The California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) has posted a 15-day Notice of Public Availability of Modified Text and Availability of Additional Documents (15-Day Notice) for the Proposed Amendments to the Red Sticker Program for Off-Highway Recreational Vehicles.

Public Hearing Date:  April 25, 2019
Public Availability Date:  July 8, 2019
Deadline for Public Comment:  July 26, 2019

Background

At its April 25, 2019, public hearing, the California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) approved for adoption the proposed amendments to sections 2411, 2412, 2415, 2416, 2418, and 2419.4, Title 13 California Code of Regulations (CCR), which would end the red sticker certification program for off-highway recreational vehicles (OHRV) in 2022 and establish new emission standards for OHRV. The Board directed the Executive Officer to make the modified regulatory language, and any additional conforming modifications, available for public comment, with any additional supporting documents and information, for a period of at least 15 days as required by Government Code section 11346.8. The Board further directed the Executive Officer to consider written comments submitted during the public review period and make any further modifications that are appropriate available for public comment for at least 15 days, and present the regulation to the Board for further consideration if warranted, or take final action to adopt the regulation after addressing all appropriate modifications. A summary of the newly proposed modifications can be found in the 15-Day Notice.

15-Day Notice

Inquiries concerning the substance of the proposed regulation may be directed to Scott Monday, Staff Air Pollution Specialist, Engineering and Regulatory Development Section, at (916) 455-9319 or Scott Bacon, Air Resources Supervisor, Engineering and Regulatory Development Section, at (916) 322-8949.

In the Final Statement of Reasons (FSOR), staff will respond to all comments received on the record during the comment periods as required by law. The resolution, text of the modified language, FSOR (when completed), and all other regulatory documents for this rulemaking are available on CARB’s Rulemaking Webpage.

Written Comment Period & Comment Submittal

Written comments will only be accepted on the modifications identified in the 15-day Notice. Comments may be submitted by postal mail or by electronic submittal no later than the deadline date above, and addressed to one of the following:

Clerk of the Board, California Air Resources Board
1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95814

Electronic Submittal

With face cover down, suspect demanded narcotics from pharmacist

NEWS 12:44 PM by Jennifer O’Meara

Durham Region.com

CLARINGTON — Durham police are looking for a man who attempted to steal drugs from a Bowmanville pharmacy while wearing a motorcycle helmet.

At the Shoppers Drug Mart on King Street East, a lone man entered the pharmacy area of the store wearing a motorcycle helmet with the face cover down on Monday, July 8 just before 12:04 a.m. A note was passed to the pharmacist demanding narcotics.

The suspect became agitated and fled the store before obtaining anything. No one was physically injured during the incident.

Police are now looking for a suspect described as a white male, between the ages of 25 and 45. He is approximately five-foot-10 to six feet tall, with a thin build and fair complexion. He was wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet, and a red long-sleeved shirt with a Caterpillar brand logo.

If anyone has any new information in regards to this incident, please contact the major crime robbery unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5355.

Anonymous information can be sent to Durham Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.

“An alarm was pressed and he ran off,” said Const. George Tudos.

 

 

Associated Press |

By Scottie Andrew and Nadeem Muaddi, CNN

©

NH_StatePolice via Twitter Motorcyclists participate in the Ride for the Fallen 7 on Saturday, July 6, 2019, in Randolph, N.H.Thousands of motorcyclists rode across New Hampshire on Saturday to honor seven bikers killed in a collision with a pickup truck in June.New Hampshire State Police said more than 3,000 people participated in the “Ride for the Fallen 7,” a 90-mile journey to the site of the crash.The cyclists started their ride at noon, leaving from a biker bar in Laconia, and traveled north to end up at Route 2 in Randolph near the motel where the victims stayed before the accident. State police escorted the group for the length of the route.

“It’s an unprecedented accident, so we might as well have an unprecedented memorial,” organizer Steven Allison told CNN affiliate WMUR.

The seven victims of the June crash were Marine veterans and their spouses — members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club for honorably discharged corpsmen.

They were traveling west on Route 2, on their way to a charity event, when a pickup truck crossed into their lane from the opposite direction, killing them, according to a criminal complaint.

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The truck driver, 23-year-old Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, pleaded not guilty to seven charges of negligent homicide.

In the days following the accident, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation revealed Zhukovskyy had received an intoxicated driving charge in Connecticut in May, which should have led to the termination of his Massachusetts commercial drivers license.

On Friday, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker announced changes to the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles, which include running all 5.2 million licenses through the National Driver Register to keep suspension information up to date and creating a new position to oversee safety and set requirements for commercial drivers in the state.

 

April, May, and June were busy months in state legislatures where many of the bills affecting motorists that were introduced in the first quarter, or carried forward from last year, were resolved. The results were a mixed bag, but the biggest victory was a special one: Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law House Bill 1631 which bans the use of red-light cameras in the state.

That prohibition comes with a loophole though: Cities are allowed to continue operating the photo enforcement systems until the termination date of current contracts with camera vendors. Most Texas cities obeyed the will of the people and terminated their camera programs shortly after HB 1631 became law, but — you knew there was going to be a but — a few extended their contracts just before Abbott signed the bill. The city of Humble signed an extension that will keep its cameras in place until 2024. In the most egregious example, San Antonio suburb Leon Valley inked a last-minute deal to maintain automated ticketing until 2038. When there’s a will money involved, there’s a way.

The following bills highlighted by the NMA Bill Tracker were resolved during the second quarter, either passed and signed into law or failed. For more information about particular bills, the embedded links lead to the NMA legislative pages set up for each.
Bills Supported by the NMA that Passed (2)

North Dakota House Bill 1199

Following a motor vehicle too closely

Texas House Bill 1631

Relating to prohibiting the use of photographic traffic signal enforcement systems
Bills Opposed by the NMA that Failed or were Withdrawn (14)

Connecticut House Bill 6392

To allow the use of speed enforcement technology within highway work zones

Connecticut Senate Bill 416

To permit the use of cameras on certain highways for the limited purpose of assisting with accident investigations

Connecticut Senate Bill 99

To study the feasibility of creating a lane on Interstate 95 for certain motorists to generate revenue, alleviate traffic congestion and promote the use of clean energy vehicles

Indiana Senate Bill 0256

Construction zone automated traffic control system

Indiana House Bill 1340

A host of regulations under the umbrella of “motor vehicle safety”

Maryland House Bill 203

Decreasing the lowest maximum speed limit that Montgomery County may establish for a highway outside an urban district under certain circumstances from 25 miles an hour to 15 miles an hour

Maryland House Bill 1063

Authorizing the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City to determine the location of speed monitoring systems in the City, the operating time of speed monitoring systems in the City, and the speed tolerance of speed monitoring systems in the City

Maryland House Bill 780

Authorizing Baltimore City to establish the maximum speed limit on a highway under its jurisdiction without performing an engineering and traffic study

Maryland House Bill 343

Repealing the June 30, 2019, termination date for a provision of law that increased from $250 to $500 the civil penalty for a violation recorded by a school bus monitoring camera for failure to stop for a school vehicle operating alternately flashing red lights

Missouri House Bill 596

Allows school districts to install and operate school bus safety cameras to detect violations that require a driver to stop for a school bus that is receiving or discharging students

Nevada Assembly Bill 200

AN ACT relating to motor vehicles; authorizing a peace officer at the scene of a traffic crash to use technology to determine if a driver was using a handheld wireless communications device at the time of the crash; requiring the suspension of the driver’s license of a driver who refuses a request by a peace officer to use such technology; providing penalties; and providing other matters properly relating thereto

Nevada Senate Bill 43

AN ACT relating to traffic laws; authorizing the installation and use of an automated traffic enforcement system by a governmental entity under certain circumstances; setting forth the requirements for the installation and use of an automated traffic enforcement system

New Mexico Senate Bill 359

Max Speed Limit for Certain Trucks

New Mexico House Bill 24

Monitoring For School Bus Illegal Passes
Bills Supported by the NMA that Failed or were Withdrawn (15)

Colorado House Bill 1099

Concerning the elimination of the use of automated vehicle identification systems for traffic law enforcement

Florida House Bill 6003

Repeal of red-light camera law in state

Indiana House Bill 1050

Racial profiling and pretextual stops

Indiana Senate Bill 295

Driver instruction regarding law enforcement procedures

Indiana House Bill 1092

Elimination of lower speed limit for trucks

Maryland House Bill 1041

Repealing the authority to use work zone speed control systems to enforce certain highway speed laws

Missouri Senate Bill 111

Enacts provisions relating to traffic enforcement

Missouri House Bill 295

Raises the maximum speed limit on rural interstates and freeways of the state from 70 to 75 miles per hour

Missouri House Bill 150

Establishes law enforcement procedures relating to racial profiling, searches and seizures, and traffic stops

Missouri House Bill 444

Establishes provision relating to civil asset forfeiture

Missouri House Bill 1182

Requires only one motor vehicle license plate for certain motor vehicles

Texas House Bill 901

Relating to registration of a motor vehicle alleged to have been involved in a violation detected by a photographic traffic signal enforcement system

Texas House Bill 804

Relating to the authority of peace officers to conduct certain searches

Texas Senate Bill 805

Relating to the number of license plates to be issued for and displayed on certain motor vehicles

Virginia Senate Bill 1578

Reckless driving; exceeding speed limit
Bills Opposed by the NMA that Passed (9)

Idaho House Bill 106

Amends existing law to provide that a driver shall slow down and move over upon approaching any stationary vehicle displaying flashing lights or emergency hazard lights.

Indiana Senate Bill 2

School bus safety — increases penalties

Montana House Bill 190

Revise local government authority to set school zone speed limits

New Hampshire House Bill 372

Relative to motorist duties when approaching highway emergencies

Oklahoma House Bill 1926

Motor vehicles; allowing school districts to install cameras on school bus stop-arms; creating revolving fund

Tennessee Senate Bill 173

Expands the current offense for talking on handheld devices while driving

Tennessee Senate Bill 205

Permits LEAs to install cameras on school buses to record vehicles that unlawfully pass a stopped school bus; allows evidence to be reviewed by law enforcement officers only after evidence is submitted to an LEA by a school bus driver; establishes citations for first and subsequent offenses

Utah House Bill 148

Vehicle Idling Revisions

Virginia Senate Bill 1716

Authorizes the Commonwealth Transportation Board (the Board) to impose tolls on Interstate 81, subject to conditions and limitations set forth in the bill

Check out the NMA’s Bill Tracker for details of ongoing legislative activity. It is a monumental task to follow the developments in legislatures across the country. If you’d like to help us monitor the goings-on in your state, assistance we would welcome, please drop us a note at nma@motorists.org or call 608-849-6000.

America’s favorite oddball motorcycle engineer is focusing his chops on making a handsome, cohesive and convenient e-bike that people will actually want to buy.

By Joey Garrison, USA Today,

BOSTON — The embattled Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles has suspended an additional 330 drivers whose past violations in other states had gone unprocessed after thousands of notices piled up in mail bins inside a registry facility for the past 15 months.

The RMV’s lapse in processing out-of-state suspensions was discovered in the aftermath of a horrific crash in Randolph, New Hampshire, in which Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old truck driver, crossed a double-yellow line, collided with a group of bikers and killed seven motorcyclists.

In all, 876 Massachusetts drivers whose out-of-state traffic infractions had previously been overlooked have now had their licenses suspended in the two weeks since a deadly motorcycle crash in New Hampshire exposed severe deficiencies within the RMV.

A total of 1,106 new suspensions – including alcohol-related violations that weren’t tracked – have been processed. Some drivers have accounted for multiple suspensions.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and the state’s transportation secretary, Stephanie Pollack, provided the updated figures at a news conference Friday, vowing to fix the problems that have plagued the RMV. That includes an RMV staff reorganization.

“The registry has a major role to play in keeping the commonwealth’s roads safe, there’s still much work to be done to ensure the integrity of the registry’s data,” Baker said.

Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, had received a drunken-driving charge May 11 in Connecticut, which should have triggered the automatic termination of his commercial drivers license. It was the most recent of multiple drug- and traffic-related arrests in multiple states for Zhukovskyy prior to the crash. He’s pleaded not guilty to seven counts of vehicular homicide.

Connecticut officials notified the Massachusetts RMV about Zhukovskyy’s arrest electronically, but it was not processed because of the way the Massachusetts RMV’s system for commercial driver’s licenses is programmed, officials say.

Connecticut also mailed the Massachusetts RMV as notice, but like thousands of other out-of-state notifications, it was discarded into one of 58 mail bins in a state facility in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The seven victims of the crash June 21 were members of Marine Jarheads MC, a motorcycle club that includes Marines and their spouses. They were en route to a nearby veterans fundraiser. Memorial services for multiple victims have taken place.

Thousands of Jarheads MC bikers are expected to take part in a “Ride for the Fallen 7” tribute event Saturday where they will ride from a bar in Laconia, New Hampshire, to Randolph.

More: Marine veteran injured in deadly New Hampshire motorcycle crash sues truck driver, company

A preliminary report released by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Monday said 655 new suspensions from previously unprocessed suspensions had been found, encompassing 546 unique Massachusetts drivers. But the counting was not finished and was to continue into the Fourth of July holiday.

The latest round of suspensions, outlined in an interim progress report, were found in the bins at the Quincy headquarters as well as an archives facility in Concord, Massachusetts, where boxes of out-of-state violations from 2011 to 2017 were pulled.

The initial report had said it is unclear why the Merit Rating Board in March 2018 stopped processing out-of-state violations and put them in the bins. The transition came at the same time the Massachusetts RMV changed computer programs for the handling of out-of-state driving violations.

The RMV’s registrar, Erin Deveny, resigned following the New Hampshire crash as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation conducts an investigation into the RMV’s failures.

New personnel moves announced Friday include the creation of a new deputy registrar for safety overseen by Jamey Tesler, the new acting registrar. The report says the RMV will also establish “clear lines of responsibility for all driver licensing and enforcement functions that will be shifted to this senior manager.”

Baker’s administration says it also plans to draft legislation to beef up requirements to obtain and retain commercial drivers licenses.

Among other moves prompted by the crash, the state has hired an auditing firm to conduct a new external audit of the RMV’s state-to-state data sharing. That will include an “end-to-end review” of all electronic and manual processes for  incoming and outgoing notices regarding commercial drivers licenses.

The state is also planning to compare Massachusetts’ 5.2 million driver’s license records against the National Driver Registry, which provides a database of driving and traffic infractions.

By Bruce Brown, Digital Trends

Harley-Davidson’s announcement that it will sell a small displacement motorcycle in China but not the U.S. is no surprise. The iconic Milwaukee-based American motorcycle company is following a game plan it laid out in an April 17, 2017 press release when Harley management set a goal to build the next generation of riders globally by 2027.

Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich summarized the company’s 10-year plan. “By 2027, our objectives are to build 2 million new Harley-Davidson riders in the U.S., grow our International business to 50 percent of our annual volume, launch 100 new high-impact Harley-Davidson motorcycles, deliver superior return on invested capital for Harley-Davidson Motor Company and grow our business without growing our environmental impact,” Levatich said.

The newly announced small bike for China? It’s just part one of the company’s growth plan.

THE ASIAN HARLEY-DAVIDSON

Harley-Davidson is co-developing a 338cc premium bike with Qianjiang Motorcycle Company Limited to sell in Harley-Davidson dealerships in Asia. The new motorcycle will launch in late 2020. After initial sales at dealerships in China, sales will begin in other Asian countries.

Other than two prototype photos, Harley-Davidson did not reveal details about the small Harley. The release did state, however, that “like all Harley-Davidson products, this new model will embody a distinctive look, sound and feel that will spark powerful connections with riders.”

Note that the company didn’t say the small displacement model will have the same “distinctive look, sound, and feel” as current Harleys, only that riders will connect with whatever combination the new ride has.

Qianjiang, a subsidiary of Geely Technology Group (the same company that owns Volvo), is an excellent choice for the Harley-Davidson collaboration. Founded in 1985, Qianjiang builds and sells motorcycles ranging from 50cc to 1130cc in more than 130 countries worldwide and for the past seven years has been the market leader for large displacement bikes in China. In 2005 Qianjiang bought Benelli, a 100-year old Italian motorcycle manufacturer.

BY MATTHEW LAROSIERE

Last January, the Supreme Court agreed to hear N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Assn’ v. The City of New York (NYSRPA), a Second Amendment challenge to a city law that prohibited virtually anyone from taking a handgun outside the city. The case was set for the 2019 term, and would be the first Second Amendment case to be decided in a decade.

Since then, the city has been doing everything in its power to “moot” the case and escape the Court, but this week it threw down the gauntlet.

Almost as soon as the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the city pulled a 180 on a law it has defended tooth and nail for decades, and asked the Court to delay the case to give the city time to remove the rule. The city originally planned to have the police make a rule change–not even overturning the law–to try to moot the case.

The Court denied this request and, seeing clearly what the city was up to, several lawyers, including myself, made sure to address the city’s bad faith attempt to escape the threat to its gun control law.

A case is “moot” if it does not involve a “live” controversy. Imagine, for example, if your state banned speaking the word “caribou” in public. You sue the state on First Amendment grounds. Then, as your case is set to be heard by a federal court, the state repeals the law. The federal court no longer has constitutional authority to decide the case, as it is no longer “justiciable” as laid out in Article III of the Constitution.

There are, of course, some doctrines that prevent abuses of this system. But New York City has done its homework. The Court looks down on governments that voluntarily cease unconstitutional activity ahead of judicial review. The Supreme Court has said that, in these situations, it should be clear the defendant is not “free to return to his old ways” because there is “a public interest in having the legality of the practices settled.”

The city knew their half-hearted attempts to squirm out of the case wouldn’t free them form the “voluntary cessation” doctrine, so they had to do something more extreme. Enter New York Senator Brian P. Kavanagh. Kavanagh sponsored Assembly Bill A7752 in the state senate, preempting city laws on the transportation of firearms. The bill flew through the state legislature, and by July 3, was headed to the desk of Governor Cuomo.

If something seems odd about a Democrat state senator sponsoring a bill loosening restrictions on firearms, that law speeding through a Democrat-controlled legislature, and then being signed by a feverishly anti-gungovernor, it might be because you have more than two brain cells to rub together.

A change in state law to preempt the city gun law, something the anti-gun crowd has consistently fought against, was the only way strengthen the city’s mootness argument. This sudden turn on a law the city supported ab initio, plus the sudden about-face of the state legislature, suggests nothing more or less than collusion to keep the Court from settling the matter.

With that, the attorney for New York City submitted a strongly worded letterto the Supreme Court, asserting they city’s opinion that, no matter what the Court or opposing counsel thought, the case was moot. The City dared the Court to proceed with the case, and and promised that if it does, the City will make the case as messy as possible for the conservative wing of its justices.

The city made it clear that it wouldn’t even respond to whether its law was constitutional, and would instead only argue that the case was moot. This isn’t the kind of behavior of a government that thinks what it’s doing is legal.

–from Truth about Guns