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E-bike regulation bill gets push-back

Legislation would require user licenses, insurance

By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Bicycle advocates appeared in Trenton in force to fight a bill - which is sailing through the new Jersey Legislature this month [12/2025] - that would require all e-bikes users to be licensed, insured and registered.
..... Senate President Nicholas Scutari, a Democrat whose district includes Union and somerset counties, is the sole sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, which was introduced in November [2025]
..... Scutari, who spoke to NorthJersey.com by phone, said he's a fan of e-bikes - "I have like six bicycles in my back-year, no electric ones yet, but I have a motorcycle" - but said "the most important thing is following the rules of the road."
..... The bill zipped through two committees four days apart in December [2025] during what's known as "lame duck," the short period between an election and the next legislative session.
..... The six-member Senate transpiration committee voted unanimously in favor of the bill - despite several members voicing concern about the bill's current form - and the 13-member Senate budget committee voted in favor of it 9-3 with one abstention.
..... Senator Declan O'Scanlon, a Republican who represents Monmouth County and voted against the bill, said he agrees e-bikes require more regulation, but said this bill "goes too far - it's not the answer."
..... "You're just going to be criminalizing reasonable behavior people," O'Scanlon said. "We need to take a breath and work with (stakeholders to identify where there real problems are within our system and then go about fixing those problems.
..... "I stand absolutely interested and willing in brining together these stakeholders and codifying the bill so that we end up with something that accomplishes the mission but isn't too onerous," O'Scanlon said.
..... The state Assembly;s public safety committee heard similar concerns at a December 11 [2025] hearing where eight members of the public spoke against it and zero spoke in favor. Seven committee members voted for the bill, one voted against and one abstained.
..... Nearly all advocates who spoke at the hearings acknowledged that more regulation is needed, but requested to work with bill sponsors to make changes to what they called a flawed bill. The primary concern is differentiating low-speed e-bikes that don't go over 20 mph form other, faster vehicles that should have more stringent requirements.
..... "I'm not close-minded about making changes to improve it, but I feel like we need to address it," Scutari said.

What's in the bill

..... The bill would eliminate the current three-tier system for bicycles and e-bikes that as different requirements based on how fast the bikes go, the size of the batteries and whether they have a throttle. Instead, the bill would create one broad category of "motorize bicycles,: which is defined as a pedal bicycle with and electric motor that can provide assistance through pedaling or a throttle. A low-speed electric scooter is separates categorized as a device that cannot go more than 19 miles per hour and would not require license, registration or insurance.
..... Users of motorized bicycles, according to the bill, must be at least 17 years old and possess valid basic drivers license. Or, the user must be at least 15 years old and possess a "motorized bicycle license" after completing an exam and road test that will be offered by the Motor Vehicles Commission. a learner's permit would also be offered before attaining this license.
..... In addition to the license, all motorized bicycle users would also require insurance and registration. If found in violation, they will be subject to a fine that can't exceed $50.

'The human cost'

..... In recent years, e-bikes have become hugely popular as they've become cheaper and more accessible to purchase. They have become a go-to mode of green transportation for students going to school or visiting friends, parents taking kids to school or day care, and deliverables transporting food and goods, and a mode of exercise and recreation for seniors who like the battery-powered boost. But injuries and deaths involving e-bikes have as dramatically increased. Headlines spread like wildfire on classic media and among community members after a number of kids and teenagers died while operating e-bikes.
..... Municipalities have begun banning them from parks, streets and sidewalks with consequences of heavy fines and even jail for violators. The categories of e-bikes that currently exist "make it virtually impossible for the police to differentiate one from the other," Scutari said.
..... The driving reason behind the bill is to ensure users know the rules of the road and to ensure motorized bicycle users have some protection if they get injured or injure someone else.
..... "If I had a child that age, I would not buy them an electric bike, they should be pedaling," Scutari said. "The dangers of a child on a motorized electric bike are serious, they go at extraordinary speeds, they have great acceleration, and they can get badly injured oftentimes without any coverage.
..... "Parents that buy these e-bikes should do it with their eyes wide open," he said.

Burdening the most vulnerable

..... But e-bikes advocates say that requiring insurance and registration will make a cheap, green form of transportation significantly more expensive, which will hit hardest those who can't afford a car. Plus, it could dramatically increase interactions with law enforcement.
..... Paul Mickiewicz, program manger of the New Jersey Bike & walk coalition, said the current law in place does not get enforced and when people go to the Motor Vehicles Commission to get Class III bikes registered, they're turned away.
..... "Unless there's a lot of money to help with the motor Vehicle Commission to gear up to be able to accept thousands and thousands of people registering their bikes ... people are going to be in violation," he said. "when everybody is in violation, who gets picked on? The most vulnerable."
..... Patrick Knoth, the general manager of CitiBike, the bike-share service offered in New York City, Hoboken and Jersey City that includes e-bikes, said Scutari's bill "threatens to dismantle' the commercial bike-sharing industry in New Jersey.
..... "The practical effect is clear, dramatically higher costs will force us to either eliminate e-bikes form our New Jersey fleets entirely or cease operation in the state," he said. "the human cost is going to fall on those who can least afford it."
..... Knoth said 70% of their frequent e-bike rides lack regular car access, 40% of uses say CitiBike access factors into their decision not to won a vehicle, and of their lowest income riders, 76% of their trips are taken on e-bikes.

Rules with no supporting data

..... In New Jersey, there is no statewide data or on e-bikes or motorized scooters, which would provide more information about the causes and circumstances of the dangerous conditions that have led to injuries and fatalities.
..... Speed, unsafe road designs, reckless driving behavior - among those driving automobiles and bikes or scooters - are among the causes that have contributed to crashes involving e-bikes and motorized scooters this year, [2025] but this bill fails to address all of these pieces.
.... Advantaging a bill without any data pointing to the central causes of severe injuries and fatalities among e-bike and scooter riders is premature, said Corey Hannigan, active transpiration program manager for the Tri-State Transpiration Campaign.
..... "We believe this is hasty and a grave mistake not least of which because there is no robust data viable comparing rates of low-speed e-bike crashes and other types of crashes," Hannigan said. "we just don't have good data yet, but we do know one thing: speed matters. So why are we going after the slowest device on our roads?"

Bill would require police reporting

..... Scutari's bill would require law enforcement to start reporting crashes that involved a motorized bicycle to the Motor Vehicles Commission and State Department of Transportation, but it doesn't provide specifics about how those reports would be provided. It also doesn't require law enforcement to report low-speed scooter users.
..... Currently, after a crash, all law enforcement agencies or departments in New Jersey fill out an NJTR-1 report that has four classifications for those involved: driver, passenger, pedalcyclist and pedestrian. Scutari's bill would not require updating the NJTR-1 reports, which are used by the state police to gather statewide data about traffic fatalities each year. Right now, when there are crashes involving e-bikes or scooters, there doesn't appear to be any classified and therefore get listed as pedestrian, Pedaclcylists or not classified at all - making it vitally impossible to track crashes involving e-bikes or scooters.
..... Asked why the bill is racing through Trenton without gathering data first, Scutari said he's heard from constituents that they "really want us to do something.
..... "We've had several serious incidents where people have gotten injured on these e-bikes and died,: Scutari said. "government hasn't done anything to address it. This is that attempt."

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