In a sweeping piece of legislation addressed by the New York City Council last month, there was a small provision that would have allowed NYC police to issue fines to motorcycles not displaying the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exhaust stamp.
This stamp is currently required by the EPA on all new motorcycles certifying that the level of sound coming out of the tailpipe meets the Federal limit of 80 decibels according to the Federal Noise Control Act of 1972.
Should the stamp not be easily visible, and most of the time they are not, the NYPD would be able to issue noise violations for a motorcycle that was not even running.
This was not the first time this has been proposed by the NYC Council. A similar provision was put forth a few years back attime the Motorcycle Riders Foundation was very involved with having the proposal shelved.
It was explained to the MRF that this is a last ditch effort by the outgoing NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to force a massive piece of air quality legislation. Counsel at NYC Department of Environmental Protection informed the MRF about the language. The MRF mobilized with the politically active bikers of NYC to have a presence at the Council meeting. NYC Councilman and motorcyclist Peter Vallone, joined the bikers. At that time Vallone was the chair of the Public Safety Committee and backed up what the other motorcyclists were saying.
The MRF source with the Department of Environmental Protection told the MRF that this language was ?absolutely Mayoral? and ?in no way a part of the normal council business?.
Bloomberg has since stepped down.
