Source: indystar.com
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.
But many motorcyclists are angry about the fee increase, said Jay Jackson,
executive director of ABATE of Indiana, a group that advocates motorcycling
and bike safety.
"We have nothing against medical research," Jackson said. "But we don't want
to be the ones who are responsible for funding it solely. If it was a fair
tax we would take our lumps like everybody else."
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.
"Second, on the substance, when I learned about it, it doesn't make a lot of
sense to me," he said. "The money is going to spinal injury research and I'm
not against that, but motorcycle accidents cause less than 1 percent of
those injuries. So it seems a little unfair to hit that particular segment
of society to pay for that particular purpose."
According to information provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, between 1995 and 2003 -- on average -- at least 5,000
motorcyclists each year were hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury.
Mays said about 160,000 Indiana residents suffer from spinal cord or brain
injuries, and the revenue will lead to new research on those conditions and
enable the state to pursue a share of $50 million in federal research
funding for the injuries.
The law gives the new nine-member board the authority to use the money for
grants for spinal cord and brain injury research and programs and establish
a surveillance registry to track those injuries in Indiana. The Indiana
State Department of Health will staff the board and implement the registry.
Mays said she chose to fund the program using motorcycle fees "because there
is a proven link between motorcycle accidents and traumatic spinal cord and
head injuries."
But Jackson said accidents involving other motor vehicles cause more of
these injuries than motorcycles.
"We are not the large or leading cause of this condition," he said.
Motorcycle owners can renew their plates early any time during the same
registration year cycle, which runs from the end of January through October.
Because of that, Jackson said ABATE is encouraging motorcyclists to renew
their plates before July 1 to avoid the fee increase this year. He said
about 160,000 motorcycles are registered in Indiana and about 30,000 members
of ABATE of Indiana.
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