Oregon’s second attempt at providing a cash rebate to encourage electric bike purchases is far from a sure thing in the current legislative session. Despite several existing rebate programs for electric cars and electric motorcycles, for some reason lawmakers don’t seem to have the same enthusiasm for a cycling-related subsidy.
As I reported back in January, House Bill 2963 seeks to set aside $5 million from the General Fund to create a program administered through the Department of Human Services that would supply a $1,200 rebate on the purchase of an e-bike to about 4,000 to 5,000 Oregonians. The bill is crafted so that only folks who currently receive food assistance from DHS would qualify.
The bill is currently in the Joint Committee on Transportation (JCT) and received its first public hearing back in March. On Friday I called up the bill’s chief sponsor, House Rep. Mark Gamba (D-Milwaukie) to get an update on its chances for passage.
Rep. Gamba (who, in our video interview you can see is quite tired from a long week at the capitol!) said he feels the bill is an “important opportunity” to get “good, reliable, low-cost, and relatively fast transportation” into the hands of Oregonians who are least likely to be able to afford it.
Unfortunately, he said there’s not much chatter about the bill among lawmakers. Its best chance for passage, Gamba believes, is to get the bill inside the $2.2 billion transportation funding package revealed earlier this month. JCT Co Vice-Chair Rep. Susan McLain has told Gamba she will add it to the bill if he wants her to. “I will probably do that,” Gamba said.
Once the e-bike rebate bill language is ensconced into the larger funding bill, it’s unlikely to get veto’d out. If it stays in the JCT, it would likely just get voted out with majority support, only to die in the Ways and Means Committee (where all bills with a fiscal impact must go).
Gamba said one issue that prevents an e-bike rebate from gaining momentum is that we still have many legislators who simply don’t respect bicycles (in any form) as serious transportation tools. “As much as we can talk about bicycles being a form of transportation, a lot of legislators — particularly older legislators — see it as a toy, not as a form of transportation.”
That outlook is unfortunate and misinformed. Thousands of older Oregonians could reap huge benefits from cheaper electric bicycles and tricycles. A recent article in The Washington Post documented how, even people as old as 90-plus years old are buying up e-bikes and embracing a newfound independence. And imagine the application in rural Oregon, where transit service is nonexistent yet distances from home to businesses is relatively far and there’s hardly any unsafe traffic: Those conditions are perfect for e-biking!
Gamba said if people want an e-bike rebate passed this session, they should call or email members of the JCT (available here) and tell them how important the program would be.
Watch and/or listen to my interview with Gamba below:
