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Rep. Power on her Instagram web page in October 2021.
Oregon House Representative Karin Power (D-41 Milwaukie) is aware of how transformative electrical bikes will be; however she additionally is aware of how costly they’re for some patrons. That’s as a result of she not too long ago purchased one herself.
When Rep. Power bought her Tern GSD final fall, we made it entrance web page information. Central to her story is that she was in a position to get a mortgage from Portland’s Splendid Cycles to assist make the purchase a bit simpler. “Making healthier choices doesn’t mean you have to break the bank,” she wrote on Instagram.
Now she needs to broaden that option to all Oregonians.
This morning Rep. Power stated she plans to propose a bill within the 2023 session that might make it simpler on pocketbooks to purchase an e-bike. We’ve heard murmurs about some sort of e-bike subsidy bill for years, and Power confirmed it via Twitter this morning.
Asked for a remark in the present day, Rep. Power stated after her purchase final fall, she and employees met with native bike store homeowners and statewide EV nonprofit Forth “to get feedback about the federal proposal and figure out what attributes about an e-bike incentive would be most helpful/important.” She added that she’s targeted on the brief session in the mean time, however we are able to count on the bill next session.
Rep. Power may need robust assist from fellow consultant Khanh Pham (D-46 Portland). She hasn’t agreed to assist any bill but, however may be very open to the thought.
You would possibly recall our podcast episode final week after I requested Rep Power’s fellow legislator Rep. Khanh Pham how bike advocates might give biking extra political punch. “We need to make biking more accessible to ordinary people,” she replied. “I think people need to be given the subsidies, the tools, the incentives to be able to try it out so it’s not seen as kind of a privileged mode of transportation.”
Beyond their shared commitments to climate-friendly and equitable transportation modes, representatives Pham and Power even have a number of the political sway it will take to sponsor and shepherd a bill like this by the legislature. Both sit on the highly effective, 13-member Joint Committee on Transportation (though a monetary bill isn’t prone to be heard in that committee).
As we shared final month, e-bike incentive and subsidy packages are spreading nationwide, however Oregon — regardless of doubling-down on e-car purchase incentives — has but to affix the social gathering.
It will be very attention-grabbing to see what occurs with this concern. Stay tuned!
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Jonathan Maus is BikePortland’s editor, writer and founder. Contact him at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, by way of electronic mail at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or cellphone/textual content at 503-706-8804. Also, if you happen to learn and admire this web site, please grow to be a supporter.