1 Papan e-bike bill moves forward, another dies in committee: San Mateo County could see pilot e-bike age restriction program if legislation passes 

“I think the pilot program, it was terrific to get it here in San Mateo County, because we were early adopters of e-bikes … the topography lends itself to e-bikes,” Papan said. 

Class 1 e-bikes have pedal assist and can go up to 20 mph, and class 2 e-bikes, which have both pedal and throttle assist for quicker acceleration, can also go up to 20 mph. While both Class 1 and 2 e-bikes have no legislative age restrictions, Class 3 e-bikes, which can go up to 28 mph, are prohibited for those under the age of 16. 

If the legislation is eventually signed into law, a major part of the pilot program — which would make San Mateo one of the first counties in the state, alongside San Diego and Marin, to allow age regulations on the devices — would be to collect safety data. 

Her other piece of e-bike legislation, Assembly Bill 1557, was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and will not be moving forward this year. Originally, the bill was designed to close a legal loophole that allows the motorized vehicles to have maximum peak motor power of above 750 watts. 

With amendments to wattage measurements, the legislation became “complicated,” Papan acknowledged, however, she said she would be open to advocating for it in the future. 

AB 1557 also faced pushback from some bike advocates who felt as though the bill slaps stricter restrictions on the e-bike industry while ignoring the real problem, e-motorcycles, which can go far beyond e-bike speeds and have stricter riding restrictions. Devices that are, in reality, e-motos have often been sold online under e-bike labels and purchased by unsuspecting buyers.

“California should not respond to the growing problem of high-powered e-motos by restricting access to legal e-bikes,” Calbike, a bike advocacy group, said in a statement. “Everyday e-bike riders should not carry the burden for a marketplace where some companies have blurred the line between bicycles and motor vehicles.” 

Mike Swire, C/CAG Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory vice chair and speaking in his personal capacity, said he was supportive of alternative e-bike legislation like Senate Bill 1167. 

Authored by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, that bill would make misrepresenting an e-moto as an e-bike as a prosecutable offense and strengthen consumer protections around the differentiation. 

“I think it’s really important that any legislative action we take focuses on the most dangerous devices, the e-motos,” Swire said. “The Blakespear bill would basically go after the manufacturers and the retailers that are deceiving parents into buying dangerous devices and labeling them incorrectly as e-bikes. Again, e-bikes are largely safe, e-motos are not safe, especially for children.” 

Ridership age and safety concerns about e-bikes and e-motos for the vehicles has sparked recent resident concern and conversation in San Mateo County, with multiple officials hosting town halls on e-bike safety and regulation. 

Papan said it was that discourse, combined with several recent deaths in the county, that inspired her to make e-bike safety a recent focus of her legislative work. 

In Burlingame, the 2025 death of 4-year-old Ayden Fang, who was struck by a car while he was standing on a sidewalk, sparked outcry over traffic and pedestrian safety. Two children riding an e-bike, which police said previously was in the right of way, struck the car before the driver accelerated onto the sidewalk. And in Half Moon Bay, a 16-year-old boy died on an e-motorcycle after colliding with a box truck on Highway 1. 

“It’s locally driven,” Papan said. “Myself at the state level heard loud and clear — that was my North Star to drive forward and say, ‘My community has been very local about getting this type of regulation, and this is going to be about safety.’”