2026 Legislative Recap: A Signature Bill, and More Forward Progress

 

CalBike secured a major victory for people who bike in 2026 with the signing of SB 1167, our co-sponsored e-bike consumer protection bill. The law protects legitimate Class 1, 2, and 3 e-bikes by requiring high-powered electric devices outside those definitions to be accurately identified and disclosed to consumers. Together, our supporters and coalition partners helped turn a clear demand into law: people deserve to know what they’re buying, and California’s legal e-bikes deserve protection. Read more about that legislation in last week’s press release.

Across our many priorities, CalBike faced a steep climb in the California Legislature, with hard-won progress under threat, new proposals that would have had negative effects for people who bike, and bills that undermined the e-bike marketplace as a whole. Defending the freedom to ride and access to safe networks is a central part of our work. Together with our supporters and partners, we helped stop three bills that would have imposed new restrictions on legal e-bikes, while advancing legislation to build safer, better-connected communities. Those victories reflect the power of people who bike speaking up together, and supporters like you made them possible.

Bad e-bike bills stopped in their tracks

In the early months of 2026, we were continually hearing about new challenges to legal e-bikes. Each proposal seemed to bring another restriction: DMV registration, license plates, lower assisted-speed limits. Taken together, they threatened to roll back California’s progress toward making bicycling a practical, accessible option for more people. Just as e-bikes were opening that possibility to more families, commuters, and older adults, lawmakers were proposing new obstacles to riding.

CalBike mobilized against these measures, making the case that California should protect and expand access to legal e-bikes. Three bills we opposed failed to advance:

• AB 1557 (Papan) would have lowered the maximum assisted speed of Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes to 16 mph.
• AB 1942 (Bauer-Kahan) would have required DMV registration and special license plates for Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes.
• SB 956 (Choi) would have allowed an Orange County pilot program requiring e-bike license plates.

Stopping harmful legislation is a substantial victory. These proposals could have added paperwork, expense, and a patchwork of local requirements to a transportation option California should be making more accessible. Their defeat protected the practical benefits that bring people to e-bikes in the first place: the ability to carry children, climb hills, travel farther, and leave the car at home. Because advocates like you spoke up, these barriers will not become law this year.

Moving the ATP funding conversation in the right direction

A safe route to school or a reliable connection to transit depends on public investment. This year, CalBike helped move California toward a better approach to choosing, funding, and completing those projects.

Governor Newsom signed AB 2168 (Wicks), CalBike’s sponsored legislation strengthening the Active Transportation Program. The law prioritizes walking and biking connections to transit, encourages coordination with other state transportation investments, and establishes progressive penalties for agencies that repeatedly fail to use awarded funds promptly. Together, these changes can help limited funding deliver more useful, connected networks.

The funding challenge remains. Better program rules need to be matched by increased investment sufficient to build the safe routes communities are asking for. AB 2168 gives us a stronger foundation for that continuing work.

Protecting investments already made was another priority. SB 569 (Blakespear), CalBike’s Preserving Safe Bikeways bill, did not advance this year. The bill would have required that proposals to remove or modify any bikeway built with general fund dollars maintain the safety, mobility, and accessibility of the facility. Even though the bill did not advance, the Legislature incorporated its central protection into a separate budget bill for Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas, protecting that project from removal without a safe alternative. That limited step establishes a principle CalBike will continue pressing statewide: public investments in safe bikeways should endure.

CalBike-supported transportation planning and funding legislation passed this year:

• AB 1923 (Soria) clears the way for a Fresno County transportation funding initiative to appear on the November 2026 ballot, giving voters a say in the future of local transportation investment.
• SB 1087 (Cabaldon) revises how state transportation funding programs align with regional transportation and climate plans, while moving sustainable communities strategies to an eight-year cycle with progress reports every four years.
• SB 1423 (Stern) requires the state to develop a public platform of standardized mapping data to support infrastructure planning and land use.

Stalled Progress on Safety

Some notable safety priorities failed to advance. AB 2276 (Soria) would have required intelligent speed assistance for those caught speeding repeatedly. AB 2560 (Schultz) would have put the goals of California’s Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure into statute, strengthening the connection between transportation spending and climate commitments.

CalBike-supported safety legislation passed this year:

• AB 1685 (Lackey) strengthens driver-record penalties for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, assigning three violation points and keeping those conviction records available for 10 years. Its provisions take effect in 2031.
• AB 1687 (Lackey) establishes a six-year loss of driving privileges for drivers who cause injury while intoxicated and have four or more qualifying prior convictions within 10 years, with a restricted-license pathway and ignition-interlock requirements beginning 2031.
• SB 1279 (L. Gonzalez) is a specific provision for Long Beach to install two speed safety cameras on Pacific Coast Highway, expanding the pilot program to address dangerous speeding on a corridor with a disproportionate share of traffic deaths.
• AB 1837 (M. Gonzalez) extends transit agencies’ authority to use cameras to enforce parking and stopping violations in transit-only lanes and at transit stops until January 1, 2034.

CalBike’s supporters and partners help keep that agenda moving. Every message to a legislator, every local campaign for a safer street, and every contribution strengthens our ability to turn the promise of a more bikeable California into everyday routes people can trust.