Especially Military Ones
January 24, 2013 We were at the House Transportation Committee meeting this morning in order to make sure that there were no issues with HB 1476, which as amended gives the Virginia Rider Training Program more control over which motorcycles may be used in the course. That bill passed unanimously and goes to the full House on the uncontested calendar. You may follow the progress of that bill at vcomonline.org.While there, the committee took up a large bill having to do with DMV customer service. The bill was HB 2042 (http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB2042) To my surprise, this large bill had buried within it two matters that impact motorcyclists, particularly those in the military. We had not caught this bill due to the name of the bill. We watch all of the legislation which is filed to identify those that impact motorcyclists. Due to the nature of the bill as described we failed to catch this one.
The first thing this bill does that impacts motorcyclists has to do with temporary motorcycle endorsements. Under current law, if you take the DMV approved course, or, while stationed outside of the Commonwealth, take a course approved by the United States Armed Services, your completion card is your motorcycle endorsement for 30 days to give you time to get a permanent license at DMV. No further testing is required. In part, this bill amends the Code to allow for the certificate of completion from any course approved by the United States Armed Services, be it within or without the Commonwealth, to do the same. You must be a military member, spouse or dependent.
The second thing that this bill does, while not specifically aimed at the military, is correct an issue which impacts many military members. Under current law, if you want to stop your motor vehicle insurance while not using your vehicle, you need to cancel your registration and turn in your tag. If you don’t, your license will be suspended for having a non-insured motor vehicle. Additionally, when you get new insurance it will most likely be high-risk. In order to re-register your motor vehicle you need to go back to the DMV and have it registered. Imagine the pain that is for a military member who is being deployed long term and does not wish to continue paying insurance.
This bill in part provides for a method to deactivate your registration. This will be able to be done online. When you wish to re-activate you simply pay a $10.00 fee. It is also envisioned that this also will be able to be done online. So if you are deployed, you simply go on line and deactivate. You can then cancel your insurance. When you return you re-activate. This will also be helpful to those motorcyclists who do not ride during cold weather. (Although I know none of you on this list fall into that category).
We will now monitor this bill as well. It passed out of committee unanimously and is not expected to receive any opposition.
As always if you have any questions concerning this article or any other matters upon which I have written please feel free to contact me at matt@motorcyclelawgroup.com, or 1-800-321-8968.
Matt Danielson
McGrath & Danielson
Tom McGrath's Motorcycle Law Group
1-800-321-8968
Motorcyclelawgroup.com
