Legislation by Senator Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) to save off-highway vehicle (OHV) competitions in California was approved unanimously today on a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. Senate Bill 894 was also approved unanimously by the Senate Transportation Committee last month. SB 894 is the third OHV competition bill Jones has authored in the last three years with the two previous measures clearing the Senate but later becoming stalled in the Assembly.
“We received another strong bipartisan vote, this time from the members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee,” stated Senator Brian W. Jones. “The hard work by all the OHV stakeholders, government agencies, and others over the last three years is definitely paying off. Even former opponents in the environmental community have worked with us on a compromise that removed their previous opposition.”
Competition OHVs have long been operated through the Red Sticker program under the California Air Resources Board (CARB). This program has allowed competition off-highway vehicles to operate in the state for the past two decades. However, the Red Sticker program ended last year with no program to replace it.
Without a new program, OHV competitions and practice riding on public lands have been thrown into confusion with reports of some competitors still getting Red Stickers and permission to compete while others have not. This uncertainty negatively impacts local businesses, jobs, and the economy of many rural and suburban regions that have long hosted competitions. Additionally, funding for environmental work and law enforcement has also been lost.
SB 894 would create a new, off-highway vehicle competition program that is narrowly tailored for legitimate competitors only. SB 894 is similar to Jones’s SB 227 from last year and his SB 1024 from the 2019-20 legislative session. Senators Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger), Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), and Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) and Assemblymember Adam Gray (D-Merced) are all coauthors of SB 894.
SB 894 is cosponsored by the Coalition for Public Access and the California Motorcycle Dealers Association and goes next to the Senate Appropriations Committee for hearing.