RE: Assistance needed for flying site
The requirement for AMA insurance predates the flap you are quoting by a long time. AMA was required by the previous vendor before Dave Jebb took over. Once he did he made it his mission in life to run the long time RC users out of Torrey. AMA was a requirement as far back as 1991 when I first moved to SOCAL. You are quoting a situation that occurred in 2002.
None of this changes the point I was making that it is not an unknown or uncommon situation for public agencies to require AMA membership.