriate use of OHVs.

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Sounds good to me except these two parts. There will be a license plate required?? And hopefully the new laws will get some enforcement dollars earmarked.

Ursidae69 said:

Sounds good to me except these two parts. There will be a license plate required?? And hopefully the new laws will get some enforcement dollars earmarked.

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As of now we already have to get the dirt bikes plated, it is almost impossible to connect trails without getting on Forest Service roads, which require you to be street legal. I believe you have to be plated on BLM lands, but, not on State Trust...which is so checkered board anyway. Might as well get the bike street legal.

It is fairly easy to get a dirt bike street legal in Arizona.

The problems we are having, are the bad apples running amuck with their OHVs. Hopefully with the new Copper Sticker, it will help educate people to use their OHVs correctly.

Kermit said:

The problems we are having, are the bad apples running amuck with their OHVs. Hopefully with the new Copper Sticker, it will help educate people to use their OHVs correctly.

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I have a lot of hope for the Copper Sticker. It's about time, too. Kermit's right - more than a few bad apples are really causing havoc and it affects the rest of us, and the environment.

With Game & Fish so closely involved, I really think it will work. I'm on the Heritage Fund Advisory Committee, and talked with the guys in OHV division at a meeting, and they seem on top of things here.

How cool would it be to have to take a written test to get the the sticker? with questions on tread lightly and proper land use questions it could be a great resource in keeping trails open!

DesertRose said:

With Game & Fish so closely involved, I really think it will work. I'm on the Heritage Fund Advisory Committee, and talked with the guys in OHV division at a meeting, and they seem on top of things here.

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I agree that having G&F involved will be good. I've done a lot of ride-alongs with Game department enforcement guys at AZ G&F and they take their job seriously.

Bill in danger of dying

Please stay tuned - we hear that this bill failed a motion to be read on the floor of the House . . . and this is bad. Also even more bad (badder?), it's caught in the insidious leveraging to get the budget passed - aside snarky note here: who in the %#$$ put this bill to vote when it could even remotely be hijacked by the budget weenies????

I'll see what I can dig up with Kermit today, but we need to be calling and haranguing our reps and senators NOW and tell them to stop the monkeying with our democratic process . . . as our elected officials . . . and stop the damn politics.

Sent Jonathan an e-mail.

It's still alive, according to our legislative liaison with Arizona Game & Fish:

I just sent an e-mail to my state senator...

:sombrero:

I have sent polite e-mails to these as well.

Jorge Luis Garcia jgarcia@azleg.gov
District 27 Supported bill in Appropriations Committee, and voted against Gould amendment(good thing)
VOTED against bill in third read.

Charlene Pesquiera cpesquiera@azleg.gov
District 26 Supported us in voting against the Gould amendment,
VOTED against the bill in third read.

Victor Soltero vsoltero@azleg.gov
District 29 Supported us in voting against the Gould amendment
Voted against in third read.

Timothy Bee tbee@azleg.gov
District30 has not supported at all

Rebecca Rios rrios@azleg.gov
District23

It failed.

hm..

i was going to ask, if you bike is already plated, do you also have to get the sticker?

i guess it doesn't matter now.

Speaker said:

hm..

i was going to ask, if you bike is already plated, do you also have to get the sticker?

i guess it doesn't matter now.

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Yes, I think they were going that route, if the bike was plated it would still need the sticker to use public lands.................but....doesn't really matter now.