CLEARWATER — Pinellas County will hold off on new e-bike regulations until the Legislature takes up the issue again, after Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told county commissioners his deputies already have the tools they need.
“From an enforcement standpoint, we don’t need any more tools,” Gualtieri said during the commission’s Oct. 8 work session.
Gualtieri, who said he supported and helped work on a statewide e-bike bill that Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed in June, predicted lawmakers will revisit the issue during the 2027 session. “There’s no doubt about it,” he said.
Until then, he urged commissioners not to overreach.
“We have to be careful that we don’t do any harm. … For a lot of people, that’s the only way they are getting to work,” he said. “We want people working, we want them employed, we want them to be productive.”
The same caution applies to age limits, Gualtieri said. Many students live too close to school to ride a bus but far enough away that their parents don’t want them walking, so they ride e-bikes.
“It’s not the thing, it’s the people,” he said. “It’s not the e-bike. A lot of people love e-bikes, enjoy e-bikes, and some of them are using it for their primary mode of transportation. … It’s the people who are doing it improperly, misusing it, so the emphasis and focus should be on the conduct and our enforcement of that misconduct.”
Gualtieri said directed patrols are making a difference.
“A year ago, it was the No. 1 complaint,” he said. “We put a lot of directed patrols out there, a lot of enforcement effort, and I think we’ve made great progress. It’s certainly not resolving the issue totally, but we’re much better than where we were.”
County Administrator Barry Burton said enforcement is the key and that the county is working with the Sheriff’s Office.
Whit Blanton, executive director of Forward Pinellas, the county’s land use and transportation planning agency, walked commissioners through the vetoed measure, Senate Bill 382. It would have required e-bike riders and other micromobility users to yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal when passing on trails — “a common courtesy,” Blanton said — and to slow to 10 mph within 50 feet of a pedestrian on a sidewalk.
Blanton said the governor vetoed the bill primarily over concerns about how local governments would respond to it, including how they would track speed limits. “We do expect it to come back in some form in the next session,” he said.
In the meantime, local governments already have considerable authority, Blanton said. Cities and counties can require e-bike riders to carry government-issued photo identification, which need not be a driver’s license, and can set a minimum age to operate one. They can also restrict e-bikes on specific facilities or beaches, cap sidewalk speeds at 15 mph and set speed limits on trails.
Some Pinellas municipalities have adopted such restrictions, Blanton said.
“There has been a hodgepodge of ordinances that have been introduced and passed across the state, because of the vacuum at the state level,” he said.
Complaints have centered on e-bikes on sidewalks and the Pinellas Trail, “where we have all kinds of users out there,” Blanton said. He said he is working with county staff on proposed rules that will come back to the commission for consideration.