My e-mail to the lawmakers:
Committee members,
as an owner of a classic car I request withdrawal of the bill H.B. 550. This does nothing but hurt an already troubled preservation of the classic vehicles. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
71 Dodge Challenger owner
David ______
My first reply from one of the lawmakers is as follows:
Dear Mr. ______
Thank you for contacting me regarding your feelings towards my legislation dealing with historic licenses in Maryland. I understand that many car enthusiasts such as yourself have concerns regarding HB 550.
The bill I have introduced is my initial proposal after spending months working to craft language with the MVA to deal with a problem brought to my attention regarding the abuse of historic licenses in Maryland. My ultimate desire is to find the right balance to make sure that people in our state are only getting historic license plates for the intended purposes of a historic vehicle registration system.
At the moment, anyone can get a historic license plate in Maryland if their car is simply 20 years old or older, no questions asked, and I want to make sure that people aren’t just getting historic license plates for their car simply to avoid needing to pass emissions tests and to pay a lower car registration fee. I'm sure you've seen the cars on the road I am referring to that have no business having a historic license plate. This is not a small number of cars. Currently there are over 100,000 cars in Maryland with a historical registration. 6 years ago there were only a little over 60,000 cars with a an historical registration. The MVA shares my suspicion that part of this significant increase is the word is getting around that people with a car 20 years old or older can get a historical registration to avoid passing an emissions test and pay a lower car registration.
To look at the actual changes in the code the bill calls for please click here:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2012rs/bills/hb/hb0550f.pdf. The bold language is what I am proposing adding and the language in brackets is what I am proposing to take out of the language. I have also drafted an amendment after listening to car enthusiasts’ concerns that will allow for “occasional transportation on Saturdays and Sundays” along with traveling for maintenance purposes and fundraisers in addition to the other approved purposes for driving a historically registered vehicle already in state law that I am leaving untouched.
I imagine that through the legislative process that this bill will go through there may be more changes and amendments to the language once residents, organizations, and legislators have had a chance to review the proposed language and make suggestions.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Del. Kirill Reznik
