Two Key Pieces of Bike Legislation Pass Legislature As Session Nears Conclusion

California lawmakers are wrapping up the legislative session with some good news, CalBike announced earlier today that two of its priority pieces of legislation have cleared the legislature.

Senate Bill 1167 would crack down on the increasingly blurry line between actual e-bikes and e-motos, high-powered electric devices being marketed as e-bikes. Assembly Bill 2168 would make California’s limited Active Transportation Program dollars work harder, while improving the program’s connections to transit. Perhaps more importantly, it would hold agencies accountable when they sit on awarded funding.

Streetsblog California asked you to take action on both bills earlier this week, and Calbike reported that many of you did. As today is the last day of the legislative session, Streetsblog will have a full roundup Monday of what moved to Newsom’s desk, and what was left on the legislature’s floor.

The governor has 12 days to sign or veto the legislation. If he does neither, it automatically becomes law.

SB 1167: Enough With Calling Everything an E-Bike

Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s (D-Encinitas) SB 1167 tackles a growing problem as electric mobility explodes in popularity: not everything being sold as an “e-bike” is actually an e-bike under California law.

State law defines an electric bicycle as a bike with operable pedals and a motor of no more than 750 watts, with additional speed limits for Class 1, 2 and 3 e-bikes. But increasingly powerful devices are being marketed as e-bikes, leaving untrained riders, oftentimes underage, riding what are basically motorcycles. During hearings, police officers testified that even they had trouble telling the difference between a legal e-bike and an illegal one just by looking at it.

SB 1167 would require devices that don’t meet California’s e-bike definitions to be accurately labeled and marketed. It would also strengthen disclosure and battery safety requirements and improve crash data by recording available information about the device involved.

“Consumers should know exactly what they’re buying, and products should be honestly represented,” said Kendra Ramsey, executive director of CalBike. “SB 1167 draws a clear line around legal e-bikes and protects their role as one of California’s most promising transportation options. In a rapidly changing market, we should address the devices causing confusion rather than pile new restrictions onto people riding legal e-bikes.”

AB 2168: Make the ATP Dollars Go Further

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ (D-San Francisco) AB 2168 addresses a different problem: California has far more walking and biking projects than it has money to build them.

The Active Transportation Program is the state’s primary source of dedicated funding for walking and biking infrastructure, but the program has been massively cut in recent years.

AB 2168 doesn’t solve that funding shortage. Instead, it would try to make the available money go further by strengthening connections between walking, biking and public transportation and coordinating ATP projects with other state transportation investments.

The bill would also establish progressive penalties for agencies that repeatedly fail to use awarded ATP money in a timely manner.

“California communities are lining up with worthy projects to make streets safer and give people better ways to get around, but the Active Transportation Program has nowhere near enough funding to meet the demand of qualified, worthy projects in the pipeline,” Ramsey said. “AB 2168 doesn’t solve that funding gap, but it does help California get more from every dollar we invest.”