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Oct 8 • 55 tweets • 23 min read
What it really takes to make a bill into law - host @sunildasgupta4 with @MC_Council_Katz & his e-🛴bill. "You may remember from the old Schoolhouse Rock jingle 'I'm a bill' that for every bill that successfully becomes a law, there are many more that don't get anywhere near."
Interlude for Schoolhouse Rock! "I'm Just a Bill"
Season 3 Episode 1
September 18, 1975
Written by Dave Frishberg
Sung by Jack Sheldon
"The e-🛴bill made it. But what didn't? A real road safety bill, to take 1 giant example. 35 people have died on roads in #MoCo in the year 2022, and this is only October. Not one of them because of scooters. But an e-🛴bill is what @MoCoCouncilMD passed."
"A road safety bill isn't even an idea, though there is unanimity on the Council that road safety is the bigger problem. 1 reason why folks hate politics is the smaller, sometimes marginal problem gets addressed 1st while the bigger problem waits & waits."
Host @sunildasgupta4: "Of the 35 people dead on streets in #MoCo, 9 were pedestrians, 3 bicyclists, 2 motorcycle riders, & the rest were in automobiles."
Sunil: "Let's talk about the e-🛴bill that you sponsored recently. Can you speak to the origins of the bill? What is the problem you were trying to solve? When did you start on the bill?" An e-scooter rider riding in the painted bike lane on River
CM Katz: "It started about 3 years ago...as a🚲& e-🛴registration. In the middle of all this, we pulled back on the e-🛴but...which was a mandatory registration...the county changed the legislation that said you don't have to register🚲."
CM Katz: "So we took🚲out of this legislation, but it was for safety reasons. I had gotten some concerns from people that said that they had seen people who they believed being unsafe, were parking their🛴in a way that they were blocking sidewalks, etc."
CM Katz: "I had seen 1 time, I was stopped at a🚦, and a young person...they literally were flying down the road on an e-🛴in traffic, not wearing a helmet. It was one of those situations that you just stopped & thought...I hope the person makes it." Jake Cassell's ghost bike. He was 17.
CM Katz: "more and more people will use [e-🛴] as a form of transportation over time, & if we can get in front of it, & educate people using it, & in most cases it's a younger person...on what's the safest way to do, where to park them, wear a helmet..."
CM Katz: "in this legislation if you're <18 but you have to be >14 to use an e-🛴, not a toy, then let's do that. This is not a money-making idea, this is a safety idea."
Sunil: "How many people do you think told you about this?"
CM Katz: " I would say it was certainly by the dozens, it wasn't thousands."
CM Katz: "This legislation has been interesting, it stopped & started...I probably have had more comment during the last several weeks before the legislation was passed than I did prior to that."
Sunil: "How many people demanded that you go ahead and please find a solution to a problem that..."
CM Katz: "The word demanded is not fair. No one demanded any of this."
Sunil: "How many people asked."
CM Katz: "I would say at least...a dozen, but 1st off, I had a couple of people,...a dozen or so, when I would see someone...I remember being in Giant & someone came up to me & said...is there legislation about e-🛴?"
CM Katz: "because they had seen what they considered to be an unsafe situation & they felt that people needed to be educated about them."
Sunil: "How many people have been injured or died on scooters in #MoCo? Do you count injuries?"

CM Katz: "I don't know that answer."
Sunil: "So that's my❓. We don't know the answer to the extent to the problem of e-🛴...We've had 35 road deaths in #MoCo, 9🚶, 3🚴, 2🏍️, the rest🚗, & this has been going on year after year."
Sunil: "Just prior to your passing the e-🛴bill, you heard a #VisionZero presentation, which did not...include anything on e-🛴. So my❓is, why do ...something that is...not urgent over something that needs to be done last year?"
CM Katz: "Someone gave me an idea & we certainly..."

Sunil: "Who is this someone?"

CM Katz: "The people who had brought it to me originally...When someone gives me an idea, I ask staff to look into it & see..."
Sunil: "A lot of people have demanded action on road safety more generally, which has not been forthcoming from the county council."

CM Katz: "We are in agreement on that."
Sunil: "So why waste time on e-scooters, which we don't know, we don't count, we don't know anybody that has died on an e-scooter..."

CM Katz: "Why wait for someone to die before we take action?"
Sunil: "That's a very good point, provided you have done something about those that are already dying."

CM Katz: "It's not only if one or the other, it's all."

Sunil: "But you're not doing the other."
Sunil: "What specifically has been done on the road deaths that will allow you time to do the e-🛴?"
CM Katz: "#VisionZero, the County Council just received an update..."
Sunil: "And it had nothing to do with e-🛴."
CM Katz: "But it could have included e-🛴." A person on an e-scooter on the sidewalk next to seven-lane
OK, I'm at minute 20 of the @ihppod podcast, and the interview with CM Katz goes on for another 23 minutes, so I'm calling it a night. You can listen to the whole thing yourself, or maybe I'll keep going tomorrow.
CM Katz: "If we didn't have concerns about every part of🚶&🚲&🚗fatalities & injuries, [e-🛴 legislation] should be a part of that in the future...If there were never any fatalities or injuries from e-🛴, to me, that would be a great success."
Sunil: "You are faced with a real life-threatening situation on our roads, & you have passed a bill about something we don't really even know what the impact is because we don't even count them."

CM Katz: "This does not take the place for any other piece of legislation." Screenshot of tweet Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle D.C. i
Sunil: "But it does, it takes time, & there has not been legislation on road safety. It's a question about priorities."

CM Katz: "And we need to do it all."

Sunil: "...the Council has not come up with significant road safety measures for a long time."
Sunil: "We invest too little in our sidewalks, there is not enough emphasis on safe routes to school, there is just a plethora of things that need to be done, and the one thing that gets done is where we don't even know if it's a real problem."
CM Katz: "It's not just the one thing that's gotten done...In the #VisionZero update, we have a person who is dedicated on the County Exec's staff to work on these issues, to come up with solutions...We are extremely concerned about it."
CM Katz: "No one wants anyone on any type of vehicle to be hurt or lose their life."

Sunil: "The thing we do something about [is what] we need to do least about. [What] we need to do more about, we say we have hired people...& we will see in the future."
CM Katz: "I did not at any time say that this would take a priority over any other piece of legislation."

Sunil: "But it has...you haven't passed anything on road safety."

CM Katz: "That doesn't mean it took a priority, this one was easier to write."
Sunil: "Is the government about doing the easy things?"

CM Katz: "No, government is about doing the right thing."
Sunil: "Let's talk about the details of the bill...The bill says that if you have more than 2🛴 you need to register them, you said earlier that this does not apply to individual owners, does the new text of the bill make that clear?"

CM Katz: "It does."
Sunil: "The bill said that a e-🛴is differentiated from a toy🛴, 1 of those measures of differentiation are reflectors. If a toy🛴had reflectors, it may be seen...as an e🛴 subject to the requirements of the law that you just passed. Can you clarify that?"
CM Katz: "The law says there's e-🛴& toy🛴, I guess that in itself gets confusing, but an e-🛴has to have reflectors, can go up to 15 mph, & you have to be no younger than 14, from 14 to 18 a person would have to wear a helmet & be fined if they don't."
Sunil: "How do you propose to enforce the speed limit on e-🛴& toy🛴?"

CM Katz: "Hopefully no one will use this in an unsafe manner...police could be involved, also by concern, if someone calls & says they believe someone is driving faster than 15 mph..."
Sunil: "You said...people reporting to the police if someone is riding an unsafe🛴."

CM Katz: "we want #MoCo to be as safe as it can possibly be. & that means if you see something say something" [eg talk to your neighbor if they are being unsafe on a🛴].
Sunil: "What does your law say [re enforcement]?"
CM Katz: "Contact MCDOT."
Sunil: "They should call 311?"
CM Katz: "Yes, I guess, that would be the start for that."
Sunil: "They should not call 911?"
CM Katz: "Unless it's something that's that dramatic..."
CM Katz: "The incident that I saw...in the middle of the street going 20 mph."
Sunil: "How do you know it was 20 mph?"
CM Katz: "You don't."
Sunil: "So how do you call the police & say there's a kid flying through traffic going >15 mph, how do you know?
CM Katz: "You don't."
CM Katz: "It would be the same thing as if that same person were on a🏍️& went through the middle of traffic, almost strike somebody"
Sunil: "& the👮respond to that?
CM Katz: "If someone would call the👮 & say I'm [wherever] then a👮officer would respond."
CM Katz: "We're talking about e-🛴...in addition... we need to talk about what would be the best legislation, I'm happy to sponsor it, to get us to that #VisionZero. And that is a much deeper & thorough discussion that needs to be had."
Sunil: "The helmet requirement. Did you hear the racial equity statement on that?"

CM Katz: "They were concerned that someone would be stopped who was not wearing a helmet because of racial profiling."
CM Katz: "To make certain this becomes an educational & safety issue...the👮officer or whoever could not charge the person with a fine 1st time, they could give them a warning...& it's not mandatory other than for someone betw the ages of 14-18 for e-🛴."
Sunil: "How does anybody know that someone is 16 or 17 or 18...what kind of education are you really giving if you are encouraging: I need to call the👮on that kid because he's not wearing a helmet?"

CM Katz: "If you know the child, then you would know perhaps their age."
Sunil: "If you know the child, it's very unlikely you're calling the👮."

CM Katz: "You just mentioned before someone didn't get along with their neighbor, & hopefully everyone always does."
Sunil: "There are neighbors that don't like Black neighbors, & our history is full of that, & they use this law to call & say, oh this kid is riding too fast, isn't riding with a helmet."
CM Katz: "I don't agree with you. I believe that if this makes it safer, and it does, if there becomes an issue with what you're suggesting, then that would be another something that we'd have to work on. However"
Sunil: "'If it makes it better' is a hypothetical, because it was already the case that scooters were not killing anybody."

CM Katz: "That I'm aware of. That is correct."
Sunil: "There has not been 1🛴death in #MoCo."

CM Katz: "May there never be."

Sunil: "Meanwhile, there have been 35 road deaths, 9🚶, 3🚴, 2🏍️, all of them dead on streets that are in #MoCo... Those deaths are not prioritized."
CM Katz: "We're not going to agree that it's either/or. It's not either/or, & we need to do it all...I hope that we never have an e-🛴fatality, or anyone hurt. If we do not have someone who has ever been hurt, that to me would be a success..."
CM Katz: "I am certainly always open to any other suggestions to try to keep the public as safe as we possibly can on all issues....I stand ready to continue to work on issues that will keep the public safe."
Thanks to ACT board member @sunildasgupta4, his @ihppod, & @MC_Council_Katz for this conversation on the new e-🛴bill passed by @MoCoCouncilMD on 9/20/22, right after their briefing on #MoCo's progress towards the #VisionZero goal of 0⃣ traffic deaths & serious injuries by 2030.
You can hear the whole thing yourself at ihppod.libsyn.com
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