Rep. Peter Pettalia was killed in a motorcycle accident on Monday. He had sponsored a bill in 2011 to abolish Michigan’s requirement that all motorcycle riders wear helmets. Pettalia was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

and even better person.”

“It didn’t matter how heated things got or how long we were there, Pete had a way of always keeping the mood light and remaining positive,” he said.

Rep. Andy Schor, D-Lansing, said on Facebook that “Pete was a truly great public servant.” Though “we didn’t always agree ... he was honest and sincere in all he did.”

Pettalia is survived by his wife, Karen, and two adult children. One of Pettalia’s daughters, Anna, expressed gratitude on her father’s Facebook page for the outpourings of sympathy. Pettalia “loved Northern Michigan and loved working for you to make this a great place for all of us,” she said.

The lawmaker sponsored a bill in 2011 to abolish Michigan’s requirement that all motorcycle riders wear helmets. His bill, House Bill 4608 of 2011, was not the version that ultimately became state law in 2012. coerce underage girls to produce sexually explicit images of themselves, federal prosecutors said.