[NFBK] Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) - Kentucky Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

[Todd E. Stephens]

                Just a quick update for everyone from Renee Gibson from the
Autonomous  Vehicle Industry Association  (AVIA).No decision from the
Kentucky Senate today.

 

>From Renee: Good afternoon,

Just a quick update that the House voted to override Governor Beshear's veto
and has sent the bill to the Senate to vote now.  This is great news-now we
just need the Senate to hold the line and override it.  We think this could
happen as early as 4 pm, but more likely later this evening or Monday.
Thank you again for the good work in getting the word out about the benefits
that AVs will bring to the Commonwealth. One more vote.!

 

Best regards,

Renee Gibson

AVIA

 

From: Todd E. Stephens <todde.stephens at windstream.net> 
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2024 10:09 AM
To: 'nfbk at nfbnet.org' <nfbk at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbktad at nfbnet.org'
<nfbktad at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) - Kentucky
Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

 

Good Evening:

 

The National Federation of the Blind and the National Federation of the
Blind of Kentucky Affiliate supports the passage of HB7!

 

The bill, HB7, expressly enables the safe operation of autonomous vehicles
("AVs") in Kentucky, was vetoed by the Governor this past Friday. The 20
votes the bill received in the Senate is, of course, the bare minimum needed
to override the veto. 

 

As NFB Kentucky Legislative Director, I will be sending  a veto override
letter on behalf of the Kentucky affiliate with full support from our
national office to the 20 Senators who supported HB7 before the veto recess
and get it to them ASAP. These letters will be sent out individually  to the
twenty senators. We will also be placing calls to see if we can gather more
support to see this to the finish line. 

 

Governor  Beshear vetoed this particular legislation for the second year in
a row. He says the legislature passed the bill too quickly. I suspect there
is more to this story. Currently, there are twenty -nine states that have
passed autonomous vehicle  legislation in the US. This technology has been
in existence since 2016 , so there is data available  that does not indicate
anything alarming with the operation of autonomous vehicles. There are
states that have successfully engineered this technology. We must act
responsibly in Kentucky, but this is not a brand-new concept. We must look
at the future and there should be room for the new players in modified
vehicle  manufacturing in addition  to the players that already exist in
Kentucky. We do not want to get left behind nor miss out on opportunities
for expansion that will result in new jobs in the Kentucky Commonwealth!.
There are many other states that support this legislation like neighboring
West Verginia and Tennessee as well as    Arizona, and Texas.

 

I will keep you posted.Thank you for your time!

 

Respectfully,

 

Todd

Todd E. Stephens, Legislative Director

NFB Kentucky

https://nfbky.org

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