Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) today called attention to a pair of bills that would force bicycle riders to pay for license plates and corresponding registration fees. The legislation would impose a $25 fee on plates for personal riders, with a $5 annual renewal fee. A corresponding bill would levy a $50 fee on commercial riders while forcing them to enroll in a liability insurance plan.

“To be honest, when I first heard of the legislation, I thought it was a joke,” said Hawley. “Families, businesses, seniors and young people have been using any means necessary to flee New York’s tax burden for years. Now, we’re encouraging the people of our great state to pedal their way to Pennsylvania, Ohio and anywhere else that will keep their hands out of their wallets.”

Hawley noted that the pair of bills repeats the mistakes of old that have earned New York a reputation for big government and over taxation.

“Charging bike riders for license plates is not only ludicrous, but it is exactly the kind of regressive policy that has hacked away at Western New York’s population for years,” said Hawley. “Instead of scaling back the reach of government and attracting families and businesses to Western New York, state legislators continue to create new ways to tax New Yorkers. Once again, downstate legislative leaders are overstepping their bounds and trying to infringe on our way of life.”