I understand what these lawmakers are saying. Do the scooter shops sell the inexpensive Chinese scooters, or do they sell quality brands such as Kymco, SYM, Honda, and Yamaha? If one gets a scooter for less than 1k it is well known that 50cc scooter will be lucky if it last a year, or more. There saying the ones who ride the cheap bikes cannot afford an automobile, but they can afford at least $500 to a $1,000 for a small 50cc bike? Hmm. If they put another 50 bucks into registering and titling the bikes that insurance will be a burden to them? This is a bunch of crap. The insurance on these bikes per year will be less than $100. I know the people could afford this. If not, they might as well use mass transit for their transportation needs.
Of course the 50cc bikes do not have as much horse power as the 125cc and higher bikes do. I had two 50ccc Chinese bikes before I upgraded to my current Kymco Agility 125cc bike. If the 50cc bikes are stolen without a plate of course it makes more difficult for law enforcement to recover the bike. They must rely on the vin number which makes it more difficult for the bike to be recovered.