The Oregon Bike Summit starts tomorrow, and we’ll be reporting the action with round-the-clock legislative updates. Read the BTA Legislative Committee’s recap of the past week’s events after the cut.
Also, check out the news from Salem in this blog published by the Mid-Willamette Valley chapter of the BTA. They’ve been writing about the session since January.
In other news, bike/ped groups in southern Oregon held their own regional Bike Summit last month with stakeholders from Ashland, Medford, Jackson County and Grants Pass. Neat things are happening in southern Oregon; these are some of the highlights. (Or read the full minutes (pdf) from the meeting.)
o Ashland was awarded Bronze Bike Friendly Community
o Southern Oregon’s Bike to Work Week is May 11-15
o Training classes for bike safety instructors held in April
o Working on a Walk & Bike to School program at Walker Elementary
Legislative highlights
HB 2960 – Idaho Stops: The BTA Legislative Committee met with as many legislators as possible trying to find votes to move the bill forward. Despite increasingly positive feedback of the bill’s reasonable approach (helped by Spencer Boomhower’s video) the Committee ran out of time in overcoming the preliminary negative perceptions, and was unable to find enough support for the bill.
HB 3252 – Drivers Education: Members of the House Transportation Committee were generally supportive of the bill, but no work session was scheduled. Given the budgetary crisis facing the legislature, DMV’s estimate of the cost of testing at renewal represents a major obstacle to consideration of the bill this session. The BTA will explore ways to address the issue in future legislative sessions.
HB 2120, and other bills – Bicycle Facilities Funding: The bills currently under consideration would increase the bike/ped allocation to 1.5% and we are making sure the legislators understand the importance of this funding in creating a multi-modal transportation network. No work sessions were scheduled to discuss the BTA’s proposal to increase funding to 2%.
HB 3055 – State Scenic Bikeways: The state Parks and Rec Department has established a program to formally designate key bicycle routes as State Scenic Bikeways. The bill would promote bicycle tourism and help Oregon become a bicycling destination. The BTA is meeting with key legislators to make sure that the program is not lost to budget cuts.
HB 3399 – Vehicular Homicide: A work session is scheduled for Thursday, April 23. The BTA has met with most of the House Judiciary Committee and received positive comments.
