MURPHYSBORO – Golf cart owners in Sun City and throughout Illinois are paying attention to a downstate lawmaker for a bill sheâs introduced that amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. The bill provides that every owner of a non-highway vehicle, such as Side-By-Side and golf carts, who drive upon a roadway with a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less shall pay the Illinois Secretary of Stateâs Office an annual registration fee of $76.00.
State Senator Terri Bryant, a Murphysboro Republican, has introduced SB 0070. Bryant says the bill in its current amended form awaits review in the Senate Transportation Committee by among others, Senator Don DeWitte of West Dundee and Senator Craig Wilcox of McHenry.
Bryant has received more calls on this bill than others sheâs introduced. However, the legislator does not believe SB 0070 in its present form has a path for passage.
âThis is my first stab at trying to get this done. Iâm going to have to find out what the public views as problems with it,â Bryant said.
Sheâs thinking about a rewrite next year, but recognizes that itâs had enough attention for her to focus on where the weaknesses are located in the bill.
SB 0070 came to the attention of Ed Dennis, a former West Dundee Police Chief, now living in Sun City, Huntley. Dennis is a golf cart owner, among several golf cart owners in his own immediate neighborhood. Dennis asked Sun Day to find out more about this bill stating his problems with the specifics. He says the way the bill is worded, it’s apparent to him that all owners of golf carts in Sun City would need an annual license/registration. He thinks in the billâs current form, a golf cart owner driving on any Del Webb street would be affected. The bill calls for the Secretary to issue plates only to non-highway vehicles that are insured and have brakes, a steering apparatus, tires, a rearview mirror, red reflectorized warning devices in the front and rear, a slow moving emblem on the rear, a headlight that emits a white light, a tail lamp that emits a red light, brake lights, and turn signals.
Dennis understands and appreciates the value of vehicle plates for police investigations on such things as stolen vehicles, however he questioned whether the State of Illinois is looking at SB 0070 as a way of beefing the stateâs revenue stream with money from owners of golf carts and other similar vehicles in Illinois.
Sun Day went right to the source of the bill for an explanation. We reached Bryant on the phone and she explained the somewhat complicated bill and her intention. Sun Day explained to Bryant that golf cart owners are obviously most interested in what they might have to pay and whether the operation of their vehicles is part of this measure.
âIt doesnât apply to anything other than those individuals who need to use their golf carts and they have to be on state roads to move from one place to another,â Bryant said.
In communication between Bryant and Dennis, Sun Day couldnât find in the bill any reference to golf carts crossing state roads specifically, something that Dennis had initially pointed out was missing in the measure as he poured through every aspect of SB 0070. Based on SB 0070, âA license will help someone legally drive across Route 47 (Illinois Route 47) but if the golf cart owner does not need to drive across Route 47 or any other state road, the new amended law would force them to buy a license for a golf cart for the Sun City roads,â Dennis said.
Should the bill pass, Dennis also pointed out additional costs for golf cart owners riding after sunset. Now with a new license plate attached to their golf cart, they would have to legally illuminate the license plate and use a bracket to keep the plate in place.
Bryant noted how the bill seems to be perceived as a new fee for golf cart owners and vowed that sheâll make the details of the bill very clear in committee and on the floor.
âI am a golfer. There is no intention at all to license golf carts, itâs to have the ability to move your golf cart freely in areas where you have to travel on a state road.â Bryant said.
The guts of the bill is where things might get a bit complicated. This was a request to Bryantâs office from individuals that are disabled in some manner that use their golf carts at a state park. Bryant used as an example a disabled individual that wants to go in their golf cart from their camper to a shower building or down to the edge of a lake but because theyâd have to travel on a state road to get there, they wonât be allowed to do so. But this is only a portion of the measure.
The majority of her constituents’ request for the bill has to do with Side by Side vehicles that typically are used heavily in rural areas for recreation and secondly for farmers to move loads quickly from one field to another. People in her downstate district told Bryant they canât legally ride their UTV because they face going across state roads.
âTheyâd have to trailer their 4×4 if they were going distances on back roads. Thatâs why the speed limit reference is in the bill. To make the vehicles safe, there are certain requirements and that has to do with turn signals, headlights, and other safety features,â Bryant said.
With a license plate and registration, she notes an owner of a Side-by-Side wonât have to put it on a trailer to drive it from one spot to another in a rural area.
Sun Day reached out to both Bryant and Dennis for them to have a discussion on the weaknesses in the measure.
âThereâs no intention to make anyone who doesnât want to license their golf cart. If thatâs the interpretation, I would either amend SB 0070 or table it and write something different that meets more of the needs I described,â Bryant said.
âI wonât choke legislation down anyoneâs throat,âŚnot the kind of legislator I am,â Bryant concluded.
