Stands ready to act on items affecting motorcyclists
With a new administration in the White House as of Jan. 20, a significant number of executive orders have been signed over the past few days, and the AMA Government Relations staff is working hard to analyze how these new orders may affect motorcyclists in the future.
What exactly are executive orders? They are basically signed statements that lay out how the president wants the federal government to be managed, whether that’s a request for reports, instructions to federal agencies or taking action to rescind orders signed by a previous president. Keep in mind, there are limits to the power of executive orders, and both courts and Congress can potentially block them.
“Any time there’s a change in federal administrations, it’s common to see a flurry of executive orders released very quickly,” said AMA Director of Government Relations Nick Haris, “and it’s our job to work through those orders to find ways they may potentially benefit motorcyclists, or ways they could negatively affect motorcyclists. Regardless of party, we often find it’s a mixed bag — some good, some bad — and those first executive orders also give us a good look at the general direction an administration may be taking in the future, so we’re prepared to protect the interests of our AMA members.”
Several of the recent executive orders have caught the attention of the AMA Government Relations staff, including the America First Trade Policy executive order, President Donald Trump did threaten to implement additional tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada as quickly as Feb. 1, a move that could potentially increase the price of goods made in these countries, including motorcycles, motorcycle parts and gear coming into the U.S. from these countries. While this may provide a boost for products made in America, it may also eventually affect small mom-and-pop repair shops that source their parts outside of the country.
Also of note was the Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California presidential action. While seemingly unrelated to motorcycling, AMA Director of Government Relations Nick Haris commented that it may be a sign there’s potential for reform of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the future. The ESA has long been invoked by anti-OHV interest groups and used as a surrogate issue to exclude motorized recreation from public lands. Reforming the ESA may prove useful as the AMA fights closures related to local endangered species.
President Trump’s executive order on regulatory freeze is also significant, impacting any agency rulemaking that was pending at the end of the Biden administration, which gives the new administration the chance to reevaluate the impacts of pending regulation changes. Some of the issues impacting motorcyclists that may be affected by agency rulemaking include: federal emissions, fuel economy standards, autonomous vehicle regulations, changes to the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — which evaluates the safety of new vehicles — and monument and wilderness designations. This pause also gives stakeholders like the AMA a chance to reengage on these issues with new leadership and address any potential concerns.
Along with plenty of new orders dropping from the White House, there are new agency heads — including Sean Duffy (former five-term Republican congressman) at the Department of Transportation and Doug Burgum (former North Dakota Governor) at the Department of the Interior — and the AMA is crafting letters to these members of the new administration, requesting meetings and working to ensure they are aware of how federal issues may impact motorcyclists.
“No doubt, we’ll continue to see additional executive orders released in the coming weeks and many additional changes in Washington,” Haris said. “But our main goal in the AMA Government Relations Department is to analyze these actions and determine how we can best take action to protect the rights of our members.” Of course, the AMA’s Government Relations Department doesn’t work alone. You are an important ally in our fight to protect motorcyclists’ rights. Stay informed and sign up to receive AMA Action Alerts that notify you of threats to your motorcycling rights at https://americanmotorcyclist.com/rights/rights-resources/subscribe-for-rights-updates/