WisDOT “Trans 123” Resurfaces

[Anonymous]

WisDOT’s Trans 123 has resurfaced, with a final draft having been submitted to the legislative committee.

The proposed rule will ban registration of post-1967 25+ year-old grey-market import vehicles, which is currently permitted under Wisconsin law.

Federal law allows import of these vehicles, but Wisconsin thinks they are unsafe and seeks to keep them from Wisconsin’s roads.

Today I received the following notice from WisDOT:

Quote:

From: Johnson, Julie – DOT
Date: Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 10:21 AM
Subject:
To:

Hi all,

Attached is the Final Draft version of ch. Trans 123 that was submitted today for legislative committee review. You asked at the time of the hearing that the Department e-mail you a copy when it is submitted to the Legislature for review.

Enjoy your day.

Jewels

Jewels Johnson
Paralegal / Legis. and Admin. Rules Coordinator
DOT Office of General Counsel
Room 115-B, Hill Farms
Madison, WI 53707
608-267-3703

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

Here is a bit of WisDOT’s summary:

Quote:

“That is, even though federal law allows 25 year old vehicles that do not meet FMVSS (for the vehicles year of manufacture) to be imported lawfully into this country, Wisconsin will not register them for use on public roads.” (Pg. 4)

“This rule does not apply to any vehicle for which a statutory registration category exists in ch. 341, Stats., including homemade, reconstructed, replica, or street modified vehicles that are eligible for registration under s. 341.268, and former military vehicles that are eligible for registration under s. 341.269 or s. 341.266(2)(a).” (Pg. 3)

Please see the attachement for the full text of the proposed rule.

[file name=Trans_123_FD_Aug_10.pdf size=69213]http://www.wiscollectorcar.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Trans_123_FD_Aug_10.pdf[/file]

Topic

[Anonymous]

Please do talk to her about this. Did you read her closing?

Quote:

Enjoy your day.

Jewels

She has quite a sense of irony, it would appear. I’d like to think that she had no clue what the legislation was about, and is just a generally nice lady. But given my experiences with WisDOT employees, I’d say that “nice” is rarely an accurate description.

But as they say, you do catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. I’m curious what kind of light she can shine on the matter.

[Anonymous]

Paul-Underwood wrote:

Quote:

REMEMBER, THE DEADLINE FOR ACTION IS AUGUST 31.

In this case late is not better than never!

I am responding later than I would have liked because I am just back from vacation, but today I emailed and called my Representative and Senator (find yours here) as well as emailing the members of the Assembly and Senate transportation committees:

Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resources
Assembly Committee on Transportation

I also called the offices of the chairs of the respective committees.

A friend of mine who is also calling the offices of legislators reports:

Quote:

I spoke at length with Tom Jackson at Senator Schultz’s office yesterday and got a better understanding from him regarding the process. In order for there to be a public hearing or to have Trans 123 sent back to DOT for revisions, the committee has to meet (in Madison) and vote on it. With elections coming up and the Democrats in a bit of trouble, it will be difficult to convince them to return from campaigning in their districts to Madison for a meeting.

The only way to stop Trans 123 from becoming law BY DEFAULT is to call your legislators and the committee chairs, and make sure you have their attention.

I have done all I can do… What have you done? What will you do? Liberty lost is not easily regained.

Please make some calls.

Tom

[Anonymous]

My emails to my reps the last time I sent them for trans 123 where ignored, my phone calls went to voice mail…..

Media, has any contacted them? It is normally the only way for something like this to get a politicians attention.

[Anonymous]

Willie,

From my experience, they get so many emails that unless they’re watching for yours, they’ll miss them. Phone calls and US mail are definitely the preferred methods of contacting elected officials.

FWIW, I’ve contacted a couple media outlets. No bites so far, that I’m aware of.

If you’ve got the time, please keep contacting them. This is re-election season, so it can be tough getting through. But this is all the more reason to keep trying – DOT introduced the bill now because they know it will be tough to reach the politicians now. DOT knows that if this does not get opposed, it will become law.

I urge you to keep trying.

Paul

[Anonymous]

Willie,

From my experience, they get so many emails that unless they’re watching for yours, they’ll miss them. Phone calls and US mail are definitely the preferred methods of contacting elected officials.

FWIW, I’ve contacted a couple media outlets. No bites so far, that I’m aware of.

If you’ve got the time, please keep contacting them. This is re-election season, so it can be tough getting through. But this is all the more reason to keep trying – DOT introduced the bill now because they know it will be tough to reach the politicians now. DOT knows that if this does not get opposed, it will become law.

I urge you to keep trying.

Paul

[Anonymous]

I pm’d her on face book and this the info she gave me.

“As for Trans 123, the perfect person for you to all to talk about it is one of my fave attorneys I work with at DOT and his name is Paul Nilsen. His direct number is 261-0126. You can also talk to Carson Frazier who works in the Bureau of Vehicle Services and her number is 266-7857. She and I work closely together too. You can tell either of them I sent you. Paul would probably be my first choice to call for you though.”

This might help track down someone to talk to.

[Anonymous]

Hi ddhemi!

I’m glad you are making efforts!

However, Paul Nilsen is the author of Trans 123.

He comes across friendly, but don’t believe it.

He could not care less about the impact of Trans 123 on the operating privileges of collectors in Wisconsin.

I have seen Carson testify regarding numerous transportation-related proposals over the last year… She is the mouthpiece of WisDOT, and you’ll get nothing new there.

The best place to direct effort is by calling the chairs of the assembly and senate transportation committees.

Thanks!

Tom

ddhemi wrote:

Quote:

I pm’d her on face book and this the info she gave me.

“As for Trans 123, the perfect person for you to all to talk about it is one of my fave attorneys I work with at DOT and his name is Paul Nilsen. His direct number is 261-0126. You can also talk to Carson Frazier who works in the Bureau of Vehicle Services and her number is 266-7857. She and I work closely together too. You can tell either of them I sent you. Paul would probably be my first choice to call for you though.”

This might help track down someone to talk to.

[Anonymous]

Amen to what Tom just posted. Do not trust those two. Here’s a brief glimpse of how Paul Nilsen operates:

On Feb. 4, 2008 he wrote a legal opinion on whether Pinzgauers could be registered in Wis. legally. He wrote that they could. Then FOUR DAYS LATER, in a meeting with legislative staffers and others, he reportedly told them that Pinzgauers could not be registered.

When I went to DOT to deliver subpoenas on several employees during my appeal, Nilsen told the receptionist that we could be found in his office. But then he took me to the lunchroom to talk!! Because of this lame ruse, Judge Kaiser overruled Nilsen’s attempt to toss out my subpoenas.

Here he is offering to solve all the worries of the bicycle world, never mind contacting the police: http://www.mail-archive.com/bikies@danenet.org/msg02121.html

Carsen is no better. She’s nothing more than a DOT mouthpiece. I’d love to actually discuss the specifics of state and federal laws with her, but she won’t even dare to meet with me. (Where’s that dang “chicken” icon?)

This issue is now on the national screen. Here’s the SEMA notification from tonight: http://echo.bluehornet.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=2246b76d1c359f27ec4538e9253b233e&CID=1824404035&ch=7A1EB7AF691F4AADCE0F37C791653625

This whole affair feels like DOT is simply mad that they lost in Appeal court, and that they then failed to outlaw Pinzgauers. So now they’re pulling all their dirty tricks out to finally get Trans123 passed. Is this how you want your laws to be crafted??

Stand up to this, and contact your Senator and Assembly Rep. today!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the heads up on these two clowns.

[Anonymous]

Word has arrived tonight from the Capitol that at least 2 Republican Senators on the Transportation Committee have requested a hearing on Trans-123.

Keep up the efforts, they’re paying off!!

When/if the hearing is held, we need to attend and make dang sure they know we oppose this rule-change.

[Anonymous]

I’ll be there.

[Anonymous]

I just received a reply from Senator Holperin (Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee) himself!

Please note that my email was retrieved from his spam folder… It could have easily been missed! Please do not “fire and forget”, but rather follow up and email or letter with a personal phone call if possible.

He is only “strongly considering” scheduling a public hearing (still on the fence). I think that means he is waiting for more calls, emails, or letters to persuade him that the issue is important to us.

Please send additional encouragement to the Senator in any way you can.

Quote:

From: Holperin, Jim
Date: Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 12:26 PM
Subject: RE: [Possible SPAM] URGENT: Please Oppose Wisconsin DOT Trans 123 Rule

Tom:

Thanks for your note. I’m strongly considering scheduling a public hearing on TRANS 123. The effect of holding a public hearing is to block implementation of the rule until the legislature can consider whether it is really “ready for prime time”. Following a public hearing, the legislature would consider whether it should accept the rule as is…or require the DOT to go back to work on it…or drop it altogether.

Jim

[Anonymous]

As previously posted, requests have been made to the Senate Committee for a Public Hearing. It is now up to the Committee chairman, Sen. Jim Hoperin, to decide to hold it or not.

Please contact Sen. Holperin directly and urge him to conduct such a hearing.

Here are Sen. Holperin’s contacts:

Sen. Holperin
(608) 266-2509

Room 409 South
State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707-7882

Email
Sen.Holperin@legis.wisconsin.gov

[Anonymous]

As of this morning Sen. Holperin is still undecided regarding scheduling a public hearing regarding Trans 123.

The deadline is Friday, after which Trans 123 becomes law BY DEFAULT.

Please call Sen. Holperin’s office today!!

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/w3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=Senate&district=12

Senator Jim Holperin
(608) 266-2509

[moparkid25]

Here is what I sent to Holperin:

Senator,

I am emailing you to ask that you do not allow Trans 123 to pass without a public hearing. Many residents of Wisconsin share an interest in the preservation of imported and historic military vehicles. By passing a law that does not allow them to be licensed on public highways and/or driven takes away the rights put forth by the federal government. And with that, such vehicles like any other require maintenance, repair, and restoration. This will eliminate jobs within the automotive industry. Do we really need to eliminate more jobs when there is already not enough to go around??

We cannot allow the DOT to dictate over Federal Laws. Please help out those people who elected you to office, and fight Trans 123.

[Author]

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