Arrived in Augusta at 11:15 and will be meeting with Keith Herrick our lobbyist for ATV Maine. Both Dick Howlett, president of ATV Maine and myself, John Raymond, Public Affairs for ATV Maine are going to be in attendance for this public hearing posted for 1pm, I will keep you posted as to what happened.
Well, we had a productive day at the public hearing for LD 341. There was probably a dozen or more people testify in support of the LD I would say 4-1 over those who didn't support it, and I testified in the neither for nor against because ATV Maine supports our members, landowners and businesses and if there is a way to do all three, we will achieve that. We understand that the landowners are a huge concern, and we don't want to lose any trails.
Testimony was given that some landowners want the increase and should be able to allow oversize ATVs on their land and if they can't then they could shut down both ATV and Sled trails. Then the other side of the coin was presented that the landowners don't want to increase the weight limit to 3500 lbs. if that happens, they could shut down trails, so we thought that like the 60" and 65" width that passed in 2022 with the landowners deciding 60" or 65" and whether to allow Dirt bikes was left up to the landowners we could also do that with the 3500 lbs. and keep everyone happy and let the dealerships sell them and get them registered and only allow them on the trails that would allow oversize wheelers. After talking with some of the committee members they seem receptive to our idea, and it might be a way to solve this problem. I will keep you all updated to this bill as it moves forward or gets killed!
John Raymond
Public Affairs
ATV Maine
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