Here is a first draft of what I was thinking of sending to the legislators. Let's also send letters to
michael.busch@house.state.md.us who is speaker of the house. I here he is looking to enter the next governors race, so he will not want any bad press from Veterans and other large respected groups.
Dear Sir,
It has come to my attention that there is a bill currently in the Judicial Proceedings Committee that disturbs me, as well as disturbing other likeminded vehicle collectors. It is Senate bill 846, concerning Historic vehicles. The bill proposes changes in the requirements to obtain Historic license plates. It is my understanding that this bill was supposed to prevent people from abusing the Historic registration in Maryland. After reading this bill, I fail to see anything that will affect people abusing the Historic registration. I do however see things that are going to have serious effects on law abiding, upstanding vehicle collectors. They have proposed to extend the required age of the vehicles from twenty to thirty years. This is going to affect a number of honest vehicle collectors who have already purchased, restored, and registered collectable vehicles that are not thirty years old yet. They are also proposing to remove the ‘occasional transportation’ wording. This is even more disturbing, as people who have spent countless hours and money making their cars perfect can not take them out and enjoy driving them from time to time. One of the most disturbing things is the proposal to limit Historic tags to vehicles under a ten thousand pound gross vehicle rating. I do not believe anyone has thought this out completely. By making this restriction, you will be eliminating retired Fire Trucks, retired Military Vehicles, and many other collectable vehicles. By doing this you will be alienating Veterans, Fire Fighters, and a number of business owners who have spent large amounts of money to restore their Historic trucks. Owners of these trucks will not respond well to having to pay eight times, or more, per year for their tags. They will also lose the ability to insure their vehicles with reduced rate classic vehicle insurance, costing very substantial amounts more to meet the Maryland insurance requirements.
I would appreciate it if you would review this bill, and hopefully you will see what many others have seen by reading it. It is not accomplishing any good, and will only result in many disappointed voters. This bill seems to be more of a way to raise money than anything else.
Thank you for your time, and I do hope to hear your thoughts on this subject. I will be following the progress of this bill, and keeping track of who supports it as well as who does not support it. I will be sharing all my findings with all collector car and truck clubs, as well as the VFW’s, American Legions, Fire Houses, and anyone or any group who is concerned or may be concerned with this bill.
