in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight a potential roadblock for ebike owners a proposed Bill moving through Trenton would require electric bikes and scooters to be registered with the state MVC and insured just like cars because while pedestrians and traditional bicycles are covered by no fault insurance low-speed ebikes are not a senior correspondent Joanna gagas reports the legislation is getting major push back from those who say it would create barriers for low-income residents and others who argue the insurance just doesn't exist let's call this bill what it is it is an attack on biking an attack on immigrants an attack on Street safety for all of us a group of more than 40 organizations came together today to protest a bill s 2292 that creates strict regulations for ebikes in the state each year motor vehicle crashes kill over 600 new jerseyans and over a thousand New Yorkers and a growing proportion of those casualties our ebike and scooter riders themselves meanwhile there have been so few ebike versus pedestrian crashes that we don't even track them so why are our legislator seeking to punish the likely victims of fatal crashes the bill sponsored by Senate President Nick scari and Senator Vin goel would require low-speed electric bikes and scooters to be registered with the Motor Vehicle Commission it would ban the use of any unregistered ebikes and scooters and it would require owners to have insurance coverage adding on an extra layer of cost just to ensure this level one ebike will really be a burden and it would cut out not just people who do ebag delivery but anybody who for whatever reason cannot afford a car the Coalition made up of bike and pedestrian Advocates clean energy groups and members of the insurance industry sent a letter of opposition to scutari and gopal today highlighting what they say is the plan's ineffective iess and inconsistencies in the state's Net Zero goals Scar's office offered no comment on the bill at this time Senator gopal told us he expects the bill to be amended based on these concerns and the insurance industry says the bill right now mandates something they can't deliver enacting a mandate on the tens of thousands of these devices that are already in place we don't have the insurance capacity to to meet that it's going to take time and and that's one of our major concerns this legislation is the time's not really built in uh to the legislation as proposed for us to do this right and they warn it could have unintended consequences this proposed legislation by requiring insurance and registration could potentially lead to more unwarranted police stops disproportionately targeting bipac Riders more however at ofate bicyclist May face penalties particularly in Resort communities in on the Jersey Shore where many visitors bring their ebikes on vacation this could deter tourism and negatively impact local economies a better solution these groups say create a vision zero policy across the state the vision zero Alliance has drafted an alternative bill that would create what they call the vision zero commission so let's go where the danger is look at Statewide where a crash is happening why are they happening there every year and what is the state doing to improve safety there Jersey city has a great vision zero policy they eliminated fatal crashes on local streets uh recently and neighboring Hoboken has gone seven years without a fatal crash um and because of that success you know secretary Pete Budaj called out Hoboken at the national level and said it's an example and every County in New Jersey is working on a vision zero policy right now but they don't have jurisdiction over state roads where a lot of fatal crashes happen in New Jersey they say fix the roads and you'll need less insurance but adding more insurance will do nothing to improve safety in Jersey City I'm Joanna gagas and J Spotlight news support for the business report is provided by Riverview Jazz presenting the 11th annual Jersey City Jazz Festival May 29th to June 2nd event details including performance schedules and location are online at Jersey City jazz festival.com