House committee zooms e-bike regulation bill through with unanimous vote

A bill to regulate e-bikes vroomed through a House committee, with supporters looking to help local communities grappling with a growing number of collisions and other problems due to the e-bikes’ explosive popularity.

The House Transportation & Economic Development Budget Subcommittee advanced HB 243 unanimously.

“Unfortunately, this bill was inspired by tragedy, but not just one tragedy,” said Republican Rep. Yvette Benarroch, the bill’s co-sponsor. “Across Florida, families have lost loved ones, and young people have been seriously injured while using electric bicycles and other high-speed electric devices.”

The bill would create an Electrical Bike Safety Task Force within the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) to make recommendations on potential state laws, and develop a regulatory framework to oversee e-bikes. The task force would be required to report back on its findings to the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis by Oct. 1.

The task force members would be appointed by DHSMV Executive Director Dave Kerner and would need to include, among others, representatives from the e-bike industry, Florida League of Cities and Florida Association of Counties, as well as an advocate fighting to prevent bicycle fatalities.

Under the bill, any e-bike rider who doesn’t yield to pedestrians or give an audible signal before passing a pedestrian could be cited for a noncriminal traffic infraction.

Going forward, law enforcement agencies would be required to keep track of all e-bike crashes. The data collected would be the time/date of the crash, class of e-bike, the e-bike rider’s age, and if the rider had a valid learner’s permit or driver’s license, according to the bill.

The new records requirements would go into effect within 30 days of the bill becoming law and then be sent to the DHSMV as the Department assembles its update to state officials.

“The reality is there’s not a lot of data uniformly collected statewide,” said Capt. James Cunningham of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, adding that law enforcement agencies currently report e-bike crashes differently, so it’s hard to collect statistics.

Cunningham called the bill a promising start.

Thursday’s vote was HB 243’s first committee stop. Up next is the House State Affairs Committee.

The Senate companion bill (SB 382) from the Senate Transportation Committee is also moving through the Legislature. It advanced with a unanimous vote Wednesday through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development.