WI Senate Bill SB-406

[sabercat]

The snowmobile riding Badger is cool!

 

[erkoehler]

I donate every time I get gas for my sled, and always donate when stopped for food/drink and see a collection jar.

I am not a member of a club. Never have been, I guess I have never been sought out or asked to join or I probably would have.

Honestly, in all seriousness what is me joinging a club going to do? Remember, I donate already and the trail crosses our property.

 

[thunderstruck88]

I think it's time for a snowmobile tea party !!!!!!!!!! Also time to recall or vote out of office all the people that tax us to death in this country . I wonder what our founding leaders would think of wha't going on in this country . Keep us informed of what's happening in Wisconsin please!!! Thank you THINK SNOW and PRAY for FREEDOM and common sense to come back to this country soon . We all are in trouble big time !!!!

 

[renegade]

I, too, would like to know what people don't like about this bill. It is pretty obvious some people are complaining about it and have not even read it. You will still have to register a snowmobile, but just once until you sell then the new owner will need to register. The bill eliminates the sunset provision of the nighttime speed limit which will make it a permanent law. As far as the extra $15 a year to buy a sticker, give me a break. The shortfall for trail maintence was over $2,000,000 bucks this year. The big increase in money comes from the out of state stickers. Right now hardly any of the out of state money ends up towards trails, and this bill will fix that. As far as paid president position, didn't see it in the bill. If you are against something the AWSC is doing join the club and voice your opinion. At the last meeting they had a mic and anybody could stand up to it and speak. I suggest you do it, and put your complaining to good use. I do not agree with everything the AWSC says and does, but without the people who are involved with it and the snowmobile clubs there would be no trails, PERIOD. Instead of ripping the bill and claiming "big goverment", read it, pick something out you don't like and explain why you don't like it. I am intereseted to hear it.

 

[whitedust]

My problem is everyone that is part of AWSC will want wages. ie I talked to Farmer Brown he resigned his land again this year for the trail that took me 2 hours + drove my truck used 2 gallons of gas yada...yada....yada on & on. Contract could by carried by US Mail but money floating around you have corruption. Grooming is pretty darn good now by volunteers & I have no complaints. If you pay groomers you will have over grooming & wreck trails because they want the hours & wages. Current system is NOT broken why suddenly does all this have to paid positions? Only 1 reason GREED & patronage government system for snowmobiling & that is all about Sen. Holperin. Sen. Holperin gets paid positions for AWSC & in next election Sen. Holperin has AWSC in his pocket to get votes out for him. What does snowmobilng get out of it???? Plain & simple much higher trail fees, laws & regulations up the ying yang so paid AWSC can justify their jobs. Whole thing makes me want to PUKE!! The entire idea is corrupt from the get go just patronage politics nothing more & NOT necessary.

Contact these senators tell them Vote NO for WI Senate Bill SB-406 :
Senator Jim Sullivan (D- Wauwatosa) 1-866-817-6061
Senator Jeff Plale (D- South Milwaukee) 1-800-361-5487 Note: Co-Sponsor of SB-406
Senator David Hansen (D- Green Bay) 1-866-221-9395 Note: Co-Sponsor of SB-406
Senator Joseph Leibham (R- Sheboygan) 1-888-295-8750
Senator Neal Kedzie (R- Elkhorn) 1-800-578-1457
Senator Glenn Grothman (R- West Bend) 1-800-662-1227 Note: Co-Sponsor of SB-406

TOLL-FREE LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE: 1-800-362-9472

I told Sen. Holperin "NO" on 264 & "NO" on Senate Bill SB-406. Sen. Holperin has already passed Bill 264 that does NOT allow you to ride off a WI marked trail for any reason & you can get a ticiket for getting gas, food or drink off the marked trail. Sen. Holperin is anti ATV riding & snowmobiling. I'm telling you this guy is BAD news for our sport & needs to be stopped ASAP! If we can not recall him then we need to at least tell him "NO" & then vote him out in the next election.

 

[renegade]

Went through the bill again, did not see anything about paid positions or paid groomer drivers. Maybe you could point out the section it is in. I am not a holperin fan either. He sounded like a total scumbag sleeze politician at the meeting. Especially after scott walker spoke.

 

[fatdaddy]

once again I don't have a problem paying for what I use, I know is costs alot because I pay the bills. I see $65,000.00 groomers all over the place and I'm ok with that, but quit saying join a club, or your a jerk. Like I said in my other posting, I joined a club and I live 5 hours away, I do what I can, I help out when I can, I buy your food, drinks and other items when I can. Just don't force this down my throat or you won't like the out come. I will walk away from this in a heartbeat and the see what you'll have. I use to hunt out of state as well and you raised the prices so high I quite hunting, and my son doesn't hunt because I don't. So tell me what money did you really get-zero. Guess what I don't fish anymore either because you screw the 6788 out of me because I live out of state even though I own a cabin in your state. Don't blame me for leaving the sports blame yourselfs.

 

[whitedust]

Went through the bill again, did not see anything about paid positions or paid groomer drivers. Maybe you could point out the section it is in. I am not a holperin fan either. He sounded like a total scumbag sleeze politician at the meeting. Especially after scott walker spoke.

AWSC wants to become a middle man clearing house for fees & wants to recoup its administrative costs. They have money & do what they want with the money as an administrative cost. How do we control that as individuals?.... there is no way. It will be like looking at your city goverments budget impossible to trace specific expenditures. When you ask about a line item entry you get complete run around & your head starts to hurt with all BS being thrown around & bottom line they don't know & don't want you to know either but it was an administrative cost line item. Bottom line WI trails are NOT broken this just is not necessay it is sleeze politician big goverment BS that wants to take your money & put in patrons pockets. I have been around the block once or twice & have seen this type of thing before. If you don't think AWSC will become paid postions you are being mislead. AWSC has had paid position agenda for many years & Holperin sees this as an opportunity for grass roots patronage that will benefit him. Bill 264 stripped us of off marked trail riding opportunities now this before the ink is dry on 264. The bigger question is what is the next Bill Holperin has cooked up that will further limit your snowmobiling freedom.

See Below:

4. Authorizes AWSC as the vendor for resident snowmobile club trail user stickers and that AWSC will be able to recoup its administrative costs.
NOTE: Trail use stickers would continue to be available to non-AWSC members through DNR and associated vendors.
5. Trail stickers become the basis for appropriations, rather than registrations.
6. Allocates the entire non-resident trail fee to the Supplemental Account.
8. For fiscal years 2010-2011 and for the 2 fiscal years thereafter, appropriates:
• $150,000 for state law enforcement. Actual appropriation is roughly $25,000 as 2009-2010 state budget includes nearly $125,000 for law enforcement
• $40,000 for alcohol education and alternative transportation programs
• $30,000 for state trails.

 

[united]

I beleive this bill makes the 55 mph speed limit at night permanent. It gets rid of the July 1st expiration date. As it is set up, after July 1st, 2010 the nighttime speed limit would have reverted back to the previous No Limit. This bill gets rid of going back to no limit and keeps the 55 mph limit at night.

If you are against the 55 mph at night limit, you should be against this bill.

 

[xcsp]

I'm not against the 55mph at night, but hope any revenue taken in is used for it's intended purpose, not sucked up in administrative costs or "robbing Peter to pay Paul" like Wisconsin's highway fund or the social security fund!!!

 

[90s]

Some kind of equlizer is needed, why should a club member end up paying more(club dues & registration). I guess you can head to the UP, their non-res pass is $35 & going up next year. I don't feel that the extra apprx $20 is going to break anybody, I enjoy riding in the UP, so I buy their nonres pass with out question or complaints. As far as paid positions, I wish I could get union scale for all the brushing/signing and time I put in on trail related matters and attending snowmobile related meetings. My concern with the bill is that it does not have anything in it about drunk operation other than if you're under the legal age & operating with a minor. I'm an advocate of ZERO TOLARENCE like MN & MI, AWSC says "drink responsible", (it's ok to operate half buzzed).

 

[sabercat]

Gee, If this passes I get to pay the state to register my snowmobile. Then I have to buy a trail pass from AWSC, And it went from $30 to $35. Thats great! Thanks AWSC, you really do care...about yourselves.

This really treats familys and other multiple sled owners right.

 

[ubee]

some where else I read of a plan like this,lets see! create jobs ,redistribute the $$ . cant remember what country? Why fix something when it ain't broke? why partner up with the government ? They have managed the deer herd and fisherys and forests and look what we ended up with ! Its all about the $ and people trying to line their pockets without going to jail! Who gets the snowmobilers share of the gas tax? That will be next! join a club!

 

[whitedust]

You got that right ubee! AWSC combined with state goverment is about as bad as it can get. As said above suddenly clubs will want brushing money for administarion costs because the money is there. As you said "it ain't broke!" No fix is necessary. I totally agree current system works well & does not have incremental cost to us. This Bill is simply lining pockets of patronage system. Pure politics. I would rather have club memebers doing what they do because they luv the sport & we are thankful for their contributuions. Start paying much higher trail permits or registrations & my exspectations go way up. Why NOT? I will want more for more not less or about the same for more. You right "it ain't broke"!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lookin4snow]

I will agree that the "system ain't broke," however, it certainly could use some help. The requests from clubs for reimbursement of trail expenses fell $2,000,000 short last year. The $250/mile by no means comes close to our expenses to groom each year, and if there is no money available for supplemental grooming, then our club has to come up with the money. Last year we our reimbursement from the County (through WDNR) was $5,000 less than our expenses. So, we have a dilemma. Either we do fundraising to come up with the $5,000 or we reduce grooming. So far this year we have had good snow and that means we are grooming a lot. We still have money. But at some point, if the snow continues, we will have to either borrow money and hope we get reimbursed, or reduce grooming. Last year our $5,000 shortfall was after we reduced grooming. We heard about the reduced grooming from our membership.

I can only assume that other clubs are in the same boat as we are given the $2,000,000 shortfall. In the current economy, where state budgets (including WDNR) are being cut, there is no possible way to get additional state money under the status quo.

So, what do we do? I'm willing to purchase a trail pass for Wisconsin (I already spend $35 in Michigan and $20 in Wyoming per year) provided the money goes to the trails. I think that there are a lot of people that would be in favor of that. Now, how you administer it, let's talk about that! And no, I sure don't trust the WDNR or the current Governor to do that!

 

[MOTOSKI]

OK

 

[sabercat]

Instead of squeezing more money from snowmobiliers, maybe AWSC should have rallied snowmobiliers and demanded that the state redistribute all the money that snowmobiliers generate back into the sport. Instead of skimming alot of it off. They would look like heros instead of zeros, and club memberships would soar!

This has snowmobilier against snowmobilier

 

[ezra]

Some kind of equlizer is needed, why should a club member end up paying more(club dues & registration). I guess you can head to the UP, their non-res pass is $35 & going up next year. I don't feel that the extra apprx $20 is going to break anybody, I enjoy riding in the UP, so I buy their nonres pass with out question or complaints. As far as paid positions, I wish I could get union scale for all the brushing/signing and time I put in on trail related matters and attending snowmobile related meetings. My concern with the bill is that it does not have anything in it about drunk operation other than if you're under the legal age & operating with a minor. I'm an advocate of ZERO TOLARENCE like MN & MI, AWSC says "drink responsible", (it's ok to operate half buzzed).

if .08 is 1/2 buzzed then yes it is ok most of us are adults and know how to take care of ourselves with out some politician deciding sledding is to risky to have a beer when stopping for lunch.then maybe no drinking when pulling a trailer? what about stopping on the way home from work to have a beer? stop that to .maybe no drinking at home you may be to stupid to stay in the house and get in your car.0 tolerance is a verry slippery steep slope that may sound good but will always end with loss of your rights.think not look at smoking people have been sued and lost in CA for smoking in there own home because a guy across the street is offended look it up.I really dont give a crap I don't drink more than 15 beers a yr but I dont need some one to tell me I cant have one when I want one.I am a adult with self control.

 

[nic]

Wait- how are you figuring club members would pay more? They're going to subtract your dues from registration. For example:
Registration costs- $50
guy in club a paid $20 for dues. Therefore, he owes $30 for reg
guy in club b paid $30 for dues. Therefore, he owes $20 for reg
I live in IL, am in a club here, but not in WI, so I pay $50 for reg. And- it sounds like I'll have to register my sled in WI in order to ride there since there will be no out of state or trail sticker. I could be wrong, but that's what I got from it.
And yes, the removal of the 'sunset of the speed limit' means remove the expiration, it will remain permanently.

 

[ubee]

What I see happening here,is the price of snowmobiling increasing substancily.It will turn into 100% user pay (somebodys got to pay) The price will get so high it will force some people out of the sport,leaving less people to pay(bigger slices of the pie) Less people paying will put the clubs in dire straits to pay the bills.Less grooming will make people ride elsewhere or just drop out. Pretty soon only the elite will be able to ride!That is the reason they passed bill 264 so the poor people with kids and lots of sleds cant say screw you ,we wont ride your groomed trails we will ride in the woods and lakes on non -groomed trails on state land.The dnr has already started blocking off every logging road,little tote roads,etc. in this part of the northwoods.Again what good is state land if you cant use it ? Most people have never heard of the Wisconsin DNR's Master Plan or ever attended any informational meetings. their plan wants to eliminate residents ,business,villages,and make ghost towns up here.not many kids graduating from hs around here can find employment here.We have lost over a thousand resorts alone in Vilas county alone since the 60's.The only thing they want up here is wolves,wilderness,and trees.Also with the DNR with buget cuts also will kill 2 birds with one stone by getting AWSC to do their work for them and throw a few crumbs at them when they squeak!
Its a sad day for snowmobiling,a sad day for my grandkids!