Monday, February 14, 2011

Action Alert

As you probably know, last May a Superior Court jury awarded $2.9 million to a mountain biker who was injured at the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) Reservoir property in West Hartford.  In response to this surprising verdict, the MDC is considering a closure of all its lands to all recreational activities. In addition municipalities all around the State will be forced to reexamine their public access policies as a result of this decision.  NEMBA is working with other recreation groups to prevent the closure of municipal property and support the MDC. While Connecticut’s Recreational Liability Statute offers private individuals and utilities a high decree of liability protection, protections offered municipalities and non-profit municipal corporations, such as the MDC, have eroded over the past 15 years.  This needs to be changed by the legislature.

As a Connecticut mountain biker please TAKE ACTION NOW -- Deadline February 14th:

Submit written comment to the Planning and Development Committee urging the CT Legislature to pass the needed Liability Law reforms found in the following Bills:  SB 43, SB 90, and HB5254.  Please make sure the subject line of your email references these three bills by number, and please urge the Committee to support these bills and list "bicycling" and "mountain biking" was one of the recreational activities to be covered.  You can read NEMBA’s comments here:
http://www.nemba.org/nembaevents/documents/CTBills43-90-5243NEMBAComment2011-02-11.pdf

We urge you to submit your own comments by the end of Monday, February 14th.  Please make sure the the subject line references the bill, and please include your address. Submit your comment to Allison.Blancato@cga.ct.gov by February 14th.

2) Sign the Online Petition urging Legislature to strengthen the Recreational Liability Law:
Thank you, and have a nice weekend!

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