Rep. Jules Bailey(Photo © J. Maus)

The Portland Mercury’s Matt Davis is reporting that House Representative Jules Bailey (D-SE Portland) places blame for the demise of the Idaho Stop law on the way the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) handled the departure of Karl Rohde.
In an update to a story published yesterday on the Mercury blog, [...]

“…they [legislators] had heard from a number of constituents who were very concerned and opposed to giving cyclists what they viewed as special rights.”–Doug Parrow, Chair of the BTA’s Legislative Committee

An effort to pass the “Idaho Stop Law” in Oregon has officially ceased all forward motion.
I confirmed this morning from Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) legislative [...]

Bricker on the steps of the Capitol in 2007.(Photo © J. Maus)

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) is working feverishly to garner more support for the Idaho Stop Law (HB 2690) with legislators in Salem.
According to BTA Executive Director and lobbyist Scott Bricker, the Chair of the House Transportation Committee has given him a significant hurdle [...]

Screen grab from animation about bikes, stop signs, and the Idaho Stop Law by Spencer Boomhower. Watch it below.

Lots of stop sign news at BikePortland headquarters today.
I spent my morning out at SE Water and Caruthers where city crews recently removed two stop signs that were deemed unnecessary, I just got off [...]

One surprise at the Idaho Stop bill hearing two weeks ago was outright opposition from an unexpected quarter — the city of Eugene.
BikePortland obtained a copy of a letter in opposition from Lee Shoemaker, Eugene’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, outlining his concerns with the bill’s effect on road safety, particularly for young people on [...]

The letter from Eugene’s bike program coordinator in opposition to the Idaho Stop bill.(Download PDF)

Last week, when the Idaho Stop Law bill — which would allow bikes to treat stop signs as yields (adopting a law similar to one already on the books in Idaho) — was in its first hearing down in Salem, [...]

[Update, 10:50am: According to a comment from Karl Rohde of the BTA, the work session has been delayed for a few weeks.]

The BTA’s Karl Rohde, seen here on the steps of the capitolearlier this week.(Photos © J. Maus)

The House Transportation Committee has scheduled a work session for the Idaho Stop law proposal (HB 2690).
The work [...]

(Photo © J. Maus)

Karl Rohde, the BTA lobbyist who is working on a bill in Salem that would allow bicycles to treat stop signs as yields (known as the “Idaho Stop law”), tells us that the fate of the bill hangs in the balance. (The bill received its first committee hearing yesterday).
According to Rohde [...]

Below is the full, prepared text of Karl Rohde’s testimony in front of the House Transportation Committee yesterday on behalf of the Idaho Stop law. Rohde is in charge of the BTA’s government affairs and he is their lobbyist in Salem.
(For a full report from that hearing, read our story from yesterday.)
Chair Beyer and [...]

[Note: This story was reported live. For results of the hearing, scroll to the end.]

Rep. Jules Bailey minutes before he introduced the Idaho Stop bill to his colleagues on the House Transportation Committee.(Photos © J. Maus)

I’m sitting in Hearing Room D inside the Capitol at a hearing by the House Transportation Committee for the [...]