TAMPA, Fla. Pushing back against proposed regulations that could be damaging to motorcoach operators remains a top priority of state and regional industry associations throughout the country.

That was the clear message delivered by representatives of the trade groups who attended the annual State Association Summit here last month as part of UMA Motorcoach Expo 2011.

While some suggested the new political climate of cutting spending and not raising taxes should benefit the industry, they emphasized that operators must remain vigilant so they can stay a step or two ahead of any attempts by lawmakers or regulators to target the industry.

In Boston, operators already are burning over a new directive issued by Logan International Airport requiring all motorcoach drivers to have special identification badges to enter the airport.

"If they dont have a badge they will be turned away," said Joan Libby of Cavalier Coach Trailways in Boston.

She said the restrictions at Logan, which appear to stem from Transportation Security Administration mandates that airport tighten access, could spread to other airports, meaning each driver would have to have to obtain separate credentials for each airport - a nightmare scenario.

While operators so far have been unable to undo the badge requirement, there were successes in other states.

In Pennsylvania, the state bus association was able to head off a threat by lawmakers to prohibit schools from using private motorcoach carriers for after-school activities. Meeting with lawmakers and the work of the association lobbyist were credited with the win.

"If your state does not have a lobbyist, you should get one," suggested Elaine Farrell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Bus Association.

Jim Harris, past president of the North Carolina Motorcoach Association, said that group continues to make headway in its eight-year struggle to get the states 114 counties and school jurisdictions to have uniform transportation guidelines and a single bus inspection program for school transportation.

He said 52 of the jurisdictions now are in the fold.

In Washington state, the Northwest Motorcoach Association continues to work with some lawmakers to expand the use of bus and high-speed lanes by motorcoaches, while at the same time others are developing plans to restrict the lanes even further.

Tom C. Casazza, past president of the association, said the trade group has been meeting with lawmakers and attending hearings that could relax some of the lane restrictions for motorcoaches.

However, at about the same time he was speaking, the association was notified that a measure had been proposed that would prohibit over-the-road coaches from using high-speed lanes on the states expressways. The measure was written from a weight standpoint, which would allow transit buses to continue using the lanes but ban larger coaches from using them.

Washington also is likely to be the focal point of federal legislation reportedly being considered by Washington Democrat U.S. Sen. Patty Murray that would further weaken the federal charter service rule.

Murray managed to get legislation passed exempting the transit agency in Seattle from the rule and now is believed to be looking into expanding the exemption to the entire state.

Word of a possible second attack on the charter service rule triggered renewed calls for state associations and operators to become more involved with their state and federal legislators.

"You have to get in their faces," stressed Bill Allen, chairman of the UMA legislative and regulatory committee, who moderated the state summit.

He urged every state group to send at least one representative to a UMA-sponsored Washington D.C. fly-in May 4 and 5 where operators will meet with their congressional representatives.

"You have to get to the people who vote," agreed William Schoolman, president of Classic Coach Companies in New York, which is involved in a high-profile legal action against the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority and a payroll tax the authority charges businesses in its service area. Schoolman is challenging the legality of the tax.

Added UMA Vice President Ken Presley: "If this industry needs a lighting rod, we got a lighting rod and it is we need more business, lots more business."