Federal funds now available for school bike safety programs

What it does

This bill allows states to use federal highway safety grant funds to teach bicycle safety and riding skills to elementary and secondary school students. It also requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to update its national bicycle safety guidelines within one year and report back to Congress within three years on how states are using these funds and materials.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: it expands the eligible uses of existing federal highway safety grants to include bicycle education for students, and mandates DOT to update national safety guidelines and report on implementation. This is a public-health measure, not a tax provision, subsidy, or deregulation.

What the text implies

• The bill does not appropriate new money — it redirects existing § 405 grant funds. States that prioritize bike education may reduce funding for other eligible highway safety activities (e.g., pedestrian safety, traffic calming), creating a zero-sum trade-off within the grant pool.
• Reporting requirements (subsection 3(c)) create a three-year data collection burden on states and DOT, but also establish a public record of implementation, which supports accountability and evidence-based policy iteration.
• The bill's success depends on state uptake and school district capacity. Rural or under-resourced districts may lack instructors or infrastructure to deliver on-bicycle training, potentially widening equity gaps in access to safety education.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Students and families gain access to structured, federally-supported bicycle safety education that reduces injury risk and promotes safe transportation habits. The bill expands eligible uses of existing grant funds without cutting other programs, and mandates evidence-gathering (reporting requirements) to track outcomes.

Named in the bill

U.S. Department of Transportation, Secretary of Transportation, State educational agencies, Elementary and secondary schools, Highway Safety Program Guideline No. 14

Where it stands

10 cosponsors: 9 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• Jul 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jul 23, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

4 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $197,400 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.

Seth Magaziner, the sponsor, reported $550,304 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Flood Coalition Action, Inc. — $150,000 on 2 filings
• Core Electric Cooperative — $20,000 on 1 filing
• Northeast Public Power Association — $20,000 on 1 filing
• League of American Wheelmen, Inc — $7,400 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 23, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.