Thursday May 16th, 2013 was the 4th annual Michael "Boz" Kerr Bikers Inside the Beltway event in Washington DC. The event, sponsored by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, is a national lobby day where motorcyclists come to Capitol Hill, meet with their elected officials and brief them on all issues affecting motorcyclists at the federal level.

This year’s event drew hundreds of motorcyclists from 22 States and riders met with almost 300 elected officials.

One of the top issues the attendees were lobbying for, was asking members of Congress to advance two bills. H.R. 1861which is a bill to prohibit Federal funding of "motorcycle only" roadside checkpoints and also H.R. 875, a bill that would halt the sale of E-15 fuel and conduct an independent study on the effects of the blend on internal combustion engines.

During the Congressional Panel portion of the day, the group of riders gathered in a Longworth House building congressional meeting room to hear from a select group of Members of Congress. Addressing the group was Congressmen Griffin (R-AR), the Motorcycle Safety Caucus Co Chair, Representative Jeff Denham (R-CA) and the House of Representatives Highway Subcommittee Chairman and longtime MRF Champion, Tom Petri (R-WI).

MRFA&E's 3Rs Impaired Riding Campaign, which has been presented at national, regional and state motorcycle rights conferences, will also be presented to the 2013 State Motorcycle Safety Administrators National Summit this August.

MRF A&E 3Rs: I Don't Want to Ride in Your Funeral Procession!

The presentation addresses the subject of impaired riding on a personal level. It says to the audience "I love riding with you, your friendship is important in my life. I don't want to ride in your funeral procession." By Being Responsible in what you do, Riding Responsibly when you are alone or in a group and Taking Responsibility for your actions we can successfully begin reducing fatalities due to impaired riding. The program was developed as a Power Point presentation that can be presented to your group or organization. A script is included on the disk to help develop talking points to make this program compatible with how you would like to address impaired riding in your group.

When you get out there on the road remember, Be Responsible, Ride Responsible, Take Responsibility.

The 5th annual Michael "Boz" Kerr Bikers Inside The Beltway being held on Thursday May 16th, 2013 in the Nations Capitol, Washington D.C. is approaching. Free motorcycle parking has been secured by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation just steps from the U.S. Capitol Building.

• 9:00 am - 11:00 am: Arrival, registration, instruction and lobby material pickup, meet at motorcycle parking on 3rd street, link to map below
• 11:00 am - 1:15 pm: Lobby your Federal Elected Officials
• 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm: Congressional Program with invited Congressional speakers Location: 1539 Longworth House Office Building
• 2:30 pm -?: Continue lobbying

The MRF encourages you to schedule appointments with your Representative and Senators during the lobbying hours. Continue to schedule your appointments, as the calendar will fill up on this busy legislative day.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) reports that Congressman James Sensenbrenner (Wisconsin) filed a bill on Tuesday, May 7th to prohibit the federal funding of motorcycle only roadside checkpoints.

The bill, H.R. 1861, has nine original co-sponsors however, we need many more to pass this landmark legislation.

Sensenbrenner had this to say in a 'Dear Colleague letter' that is circulating in the House of Representatives; 'In the 112th Congress, I introduced H.R. 904, a bill to prohibit the Department of Transportation (DOT) from providing funds to state and local authorities for the purpose of creating motorcycle only checkpoints. Section one of the Stop Motorcycle Checkpoint Funding Act contains the same language as H.R. 904. However, this bill also contains language to force the DOT to focus motorcycle safety efforts on crash prevention programs, not national helmet mandates.'

The bill was officially introduced on May 7th. It's important to contact your sitting member of the House of Representatives and ask them to be a co-sponsor of this important legislation. Ask them to contact Congressman James Sensenbrenner and lend their support as co-sponsor of H.R. 1861.

You can contact the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121