A plan to require bike and e-bike owners in New Hampshire to pay a $50 annual state registration fee is drawing a peloton of opposition. And on the eve of the bill’s first public hearing Tuesday, lead sponsor Rep. Thomas Walsh of Hooksett acknowledged it wasn’t destined for a fast track in Concord.
“It’s not looking too good,” Walsh, a Republican, said on Monday. “I’m getting beaten up pretty bad.”
Walsh, a Republican who serves as chairman of the House Transportation Committee, says he proposed the bill as a way to help address the $400 million funding gap in the state’s 10-year highway plan.
The fiscal note on Walsh’s bill included no estimate of how much revenue it might generate, but the New Hampshire Department of Safety said it would cost $150,000 to create a bike registration system, and about $200,000 per year to staff it.
Walsh said there are details to his plan he expected to change, but that the basic logic of the bill should be familiar in a state where vehicle registration fees help pay for transportation projects.
“Let’s do this fair. If we have a bunch of modes, let’s look at the user of the mode to pay,” Walsh said. “You either agree with the user fee theory or you don’t. I happen to.”
Meanwhile, critics ranging from cycling advocates to local government officials questioned the bill’s targeting of a healthy activity that contributes to the tourism economy, as well as how the policy would be implemented or enforced.
“I think it’s crazy,” said Tim Farmer of the Central New Hampshire Biking Coalition. “I mean, they want to have children register their bikes, kids with training wheels.”
Under the bill, failure to register a bike with the state Division of Motor Vehicles could result in a a $100 fine per violation. According to the bill’s language, all fines and fees collected would be earmarked “for the creation and maintenance of bicycle routes, lanes, paths, or trails in the state.”
Walsh said Monday he never intended his bill to apply to children. He also added that after all the pushback he received, he may change the proposal dramatically.
“I may just do a ‘replace-all amendment’ and shore up the language that nothing that comes out of the highway fund will be spent on anything but ‘motor-vehicle specific improvements, maintenance, or expansions,’ ” Walsh said.
The public hearing for HB1703 is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 11 a.m.
