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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Ind. Gov't. - "New research fee upsets Indiana motorcyclists"

An AP story this morning reports:

Some motorcycle owners are upset that they have been singled out to pay an extra $10 registration fee to fund new efforts to track and research spinal cord and brain injuries -- and Gov. Mitch Daniels says their anger is justified.

The General Assembly tucked the base fee increase -- from $17 to $27 -- into the 253-page budget bill and created a board to oversee the proceeds. The Legislative Services Agency estimates it will generate about $1.6 million annually.

"Indiana will be moving to the forefront in the effort to improve the lives of those who have suffered from spinal cord and head injuries," Rep. Carolene Mays, D-Indianapolis, who pushed the proposal, said in a statement. * * *

A bill Mays introduced would have increased court fees for traffic violations and directed that revenue to the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Fund. The bill was later amended to increase the fee on motorcycles, and that language was put into the House version of the budget bill.

Opponents complained about the fee and it and the fund was removed from the budget in the Senate. But the motorcycle fee was restored during the session's final days and approved, Jackson said.

Daniels, a motorcyclist himself, signed the budget bill but said bikers had reasons to be upset about the fee increase.

"One is process," he said Wednesday. "Nobody even knew this was buried in the budget. I didn't. They didn't. They thought it had been removed and somebody slipped it in there in the late stages.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette had a good story on the fee before it was removed from the budget bill (except for the fee on motorcycles) - see the ILB entry here from March 11th. The entry includes a sidebar from the story showing the then-current "breakdown of fees collected by county clerks for infractions, such as speeding tickets and other moving violations":

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 21, 2007 09:12 AM
Posted to Indiana Government