Senator Basham, under his constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill No.1321 and moved that the statement he made during the discussion of the bill be printed as his reasons for voting "no."
The motion prevailed.
Senator Basham's statement is as follows:
I rise to oppose this bill. This bill would place motorcycle dealers in the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act, which is in and of itself not an unreasonable request. The problem lies, and the reason I suspect motorcycle dealers want to be a part of this act, you see, the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act allows dealers to collect up to $160 as a document preparation fee. This fee is not in-line with the actual cost of preparing the documents, which is why the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act allows for a fee up to $160, but almost every automobile dealer collects the full $160.
In spite of the fact that the vast majority of the work is done by a computer just sitting on their desk, document preparation is a cost of doing business, and if the dealer needs to collect more money for the task, that should be a part of the sales price. But if we pass this bill, the dealer can pass the fee off as another instance of state government taking more money out your pocket. This isn't a tax increase, Mr.Chair, but your constituents' invoice will say they are paying a $160 state fee, and sometimes they can't tell the difference.