Greetings from the Tennessee General Assembly - Hug Your E-Bike

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carey...@comcast.net

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Jan 21, 2026, 12:29:52 AMJan 21

to Walking and Biking Nashville Group, Nashville E-Bike Group

Every year I check the Tennessee General Assembly web site and search for “bicycle”. There are already two bills showing up and we’re not even close to bill cutoff which is January 29. New Jersey just passed an awful bill treating e-bikes like motorcycles and requiring registration. It’s probably just a matter of time before it happens in other places.

The first bill is rather innocuous but could well be a caption bill. For those unfamiliar with legislative speak that means it is a “place holder” that will be amended later in a more nefarious manner. It is written in a way that would allow any amendment about the e-bike law at TCA 55-8-301 et seq. If anyone has insights about why this is coming from Williamson County, please speak up.

SB 1782 – HB 1712 Traffic Safety - As introduced, permits a local government adopting a prohibition of class 1 or class 2 electric bicycles on a bicycle path or trail in a public park or greenway to submit a copy of the resolution or ordinance to the department of safety; authorizes the department to compile and publish to its website a list of public parks and greenways where such operation is prohibited. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 8. Johnson and Reeves (Williamson County)

This second bill is a continuation of an attempt by FedEx and Amazon to allow delivery robots anywhere and everywhere. State law already allows them on sidewalks but gives cities authority to ban the bots. Nashville did that for a very short period, but Amazon won in the end. I can almost guarantee you they will be in the roadway when a sidewalk or shoulder is blocked. This ensures that cities will not have that authority and robots will roam our streets delivering pizzas or groceries.

SB 1625 – HB 1684 Traffic Safety - As introduced, allows personal delivery devices to be operated on bicycle paths, shoulders, parking lots, and the area adjacent to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway; removes the authority of local governments to prohibit the operation of personal delivery devices. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 8. Hawks and Massey

Current law is at TCA 55-8-101(53) and 55-8-209.

If you know any lobbyist who rides a bike and/or e-bike who would like to help deal with these please let me know. It would be great if we could get the O’Connell administration to put it on their list of bills to track. They have a Metro lobbyist and a contract lobbyist as well.