Life after AB515

This week the 2011-2012 legislative session ended is grinding to an end*. Assembly Bill 515 aka “The Skateboard Bill” never got its hearing in committee. It won’t become law. But we shouldn’t be surprised or even disappointed.

This bill faced a lot of hurdles from the start. Luckily enough for us, most of those hurdles have anything to do with the language of the law itself. This most recent session was dominated by hot-button topics, several of which didn’t make it into law. In the end, AB515 was just introduced too late in the session to get any traction.

Our task really hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s more important than ever for us to reach out to our local representatives to ensure that some form of this bill is introduced during the next session.

I’m confident that the language drafted for AB 515 will eventually be adopted and will finally eliminate Wisconsin’s statewide ban on street skateboarding. As anyone who has ever been involved in a skatepark development project knows, these things don’t happen over night. A great deal of persistence is involved. And the skateboard community has plenty of that. 

If our elected officials really believe in local control and improving the health and education of our population, they’ll get behind this law and push it through in the next session.

*Even though the session was scheduled to end yesterday, legislators continued to debate a contentious Milwaukee Area Technical College bill into the morning of March 16. This will have no effect on AB515, however. 

UW-P student government supports AB515

I just received this tweet from Johnathan Predaina aka @jp_pre: “@UWPStudent Senate just unanimously endorsed the Resolution in support of #AB515 @SkateboardWI #onwisconsin”

That’s great news and highlights a lot of the work under way to drum up support for AB515 in Wisconsin. The Boehm family stumped around Milwaukee last weekend dropping off fliers at several skate shops and I dropped some off at Freedom Skate Shop in Madison. Freedom warrants its own mention since its owner, Austin Lipinski, has been working hard to get people involved as well.

A civics lesson and how AB515 got started

I’m lucky enough to work in downtown Madison just off the square. So after I found out about Assembly Bill 515 and the effort to make Wisconsin law more skateboard-friendly, I was able to drop by Rep. Sandy Pasch’s office and had a conversation with Fred Ludwig, an aide for Rep. Pasch. Fred told me that a family from Shorewood had brought their concerns about Wisconsin’s roadway ban on skateboarding to their attention and worked with them to draft the bill. Fred was also kind enough to connect me with the Boehm family and Dan Boehm contacted me shortly thereafter.

Needless to say, we are indebted to the Boehm’s for getting things rolling and we owe it to them to make sure that this legislation advances. Now that the bill has been introduced, the Boehm family isn’t done. If you own a skateshop in the Milwaukee area, you might see them in the near future dropping off fliers to promote the bill.

I asked Dan to describe how his son Ben became interested in changing the law and the process they went through to get the bill introduced. I’ve included his email response below: 

My son started his freshman year in high school in Fall 2011.  He had been skateboarding on a longboard to school each morning for a 6:45AM art class.  Longboards are the perfect commuting vehicle.  They are fast, safe and extremely portable.   One day, he mentioned that he was stopped by a police officer at 6:30AM, when there were no other cars on the road (and it was light out in the morning) and he was told to ‘get on the sidewalk.’

This same situation happened again, and again, and again.  According to Ben, it was too many times to count.  (I learned only a couple of weeks ago that a local police officer may not have jurisdiction over state laws; therefore, he may not have even had the ability to cite my son for the infraction — perhaps it is only state troopers that can cite skateboarders, but this notion should probably be verified before shared with other skateboarders.)

Anyway, my son is a really level-headed and responsible kid despite the ‘run-ins’ with the law.  He gets great grades , plays soccer at a high level, snowboards, and spends several nights a week playing Cello with various orchestra’s and chamber groups.  He also gives Cello lessons to three younger kids in our community. 

He is not a rebel by nature, but understands that skateboarding is a great way to get to his school, which is about 3/4 of a mile away via residential streets.  During the winter, he has reluctantly resorted to bicycling to school, but he can’t wait to get back on his longboard as soon as Spring arrives.

As a parent, I was deeply concerned about the police ‘order’ to get on the sidewalk.  I am a bicycle commuter and read many blogs and studies about bicycle safety.  I know that it is much safer for bicycles to be in the street where car drivers are focusing their attention — primarily looking for other cars.  When kids, and adults for that matter, bicycle on the sidewalk they are greatly increasing their chance of being hit by a car at intersections where most accidents occur.  Because of this insight, I taught my son and his younger sister to bicycle on city streets with confidence.  Similarly, I strongly prefer that my son skateboard in the street where he at least has a chance of being seen by cars.

Skateboarding has also given my son independence that wouldn’t be there if he had to rely upon me or his mother to drive him everywhere.  When my son takes his skateboard to a friend’s house a mile or so away, I know that he has safe, convenient and independent transportation.  He doesn’t need me to drop him off or pick him up, especially if he is visiting a girl.  A 15-year old boy needs to have independence, provided that he can be trusted to make good decisions with that independence, and my son makes good decisions most of the time. (For example, when skateboarding at night, he attaches a flashing bike light to his jacket or backpack.)

Those are the events, more or less that lead to our interest in the prohibitions against skateboarding.  Initially, we thought about approaching the Village of Shorewood, where we live just north of Milwaukee to discuss whether there could be a local ordinance change that would allow skateboarders to use streets.  Once we realized that there was a state law prohibiting skateboards, we reviewed the legislation and realized how ridiculous it was that ‘in-line’ skates were exempted from the prohibition, but not skateboards. 

At the end of October, Ben’s high school chamber orchestra was playing a concert in Madison for a music teacher’s convention near the state capitol.  We decided to stop at the Capitol, while Ben was still in his Tuxedo, to discuss his concerns about the state law.  We stopped by Senator Chris Larson’s office, and spoke with his aids, and the Senator himself for a while about this issue.  He gave us some great advice about starting a grass roots campaign.  Then we stopped by Representative Sandy Pasch’s office to have a similar discussion.  Her aide, Fred Ludwig, was really interested in the topic and very helpful.   Ultimately, he and Representative Pasch drafted bill AB 515 to let local municipalities decide how to regulate skateboarding. 

The law that made skateboarding a crime

Here it is: Wisconsin Statute 346.78. This is the law that makes it illegal to ride a skateboard on any public road in the state of Wisconsin. The law went into effect on April 20, 1984 as a part of the passage of Senate Bill 204 or 1983 Wisconsin Act 243. Here is how it reads: 

Play vehicles not to be used on roadway. No person riding upon any play vehicle may attach the same or himself or herself to any vehicle upon a roadway or go upon any roadway except while crossing a roadway at a crosswalk.

It’s the definition of “skate boards” as a “play vehicle” according to statute 340.01(43m) that really bans skateboards from roads along with coasters, roller skates, sleds, toboggans, unicycles and toy vehicles. A change in the definition in 1994 removed “in-line skates” from the group of “play vehicles” and left it up to municipalities to decide where in-line skates can be used.     

Send me your letters

Have you already sent a letter to your local representative to let them know you support skateboarding and AB515? Send it to me at skateboardwisconsin@gmail.com and I’ll post it on Skateboarding Wisconsin and our facebook page. Or go to our facebook page and post it yourself. I have also created a supporters page and will add your name and city to the list of supporters. It is important that state legislators understand that there is widespread support for this legislation and this site can be the conduit for that message.

Skateboarding needs a hearing in Madison

Now that several of our elected officials have stepped up and introduced skateboard-friendly legislation, Assembly Bill 515 needs a hearing. The proposed legislation has been referred to the Committee on Transportation. Tonight I sent an email to the committee chair, Rep. Jerry Petrowksi (R-Marathon), requesting a hearing. I encourage anyone reading this to do the same. His contact information is as follows:

Rep. Jerry Petrowksi

(888) 534-0086

Rep.Petrowski@legis.wisconsin.gov

If you haven’t already sent your letter of support to your own local representative, please do. It’s important that our local representatives know there is broad-based support for this legislation throughout the state.

While we’re all getting to know how democracy works first hand, check out this handy resource from the state legislature: How a Bill Becomes Law.

Ask your representatives to make skateboarding legal

The first thing I did after reading about AB515 was to send over a letter of support for the bill to my representatives, the sponsors of the bill and the Assembly leadership. To find out who your local represntatives are, visit the state’s “Who Is My Legislator Page?” I encourage you to either write your own letter or use my letter as a template and send it off to your representatives. I’ll include contact information in a future post.

The text of my letter was as follows:

While I think that it would be in our best interest to promote this activity on a grand scale, at the moment I am asking only that you give a local municipality the autonomy to decide where skateboarding is appropriate within its borders. 

The Skateboard Bill aka AB515 … he’ll be a law someday

So this is what proposed legislation looks like. I’ve copied and pasted AB515 without any changes or formatting below. But if you would like to get it straight from the source, visit the Wisconsin Legislature page for AB515 here.

What you’ll find in the below text are the sponsors of the bill, the existing state statutes that AB515 aims to amend, analysis of current law and finally the actual language that will amend existing law. In future posts, I’ll talk more about the laws that keep skateboards off public streets and the history behind those laws. 

2011 ASSEMBLY BILL 515

February 1, 2012 - Introduced by Representatives Pasch, Spanbauer, Berceau, 
Pope-Roberts and Turner, cosponsored by Senator C. Larson. Referred to 
Committee on Transportation.

1An Act to amend 340.01 (43m) (a) and (b), 346.94 (17) and 349.235 of the 
2statutes; relating to: use of skateboards on roadways.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, a person may not ride a play vehicle on a roadway except 
while crossing at a crosswalk. “Play vehicle” is defined as “a coaster, skate board, 
roller skates, sled, toboggan, unicycle or toy vehicle upon which a person may ride.” 
Under this bill, skateboards are removed from the definition of “play vehicle” and are 
therefore not subject to the regulations that apply to play vehicles.

Also under current law, a person may not ride in-line skates on a roadway 
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation, but may ride in-line 
skates on other roadways subject to any restrictions imposed by the local authority 
having jurisdiction over the roadway. Under this bill, skateboards are subject to the 
same roadway use regulations as in-line skates.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do 
enact as follows:

3Section 1. 340.01 (43m) (a) and (b) of the statutes are amended to read:

4340.01 (43m) (a) Means a coaster, skate board, roller skates, sled, toboggan, 
5unicycle, or toy vehicle upon which a person may ride.

1(b) Does not include in-line skates or a skateboard.

2Section 2. 346.94 (17) of the statutes is amended to read:

3346.94 (17) In-line skates and skateboards on roadway. (a) A person riding 
4upon in-line skates or a skateboard may go upon any roadway under the jurisdiction 
5of a local authority, subject to any restrictions specified by municipal ordinance 
6enacted under s. 349.235.

7(b) Any person riding upon in-line skates or a skateboard upon any roadway 
8shall ride in a careful and prudent manner and with due regard under the 
9circumstances for the safety of all persons using the roadway.

10(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection or s. 349.235, no 
11person riding upon in-line skates or a skateboard may attach the in-line skates or 
12skateboard or himself or herself to any vehicle upon a roadway or, except while 
13crossing a roadway at a crosswalk, go upon any roadway under the jurisdiction of the 
14department.

15Section 3. 349.235 of the statutes is amended to read:

16349.235 Authority to restrict use of in-line skates or skateboards on 
17roadway. (1) The governing body of any city, town, village, or county may by 
18ordinance restrict the use of in-line skates or skateboards on any roadway under its 
19jurisdiction. No ordinance may restrict any person from riding upon in-line skates 
20or a skateboard while crossing a roadway at a crosswalk.

21(2) The department of natural resources may promulgate rules designating 
22roadways under its jurisdiction upon which in-line skates or skateboards may be 
23used, except that no rule may permit a person using in-line skates or a skateboard 
24to attach the skates or the skateboard or himself or herself to any vehicle upon a 
25roadway.

1Section 4. Initial applicability.

2(1) This act first applies to skateboards used on a roadway on the effective date 
3of this subsection.

4(end)

AB 515

The inspiration for this site comes from an unusual source: Wisconsin’s own elected representatives.

When I moved to Prairie du Sac in 2009, I was pleased to find that there was already a movement to build a skatepark in the area. Since then, I’ve worked with the people driving that movement. But at the same time, I have been hopeful that we can create an environment that makes skateboarding possible even without the presence of dedicated skateboard spots, whatever form they take.

And that’s where Assembly Bill 515 comes in. It was a story last week in the Wisconsin State Journal where I first learned of the proposed legislation and it kind of caught me off guard. To start, it was a valuable piece of information. When I was skateboarding the streets of Verona and getting tickets from the local police department, I never knew that there was a state statute behind those tickets. And I was always under the assumption that if we wanted to legalize skateboarding, it was the local municipalities that needed persuading. Bad on me for not digging a little deeper.

What really struck me about this legislation was that there was not only one elected official but several willing to put together a law that is pro-skateboarding. Knock me over with a feather. As you can read in the State Journal story, a family contacted Rep. Sandy Pasch, D-Whitefish Bay and encouraged her to propose the legislation. I stopped by Pasch’s office the other day and had a brief discussion with Fred Ludwig, the aide quoted in the State Journal story. He told me that the family was from Shorewood and was looking into how their municipality could make skateboarding legal in Shorewood when they realized that it would take a change to state statutes to make that possible.

So my goal now is really to make sure that the work that has already been done by Rep. Pasch and the other sponsors of AB 515 can move forward. This legislation faces some problems. It is sponsored mostly by Democrats (and one Republican). In the current political climate, that means the prospects of it getting any traction aren’t great.

The first thing that I did after reading about the legislation last week was send a letter by email to my local representatives, Rep. Howard Marklein (Spring Green) and Sen. Dale Schultz (Richland Center). I then sent that letter to our own local skatepark committee encouraging them to do the same. You can find out who your own representatives are by visiting the state legislature’s search page here. 

As noted in the State Journal, the “legislation was referred to the Assembly’s Committee on Transportation, but a hearing has not been scheduled.” Ludwig, Pasch’s aide, encouraged me to write to the committee’s chair, Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon to request a hearing.

An important note about the legislation is that it doesn’t make skateboarding legal on every public street in Wisconsin. But it does allow municipalities the autonomy to decide where skateboarding should be allowed within their borders.

So if elected officials are willing to take the time to write this law and advocate for skateboarding, I feel that the least we can do is get behind it and make sure our own local officials know that this is legislation that people who care about skateboarding think is important.

I’ll use this site to post information about the current laws that keep people from skateboarding in Wisconsin, the law that would allow for skateboarding to be legalized and the people who I think are important to making these changes a reality.