[NJham] Bill #A4146 to prohibit text messaging while driving can also impact all mobile ham radio operation!

[Walter O'Brien, WO2U]

This note came from Skywarn:

Attention all NJ Hams.

Interpretation of this bill by some legal folks indicate a clear  
danger to operating mobile. Please educate your Representative. The  
Bill is moving fast.

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillsByNumber.asp

Type in "A4146" to see all the parties involved and the complete text  
of the Bill.

  - - - - - - -

That website also brings you to where YOU can send an instant email  
to YOUR state legislative rep.

I wrote to all the bill sponsors and co-sponsors, as well as my own  
state assemblyman, Mike Doherty of Hunterdon County.

MUCH to my surprise and delight, he responded almost immediately with  
a personal email advising me:

> Thank you for contacting me.  Considering the speed that A-4146 was
> introduced into committee and passed you need to act quickly.  I would
> recommend that you and other members of the amateur radio community
> contact the sponsor of A-4146, Assemblyman Moriarty, and request he
> exclude amateur radio operators from the bill.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Doherty


Below is the email I submitted - feel free to copy, reword it, or  
write your own, but if you operate mobile on any band, you need to  
act now or we could all be prohibited from mobile operations. Read  
the bill for yourself and see. There is no exclusion for amateur  
radio - just a prohibition of all "wireless communications device"  
usage while driving.

73 Walter WO2U

  - - - - - - - - -


Text of my message to the bill sponsors:

While I certainly can accept that text message can be a frivolous  
activity that requires at least one if not two hands that should be  
on the steering wheel and can be very distracting, and a deteriment  
to safe driving, Bill #A4146 as it is written, while meant to  
prohibit such text messaging while driving, can be very easily  
misconstrued by law enforcement officials to limit the use of any  
"wireless communications device" such as amateur radio transceivers  
or two-way radios, which are often used in mobile situations to deal  
with legitimated emergency communications needs with served agencies  
such as Homeland Security, Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other  
legitimate agencies.

For example, I am a radio operator for RACES, The Radio Amateur Civil  
Emergency Service, a public service provided by a reserve (volunteer)  
group of Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) Operators administered by local,  
county and state emergency management agencies, and supported by the  
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the United States  
government. As a part of the Amateur Radio Service, it provides radio  
communications for civil-preparedness purposes only, during periods  
of local, regional or national civil emergencies. These emergencies  
are not limited to war-related activities, but can include natural  
disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, power outages,  
floods, victim searches, air crashes, and many others. We often run  
drills and are activated through the Hunterdon County Office of  
Emergency Management or FEMA and Homeland Security, and a ban that  
incorrectly includes our communications equipment usage will be a  
serious blow to our readiness and preparedness when required.

Amateur Radio Operators are also authorized in local emergencies by  
agencies such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army to deal with health  
and welfare needs at shelters and the like, through the ARES group,  
Amateur Radio Emergency Service.

This bill as written can obliterate the needs of these operators to  
access their "wireless communications devices" which are known to us  
a "amateur radio transceivers" or two-way radios, and completely  
negate our utilization by said agencies in case of emergencies.

I respectfully request that the bill be rewritten to allow an  
exception for FCC licensed amateur radio operators so that we are not  
penalized for serving our communities needs.

Regards,

Name, Call, Address, City, State, Zip