State and Local Update

California

The state Department of Motor Vehicles has issued a permit to Baidu USA LLC, authorizing the company to test driverless vehicles on public roads in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Baidu has had state authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers since 2016. The new permit allows the company to test three autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the wheel on specified streets within Sunnyvale in Santa Clara County.

The vehicles are designed to operate on roads with posted speed limits not exceeding 45 mph. Tests may be conducted during all times of the day and night, but not during heavy fog or heavy rain.

Baidu is the sixth company to receive a driverless testing permit in the state. Currently, 58 companies have an active permit to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver.

Also in California, state Sen. Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) introduced AMA-supported S.B. 227, which would ensure that off-highway vehicle competitions in California remain viable.

Competition OHVs have been registered through the state’s Red Sticker program, established under the California Air Resources Board. However, that program expires at the end of 2021.

Without a new program, off-highway vehicle competitions and practice riding on public land would be put to an end.

S.B. 227 would create a new, off-highway vehicle identification program under California Department of Parks and Recreation. The program would be narrowly focused on legitimate competitors only.

Pennsylvania

More than $300,000 in grant funding from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources goes to six recipients for public ATV and snowmobile facilities and trails.

The money pays for planning, construction or maintenance of ATV and snowmobile trails and facilities in Cambria and Clearfield, Erie, Crawford and Warren, Fayette, Lawrence and Butler, Monroe and Northumberland.

With a few limited exceptions, snowmobiles and ATVs in Pennsylvania must have a registration issued by DCNR. Grants are administered by DCNR with funding provided from registration fees.

Iowa

Gov. Kim Reynolds is calling for all new fuel pumps installed in Iowa to be able to dispense gas containing at least 10 percent ethanol (E10), and she said her counterparts in Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota are considering similar requirements.

Such a move would eventually eliminate the availability of ethanol-free (E0) fuel for use in vintage motorcycles, which often do not perform well if any ethanol is mixed with the fuel.

Reynolds also asked legislators to expand the state grant program for installing fuel pumps that dispense higher blends of biofuels. The program has a $3 million budget in 2021. Reynolds wants $10 million in 2022.

Nebraska

L.B. 581 would remove the state requirement that motorcycle riders and passengers wear helmets on public roads.

The change would apply only to those 21 or older who have completed a rider-training course.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Ben Hansen said the issue is a matter of personal choice.
The official AMA position statements on Voluntary Helmet Use and on Motorcycle Rider Education can be found at americanmotorcyclist.com/ama-position-statements.

Montana

S.B. 9, which would allow motorcyclists to filter between lanes of traffic under certain conditions, passed the full Senate in January and went to the House for consideration.

The bill defines lane filtering as “the act of overtaking and passing another vehicle that is stopped or traveling at a speed not in excess of 10 mph in the same direction of travel and in the same lane.”

Under the bill’s provisions, the overtaking motorcycle cannot be traveling more than 20 mph.

Oregon

Motorcyclists would be permitted to share traffic lanes with other vehicles under S.B. 574, which began making its way through the Legislature in January.

The bill would allow lane sharing for motorcycles on a highway that has a speed limit of 50 mph or higher when the traffic flow is 10 mph or slower. Riders would be limited to traveling 10 mph faster than the surrounding vehicles.