--- type: "Bill" title: "Electric bicycles: required equipment." description: "(1) Existing law requires a bicycle operated during darkness on a highway, sidewalk, or bikeway to be equipped with, among other things, a red reflector or a solid or flashing red light with a built-in reflector on the rear that is visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beams of headlamps on a motor vehicle. Existing law defines \"bicycle\" for these purposes to, among other things, include an electric bicycle. Existing law defines an electric bicycle as a bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor that does not exceed 750 watts of power and categorizes electric bicycles into 3 classes. A violation of the provisions relating to the requirements for equipping a bicycle or an electric bicycle is punishable as an infraction." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20252026" identifier: "AB 544" citation: "California AB 544 (20252026)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Electricbicycles", "requiredequipment"] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Davies"] version_count: 6 action_count: 23 vote_count: 5 first_action: "2025-02-11" last_action: "2025-07-14" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2e7e7cb7-88c8-474f-81fc-fd94ecea27c1" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544" source_hash: "de33c50d6da5b0e14f49ccd290040cbe544f0c7d5d039ce3405c3405398d5dcb" vintage: "2026-07-01" source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump" retrieved_at: "2026-07-06" confidence: "reported" tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"] --- # California AB 544 (20252026) — Electric bicycles: required equipment. (1) Existing law requires a bicycle operated during darkness on a highway, sidewalk, or bikeway to be equipped with, among other things, a red reflector or a solid or flashing red light with a built-in reflector on the rear that is visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beams of headlamps on a motor vehicle. Existing law defines "bicycle" for these purposes to, among other things, include an electric bicycle. Existing law defines an electric bicycle as a bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor that does not exceed 750 watts of power and categorizes electric bicycles into 3 classes. A violation of the provisions relating to the requirements for equipping a bicycle or an electric bicycle is punishable as an infraction. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **02/11/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544&version=20250AB54499INT) 2. **03/05/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544&version=20250AB54498AMD) 3. **03/24/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544&version=20250AB54497AMD) 4. **07/14/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544&version=20250AB54495CHP) 5. **AB544** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544) 6. **07/08/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB544&version=20250AB54496ENR) ## Votes - Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **13–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **16–0** (pass) · lower - AB 544 Davies Consent Calendar Second Day — **69–0** (pass) · lower - Consent Calendar 2nd — **35–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **14–0** (pass) · lower ## Sponsors - Davies — primary (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2025-02-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1` - **2025-02-12** From printer. May be heard in committee March 14. - **2025-02-24** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee` - **2025-03-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2` - **2025-03-06** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee` - **2025-03-19** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. - **2025-03-24** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2` - **2025-03-25** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee` - **2025-04-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2025-04-30** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2025-05-01** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2025-05-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 69. Noes 0. Page 1485.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2025-05-08** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1` - **2025-05-21** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee` - **2025-06-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2025-06-19** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. - **2025-06-30** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2` - **2025-07-01** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2025-07-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 1932.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2025-07-03** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage` - **2025-07-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m. - **2025-07-14** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2025-07-14** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 36, Statutes of 2025. `became-law` ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2e7e7cb7-88c8-474f-81fc-fd94ecea27c1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).