The Senate concurred with the House amendments to SB 6110 and passed the bill by a near-unanimous vote. The next step is review and signature by the Governor.

AWC staff and city members will actively engage in the workgroup and recommendation process.

For a summary of the bill as passed by the Legislature, continue reading below.

House compromises to find path forward for e-moto regulations

March 6, 2026

As SB 6110 traveled through the House, legislators amended the bill, making important additions and several technical refinements before sending it back to the Senate for concurrence.

While the bill still lacks a definition for “e-moto,” which cities had hoped to see this year, the legislation creates the means to develop a definition via a robust workgroup tasked with meaningful objectives.

Now, SB 6110:

• Recognizes the growing need to focus on the differences between electric-assisted bicycles and electric motorcycles to provide a clear means of regulating each type of vehicle.
  • Also recognizes that the current definitions of "motorcycle" and "moped" apply to many of the vehicles excluded from the "electric-assisted bicycle" definition.
• To the statute that defines “electric-assisted bicycle,” adds that the term does not include:
  • Any vehicle capable of exceeding 20 miles per hour on solely its electric motor; or
  • Any vehicle that is designed, manufactured, or intended by the manufacturer or seller to be easily configured in order not to meet the requirements of an electric-assisted bicycle, whether by a mechanical switch or button, by changing a setting in the software controlling the drive system, by use of an online application, or through other means intended by the manufacturer or seller.
• Directs the Department of Licensing to convene a workgroup consisting of a wide range of stakeholders representing interests in transportation, safety, state, local and tribal government, law enforcement, parks, trails, bikes, and motorcycles.
• Directs the workgroup to recommend a revised statutory framework for e-motos. The workgroup must consider the following topics for possible inclusion in the framework:
  • How to define or classify e-motos;
  • Annual registration and license fees for e-motos;
  • Driver’s license requirements for e-bike or e-moto drivers;
  • Education requirements, driver's license or permit requirements, or a minimum age requirement for e-moto drivers;
  • Rules of the road or equipment requirements for e-motos and opportunities for consistent enforcement of those rules and requirements;
  • Whether to establish civil infractions for children between 12 and 16 years old, to be adjudicated in courts of limited jurisdiction;
  • Whether to establish civil penalties for adults who provide e-motos to children under the age of 16;
  • Penalties for deceptive e-bike marketing practices and e-bike tampering; and
  • E-bike manufacturer and vendor disclosure statements or notices to consumers regarding the type of vehicle being purchased.
• Directs the workgroup to submit an interim report, including recommendations for the new statutory framework and draft legislation that defines “e-moto,” to the Legislature and the Office of the Governor by Dec. 15, 2026. A final report is due by October 31, 2027.
• Makes the bill effective immediately upon the Governor’s signature.

AWC appreciates legislators’ efforts to find a viable compromise, and we continue to support the bill.

HB 2374, the House bill also addressing e-motos, failed to advance and is no longer active.

Senate amends ‘e-moto’ legislation to expand workgroup, sends it to House

February 19, 2026

The Senate sent SB 6110, addressing the proliferation of e-motos, to the House after amending the bill to expand the workgroup it creates.

Senators approved the bill 42-7 after adding a representative of a nonprofit organization with expertise in e-bicycles to the workgroup that the Department of Licensing will convene. They declined to adopt another amendment that added a representative of a statewide organization involved with recreational e-bicycle use and a representative of a statewide organization involved with recreational e-moto use.

In related news, a separate bill in the House also addressing e-motos, HB 2374, passed out of that chamber and now awaits a hearing in the Senate.

Date to remember

SB 6110 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Transportation Committee on Thursday, February 26, at 1:30 pm.

Effort to give local governments clarity on regulating ‘e-motos’ continues to advance

February 6, 2026

An amended version of SB 6110, one of two bills introduced to give local governments clarity as they seek to address the statewide proliferation of e-motos, has advanced beyond committee.

The Senate Transportation Committee approved a proposed substitute bill that gives a workgroup that the bill creates an additional year to examine the issue. The extended deadline—December 15, 2027—means that any legislation resulting from the group’s work would not be considered until the 2028 legislative session.

The committee declined to adopt an amendment that would have expanded the workgroup to add the commissioner of public lands, the director of fish and wildlife, and the director of state parks.

AWC continues to support the legislation but prefers a similar, competing bill, HB 2374, that would provide more certainty by defining “e-motorcycles” and clarifying that they are indeed motorcycles subject to existing law. That bill is scheduled for a vote in the House Transportation Committee on Monday, February 9.

SB 6110 passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee on January 29 and now awaits a vote on the Senate floor.

Proliferation of ‘e-motos’ addressed in second bill introduced, heard this session

January 23, 2026

A second bill addressing the need to provide clarity between electric-assisted bicycles and electric motorcycles in Washington has been introduced and is scheduled for hearing, this time in the Senate.

SB 6110, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Shewmake (D–Bellingham), updates the state’s definition of electric bicycles by specifying that a vehicle is not an e-bicycle if it is capable of exceeding 20 miles per hour on its electric motor alone (i.e., it does not have functioning bike pedals) or is modified, or designed to be easily modified, to exceed the specifications in state law that identify the three classes of e-bicycles.

E-bicycle proponents requested the change in a bid to prevent any regulation of e-motos—which often have a similar appearance to electric-assisted bicycles but are much faster and more powerful—from also sweeping in e-bicycles. The bill recognizes the recent proliferation of e-moto use in the state while acknowledging ambiguity around the vehicles’ status in state law. In response, it directs the Department of Licensing (DOL) to convene a workgroup to study a new statutory framework for electric motorcycles and make recommendations for legislation by December 15 of this year. The workgroup includes a city representative.

The Senate bill served as a basis for a pending House bill pursuing a similar policy goal. HB 2374 also excludes e-motos from the existing definition of e-bicycles but goes further by defining e-motorcycles (including e-motos) and making them subject to existing rules governing motorcycles with a combustion engine.

HB 2374 also directs DOL to convene a workgroup, albeit with a slightly different scope of work, and includes an emergency clause allowing the workgroup to begin work sooner. Read AWC’s analysis and commentary on the bill here.

AWC backs efforts to provide clarity between e-bicycles and e-motorcycles so that cities can work to ensure that e-motos are operated safely, and we encourage cities to make their voice heard on both bills. AWC supports both measures but plans to request that SB 6110 be amended to include a definition of e-motorcycles.

Date to remember

SB 6110 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday, January 26, at 4 pm.