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Friday, February 06, 2009

Ind. Law - Golf cart legislation's future unpredictable at this point

The ILB has had a long list of entries on golf carts and the issue of whether they may be legally driven on city streets and highways. You can see the history if you simply scroll through the list of headings.

This most recent entry, from Jan. 11th, was headed "Golf carts bills are in the legislative hopper."

Now this news*, via Ed Feigenbaum's Indiana Legislative Insight:

[F]ollowing all manner of inquiries from local government units and their attorneys, a patchwork quilt of local ordinances popping up around the state, attention focused to the issue over the Summer and past several months by the Indiana Law Blog, and judicial challenges to traffic violations, the Indiana State Police issued a news release a several months ago (that some effectively considered to be the functional equivalent of a non-rule policy document) explaining the legal status of operation of golf carts on public streets and roadways. * * *

Some lawmakers have responded to their constituents on this issue and niggling related concerns. Sen. Brent Steele (R) and Mike Delph (R) file separate bills that would effectively allow golf carts (equipped with headlights and brake lights) to be registered and operated on certain local roads, except when banned by a town or city. * * * Other lawmakers, including Rep. Bill Davis (R), have filed and are advocating golf cart-specific House bills.
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* Reprinted with permission from the upcoming Feb. 9, 2009 issue of Ed Feigenbaum's Indiana Legislative Insight.

The Senate bills are SB 199 (Delph) and SB 291 (Steele). Both have been assigned to Homeland Security and neither has been heard.

The House bills are HB 1128 (Fry), HB 1177 (Blanton), and HB 1277 (Davis and Fry). All have been assigned to Roads; none has yet been heard.

And at this point none of these bills appears to be scheduled for next weeks' committee hearings.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 6, 2009 11:56 AM
Posted to Indiana Law