New York’s E-Moto Sales Bill, and the Ohio Rules That Didn’t Wait

This week did not ban e-bikes. Two Ohio cities wrote local riding rules, and New York filed a bill that would stop stores from selling machines the state already treats as illegal to ride. Mentor’s helmet rule is in effect. Perrysburg’s path sticker starts October 15, with a 60-day grace period and no fee published yet. New York Senate bill S10700 is in the Rules Committee. It is not a ticket you can be handed tomorrow, and it is not Florida law.

The three rules, side by side

New York’s bill stops a sale, not a ride

S10700 was introduced on 14 September 2026 by Senator Kristen Gonzalez and committed to the Senate Rules Committee. Assembly Member Diana Moreno is the Assembly sponsor. The Senate press release is dated 16 September. The bill page, checked for this piece, still says the bill is in committee. Until both houses pass it and a governor signs it, a New York shop can still sell the machine the bill wants off the shelf.

The printed definition is narrower than a headline that says “anything over 20.” An e-moto is any device equipped with a motor capable of propelling it in excess of twenty miles per hour, except devices already excluded from “motor vehicle” under Vehicle and Traffic Law §125, and except devices eligible for DMV registration. That carve-out is the legal e-bike. New York legalized e-bikes in 2020. A Class 1 or Class 2 bicycle the traffic law already excludes does not become an e-moto because a product page claims a higher number. The press release says the same thing in plainer English: vehicles that travel over 20 mph, are not defined as e-bikes or e-scooters, and are not required to be licensed by the DMV.

If the bill becomes law, no store in the state and no online retailer may sell, offer, or resell an e-moto to a purchaser in New York. Electric off-highway motorcycles are a second category, not a total ban. Online retailers could not sell them. An all-terrain-vehicle dealer physically in the state, registered with the DMV, could, and would have to register the machine with the DMV before delivery. That is the line a Sur-Ron Light Bee X buyer would feel. A private-property dirt bike and a street-legal Class 2 are not the same product. The bill is aimed at the listing that pretends they are.

Where those devices are displayed or sold, the bill would require this notice in bold, in the same size as the price, before checkout: “WARNING: IT IS NOT LEGAL TO RIDE THIS DEVICE ON ANY PUBLIC HIGHWAY OR STREET UNDER NEW YORK STATE LAW. IT IS NOT LEGAL TO SELL THIS DEVICE TO A PURCHASER IN NEW YORK STATE. VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW MAY RESULT IN A CIVIL PENALTY.”

The civil penalties are in the bill, not in a ticket book. A sale violation would be up to $1,000, and each item and each day the violation continues would count separately. A missing warning would be up to $250 the first time and up to $1,000 after that. Marketing an e-moto as an e-bike or an e-scooter would be up to $500, or up to $1,000 if a court finds the seller knew. The attorney general, a municipal consumer-affairs office, or a local designee could bring the sale cases. None of those numbers is a fine you can be handed today.

By banning the sale of illegal e-motos and focusing on the point of sale issues, we’re bringing safety and transparency to our neighbors, while stopping deceptive business practices.

That is Gonzalez, in the Senate release. Moreno’s line in the same release is the speed: illegal e-motos “can reach speeds of over fifty miles an hour.” NY1, on 17 September, tied the introduction to a May crash on the Queensboro Bridge in which two men died after a head-on between an illegal high-speed e-scooter and a bicycle. The bill does not rewrite New York City’s 15 mph operating cap. That cap is already on the books. The map of it is the 2026 U.S. laws piece.

Mentor made the helmet the same on every class

Mentor City Council, east of Cleveland, passed three ordinances unanimously. The News-Herald reported them on 21 September 2026 and said they are effective immediately. City Manager Ken Filipiak told the paper the ordinances “sort of reinforce what is already on our books,” and that the point is “the highest level of safety as possible.”

A passenger is not allowed unless the original manufacturer designed and equipped the bike to carry one. The same story says a rider under 16 may be a passenger on a Class 3 only when the bike was designed for a passenger. Before you overtake a pedestrian on a sidewalk or a shared path, you have to give an audible warning. The paper’s examples are a bell, a horn, or a spoken “heads up, I’m coming by.” Anyone operating an e-bike in the city has to wear a helmet. Ohio already required that on a Class 3. Mentor applied it to Class 1 and Class 2, so the helmet line does not depend on which sticker is on the frame.

Class 1 and Class 2 may use bike paths and shared-use paths. Class 3 is limited to roadways. No class is allowed on hiking trails or natural-surface paths. On a sidewalk the motor stays off. From sunset to sunrise the bike needs a bright white light in front and a red rear light with a reflector. A violation is a minor misdemeanor. A first offense can be a fine up to $150. A repeat within a year can rise to a fourth-degree misdemeanor: up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine. The News-Herald did not publish a crash count.

Perrysburg wants a sticker before the path

Perrysburg, south of Toledo, wrote a different ordinance on a later clock. Patrick Jones, director of public safety, told 13ABC the legislation takes effect 15 October 2026, with a 60-day grace period to register before penalties. The station did not publish a fee, an ordinance number, or a vote. Jones said the registration form is still being built, and that it will eventually be something you print and drop at the police division.

Class 3 e-bikes stay off multi-use paths. That restriction, Jones said, is the old rule continued. Anyone riding a Class 1 or Class 2 on a multi-use path inside the city has to have the bike registered. The bike gets a colored sticker so an officer can see it. The color was not named. Those two classes may still use city streets. Sidewalks split by age: under 15, a rider may still use the sidewalk on a bike or an e-bike; at 15 or older, the rider has to be on the roadway or on a registered multi-use path. Jones said the city wants sidewalks kept for people walking.

The safety examples he gave the station were kids on e-bikes through intersections without helmets, and a complaint that riders used a baseball pitching mound as a ramp. The story does not say the new Perrysburg law requires a helmet. Do not carry Mentor’s helmet rule across that county line. The two cities wrote different pages on the same weekend.

What this week did not do

There is still no federal e-bike ban. The CPSC’s proposed micromobility battery rule, docket CPSC-2025-0012, took written comments through 24 August 2026. As of 23 September, that proposal is not a final rule this desk can cite. UL 2849 is still the certification a careful buyer looks for on a pack. It is not the sticker Perrysburg is talking about.

New Jersey already left the three-class model in July. That statute is not S10700, and it is not an Ohio path permit. Florida did not pick up either Ohio ordinance. CS/SB 382, the sidewalk bill, was vetoed on 25 June 2026. The statewide rule is still the one in the Florida riding guide: the classes, the under-16 helmet, and whatever the path sign actually says. A sidewalk in Brooksville is not a sidewalk in Mentor.

A city can write a helmet rule on a Monday. It does not become your state’s law because the headline traveled.

How to read the next local headline

Three questions before you change how you ride. Is the item a bill, or an ordinance that has taken effect? Does it name a class, a path, or a sale? Does it name a fee? Perrysburg’s fee is missing. Do not fill it in from a comment thread. The class explainer is the vocabulary. The sign on the path is the rule. This page is a news desk. It is not a citation, not a shop, and not legal advice.