Tomorrow at 3:00 pm in Hearing Room E in the Oregon State Capitol building the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee will be hearing HB 2016. This bill will add "non-commercial aviation" to the list of recognized recreational uses in Oregon's Recreational Use (RUS) statute. If successful, this bill will have the effect of limiting liability of both public and private landowners when non-commercial aircraft land on their property. This will make it much more likely that we will be able to get land owners permission to land on their ground. The Recreational Aviation Foundation has been a key player in getting 18 states around the country to get states to add aviation in RUS statutes. I've got enough people who will be there to testify but it would be really nice if a whole bunch of people to go to the hearing and merely sign in as a supporter of this legislation. The supporters I've gotten who are on board are: Oregon's Department of Aviation, Oregon Pilot's Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Cattlemen's Association and several owners of private/personal use airstrip. This is a land owner liability reducing measure only. It will NOT allow the flying public to do anything they currently can't do now but it will definitely have the side benefit of making it easier to get permission to land of both public and private ground. Oregon is one of the only states left in the Western U.S. that doesn't list aviation as a recognized recreational activity. Your help in attending the hearing would be appreciated greatly.
Phil

"...It will NOT allow the flying public to do anything they currently can't do now but it will definitely have the side benefit of making it easier to get permission to land of both public and private ground. Oregon is one of the only states left in the Western U.S. that doesn't list aviation as a recognized recreational activity..."

We need this right now. Oregon is a significant factor/source in Part 91 R&D, the builders and pilots should be rewarded for sure. I would love to see skiplanes more accepted.

Best of luck Oregon Pilots!!!! It's an uphill battle against these trial lawyer types, sounds like you've got some great support lined up

This could be a really good thing for everyone involved in aviation in Oregon. It's only detrimental to lawyers.

If you're in Salem today, stop in at the capitol and be another body in the room to show support.

I'm in Salem now. Had a good coffee morning at Lenhardt's. we had 5 BCP guys. All members of the stupid pilot trick club.

Headed to the capital now.

Cheers

OregonMaule wrote:I'm in Salem now. Had a good coffee morning at Lenhardt's. we had 5 BCP guys. All members of the stupid pilot trick club.

Headed to the capital now.

Cheers

Thanks Rob. I'd be there but I'm hung up doing work.

Myself and another pilot from S30-Lebanon, OR, went to Salem to meet up with Rob, Mary Rosenblum, Bill Ables, John(from Sisters), Mitch ODA and then went to the Capitol to the meeting room to sign up in favor of the Bill. Hope it goes through The only ones signed up in opposition were the lawyers. Guess they thought they were going to lose some money on the deal.

Rob, it isn't the club I wanted to voluntary join, oh well!

I just wanted to mention the caretaker of "2S2" is great! I plan on practicing skis there next winter. There is no maintenance on the field, so it's up to the pilot. PPR, and self preservation a must!

drifter: thank you for your hard work on this. We were half joking when we said only the lawyers would oppose the bill. I guess it was no joke.


From: Bob Kay
RAF-WA Liaison


"It appears the RUS clarification Bill, HB 2016 in Oregon is DFLODFC (Dead For Lack Of Departure From Committee). The Oregon House Transportation & Economic Development Committee Chair, Rep. Tobias Read decided to kill it after the Oregon Trial Lawyer's Association voiced opposition. I've attached two letters they sent outlining their objections. I've also attached our response to their objections. I don't know if Representative Read was able read our response, but he obviously decided there were too many problems with the bill. If you get the chance, go to the vimeo link in our response letter and reaffirm for yourself that airplanes and family camping do mix. You can right click on the link then select "open hyperlink" from the pull down menu.

Phil Olson, a long-time pilot from Oregon really worked very hard on this bill; coordinating it with the Oregon Pilots Association, Oregon Aviation Dept, and lots of other folks. It's hard to see the Bill go down -- but we will try again next year. Next year we'll work early with the OTLA to get their objections answered prior to the 2014 legislative session start date. We'll also need to form a larger and more unified group of supporters to get this through next year.

Phil found out pretty late into the 2013 legislative session what the RAF & the RUS were all about; however, he still forged ahead with both guns blazing on crafting the bill and getting it pushed through. Every step of the way the bill was pushing time lines. It only made it this far because of Phil's pit bull approach and the efforts of his primary bill sponsor, Representative Vicki Berger. If you get a chance, drop her an email @ [email protected] and thank her for sponsoring the bill.

There's a lesson learned here: It's critical to meet with the trial lawyers as soon as possible in the RUS amendment process. In this particular case, we didn't have time to do that because there was no early point. They interjected their objections at the last minute and Chairman Read decided not to engage and not to take the bill to the next level.

We're taking a winchester on this one, but we'll be back on target after we rearm!"

drifter: thank you for your hard work on this. We were half joking when we said only the lawyers would oppose the bill. I guess it was no joke.


From: Bob Kay
RAF-WA Liaison


"It appears the RUS clarification Bill, HB 2016 in Oregon is DFLODFC (Dead For Lack Of Departure From Committee). The Oregon House Transportation & Economic Development Committee Chair, Rep. Tobias Read decided to kill it after the Oregon Trial Lawyer's Association voiced opposition. I've attached two letters they sent outlining their objections. I've also attached our response to their objections. I don't know if Representative Read was able read our response, but he obviously decided there were too many problems with the bill. If you get the chance, go to the vimeo link in our response letter and reaffirm for yourself that airplanes and family camping do mix. You can right click on the link then select "open hyperlink" from the pull down menu.

Phil Olson, a long-time pilot from Oregon really worked very hard on this bill; coordinating it with the Oregon Pilots Association, Oregon Aviation Dept, and lots of other folks. It's hard to see the Bill go down -- but we will try again next year. Next year we'll work early with the OTLA to get their objections answered prior to the 2014 legislative session start date. We'll also need to form a larger and more unified group of supporters to get this through next year.

Phil found out pretty late into the 2013 legislative session what the RAF & the RUS were all about; however, he still forged ahead with both guns blazing on crafting the bill and getting it pushed through. Every step of the way the bill was pushing time lines. It only made it this far because of Phil's pit bull approach and the efforts of his primary bill sponsor, Representative Vicki Berger. If you get a chance, drop her an email @ [email protected] and thank her for sponsoring the bill.

There's a lesson learned here: It's critical to meet with the trial lawyers as soon as possible in the RUS amendment process. In this particular case, we didn't have time to do that because there was no early point. They interjected their objections at the last minute and Chairman Read decided not to engage and not to take the bill to the next level.

We're taking a winchester on this one, but we'll be back on target after we rearm!"