The bad part about this law is that it is a back door registration program, and some counties may use it to charge you a personal property tax on recreational machine. Sadly, the taxes will not be used for places to ride.

Additionally, state senators required the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles to set up a totally new Vehicle registration program.

Our organization tried to change this bill as it provided absolutely no funding for trails. Some farmers and ranchers are opposed to any kind of registration in Nebraska because they feel it is just another fee they have to pay, but they supported the ATV and dirtbike titling program.

One other concern our organization has with mandatory titling, some law enforcement agencies may require that ATV and dirtbike owners carry their  title with them when they operate their machines as proof of ownership. This would be impossible if you have a lien (loan) against your machine as the title will be in the court house.  Additionally, it unfairly targets recreational trail users as it is difficult to carry a title with you on the trail.

When LB-333 was in the legislature during the winter of 2003, hundreds of Nebraska ATV and dirtbike riders called or wrote letters to state senators asking them to please add allow only $5 of the titling fee to go for ATV and dirtbike trails. Many other states like Iowa allow for this. However, not a single State Senator supported funding for ATV and dirtbike trails in our state. 

LB-333 was supported by many Nebraska motorcycle/ATV/dirtbike dealers. 

Nebraska's recreational ATV and dirtbike owners were ignored by our state senators on LB-333.  It is this writers belief that LB-333 could have been our last chance to have a user based recreational trails funding fee for Nebraska and may have shut the door to any future user based funding of recreational ATV and dirtbike trails in Nebraska. 

The vote on LB-333 in Lincoln was 48 for, 0 against.  

Why is there so much opposition by state senators to user based trail funding for ATVs and dirtbikes? 

Rural state senators do not want funding of trails because many farmers and ranchers do not want trails close to their property, even though many farmers and ranchers would use the trails.

Urban state senators do like funding of recreational ATV and dirtbike trails because of perceived environmental concerns, and because of opposition to ATV/dirtbike trails from hikers, horse riders and bicycles as they fear we would be allowed on "their" trails.  Additionally, ATV and dirtbike trails would be using trail funds for motorized recreation that they could have used on hiking and bicycle projects.

Where would the $5 trail fee been used? 

Nebraska's ATV and dirtbike riders pay federal gas taxes for each gallon of gas used in their machines. The federal gas tax is designed to fund roads and highways. However, since ATVs and many dirtbikes are not used on highways, the taxes paid by Nebraska's ATV and dirtbike riders (and some jeeps, SUVs, etc.) are refunded back to Nebraska via the federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP) for use on motorized and non-motorized trails.

In order for the federal RTP funds to be used on a project, the state needs to provide some matching funds.  In the case of the RTP, the state only has to supply 20% of the funding for a project, and the remaining 80% are funded with RTP funds.  In the case of Nebraska, there are no matching funds allowed for ATV and dirtbike recreation, but there are funds for hiking, bicycle and horse trails. 

Since the State of Nebraska will not allow a way to raise funds for ATVs and dirtbike trails, and then it is impossible to fund ATV and dirtbike projects.  If there are no ATV/dirtbike projects in Nebraska, then the tax funds that we paid to begin with and meant for ATV and dirtbike trails is turned over to the hikers, bicycles and horse people.

Since 1995, Nebraska has received just under $3,000,000 back from the Federal government to spend on motorized and non-motorized trails. Nebraska is the ONLY state in the nation that has not allowed the use of these funds for ATV and dirtbike trails, and they blame us (ATV and dirtbike riders, NOHVA, etc) for this.

Additionally, it may be difficult to spend taxes collected from recreational ATV and dirtbike users when the state agency in charge of ATV and dirtbike trails, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission,  publicly say that they are not interested in managing a motorized trails recreation program in Nebraska because it is against their environmental policy. Many other states have the same policy, but they have found a way to work with ATV and dirtbike riders. Game and Parks say that they are in charge of trails for motorized recreation, yet no trails exist under state control for motorized recreation, and none are planned.

What can be done? Members of the Game and Parks Commission needs to be convinced that they need to help us, just a little bit. Trail volunteers can do a lot of the work to build trails and open OHV parks. But, Game and Parks and State Senators need to accept us as REAL people first, and that there is a need for trails/parks in Nebraska. Once Game and Parks indicate that they are willing to help us, then state senators may begin to see our need. It’s going to some commitments from users and the industry hire lobbyists to build support to  establish a state ATV and dirtbike trail system.  Additionally, large numbers of  ATV and dirtbike riders need to contact their state senators!

Contacts:

The Nebraska Legislature http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/admin/who.html

Nebraska Off Highway Vehicle Association www.nohva.com