Don’t Let Off-Highway Vehicles Destroy Illinois Public Lands!

Tell your Illinois representative to vote NO on the motion to override the governor’s veto of SB 2272 and SB 2273.

The Illinois Senate has already voted to override Governor Blagojevich’s veto of these two bills. They must be stopped in the House of Representatives this week of November 15^th.

Be sure to call your Illinois state representative, not your federal representative. Be sure to leave your name and address so they know you are a constituent. Leave a message if no one is in the office. A filled message machine is very effective.

Veto overrides are confusing, even for legislators, so be sure to use this exact language in your message: Vote NO on the motion to override the Governor’s veto of two OHV bills, SB 2272 and SB 2273

To find who your Illinois senator and representatives are or access their phone and email information, put your address into this link; a click on your legislator’s name, once you have found it, provides contact information: http://www.elections.state.il.us/dls/pages/DLSAddresscrit.asp

To see how your legislators voted last time on this and to keep track of how they vote this time, use this link to the General Assembly homepage:

http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/default.asp and click on the bill numbers and then on “votes.”

Why we oppose these bills:

SB 2272 will allow Off-Highway Vehicles such as balloon-tire-four-wheelers and motocross dirt-bikes to enter our most sensitive state parks. OHVs are also known as All-Terrain Vehicles or ATVs. OHVs create many problems. Their noise and exhaust fumes drive away wildlife and spoil the peace and quiet of the countryside. Driving OHVs across open land destroys the vegetation and creates muddy potholes and severe erosion.

OHVs on our state lands will ruin the experience of nearly all other users, such as picnickers, hikers, wild-life watching with their noise, pollution and intimidation.

OHVs already have dedicated riding areas paid for by the Off-Highway-Vehicle Trust Fund. This fund is financed by the $30 OHV license fee.

SB 2273 limits the amount of money that can be spent on law enforcement of the few OHV laws we have to a scant 8 percent of OHV Trust Fund Expenditures.

The people of Chicago and the collar counties do not support these bills, but our legislators find it difficult to vote against anything OHV owners want because they have a strong lobby called ABATE. Our legislators must hear from us as well and we must hold them accountable. Please call today. The vote is definitely this week.