Summary
May 9, 2025
Assemblymember Laurie Davies
1021 O Street, Suite 5130
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: Support for Assembly Bill 545 – E-Bike Tampering and Safety Standards
Dear Assemblymember Davies,
On behalf of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, I write in support of AB 545, which would prohibit the sale of applications designed to modify the speed limits of e-bikes beyond legal thresholds. This is a common-sense public safety measure that closes a critical loophole in current law, which already bans the sale of physical devices that modify speeds.
Marin is proud to be a leader in e-bike safety. Partnering with Assemblymember Damon Connolly last year in passing AB 1778 into law, our Board adopted a first-in-the-state ordinance earlier this year prohibiting the use of throttle-powered Class 2 e-bikes for those under 16. This approach was grounded in local emergency response data, which showed that between 2019 and 2022 alone, 911 calls involving school age youth on bikes (all bikes) more than doubled. Since 2023, we have been collecting data on whether accidents involved e-bikes or conventional bikes, and now know that 10-15 year olds have a 5x higher accident rate on e-bikes compared to any adult age group.
We know that one of the serious dangers of e-bikes is the illegal tampering of these devices to go well-beyond their legal motor-assisted speed limits. For Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes, that speed limit is 20mph. For Class 3 e-bikes, the legal motor-assisted speed limit is 28mph. Yet our school and law enforcement partners have encountered instances of e-bikes modified—sometimes via mobile apps—to reach speeds of 40 to 50 mph. These speeds pose a serious safety risk for any rider, but particularly for young and inexperienced riders who may not fully understand the risks of tampering with speed controls.
Finally, AB 545 also makes clarification to the definition of e-bikes, ensuring that only those with motors physically incapable of exceeding 750 watts can be legally classified and treated as an electric bicycle. If a bike’s motor is capable of exceeding 750 watts, it no longer meets the legal definition of an “electric bicycle” and may instead be considered a motorized vehicle.
We appreciate your commitment to e-bike safety and urge the passage of AB 545 to help counties like ours maintain safe and appropriately regulated use of electric bicycles.
Sincerely,
Mary Sackett, President
Marin County Board of Supervisors
CC: Marin County Board of Supervisors
Senator Mike McGuire
Assemblymember Damon Connolly
View the document
This document may not work with all assistive technology and is being remediated. For alternative formats, please email Talia Smith or phone 415-473-6358. To use the California relay service, dial 711.