Photo credit: Maryland Matters and nCycle team
Senator Johnny Ray Salling, a man who represents the Essex/Dundalk area while in Annapolis, is sponsoring Senate Bill 14. If passed into law, owners of electric bicycles would be required to apply and pay a $30 annual fee to the Motor Vehicle Administration.
E-bike owners would also be required to get insurance coverage, in legalese “certain security”.
You can read the bill at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0014.
Now, the question is why would he do this? I’ve previously reached out to Senator Salling’s staff via email but have never heard back. Currently, I’m blocked from asking him this question via Facebook. Additionally, his X/Twitter account has been dormant since the year 2019.
The emails did not bounce back, so I assume they did go through. It would be interesting to see how many insurance agents the Senator has on his donor list. Could that be the reason why he pre-filed this legislation?