RICHMOND — Virginia’s new 24-page moped law is designed to do several things that could affect everyone from moped riders and motorcycle owners to people who roll on Segways and foot scooters.

The revised statute requires mopeds to be registered with the state and display license plates, extends localities’ authority over low-speed vehicles, and creates a driver’s license designation and road test for three-wheeled motorcycles.

But it also has an unintended consequence: a $100 registration fee on certain mopeds.

The root of the statutory snag is the interaction between the moped law (SB 1038) and the sweeping road funding bill the General Assembly approved last month. Among the new taxes and fees in the omnibus transportation bill (HB 2313) is a $100 registration surcharge on alternative vehicles such as hybrids, of which there are about 91,800 registered in Virginia.

And because mopeds would be classified as state-registered vehicles under the revised law, those with electric motors would be hit with the $100 fee. So in essence, owners of electric scooters that retail in some places for $800 to $900 would pay more than one-tenth the purchase price to the state in annual fees.

Meanwhile, combustion-engine mopeds that run on fuel would face a $14 state fee.

That bothers Del. Scott Surovell, a Fairfax County Democrat who’s waging a campaign to get the $100 fee on all alternative vehicles stricken from the road funding bill.

“This is just one more example of why the consequences of the $100 hybrid tax have not been completely thought through,” Surovell said.

Surovell and Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria launched the NoHybridTax.com online petition that has collected more than 6,500 signatures.

State officials, including Lynchburg Republican Sen. Steve Newman , who sponsored SB 1038, recently became aware of the overlap with the road revenue bill and its effect on electric mopeds. He has asked Gov. Bob McDonnell to fix that problem, and the governor, through a spokesman, told The Virginian-Pilot “he will ensure that no final legislation requires owners of electric mopeds to pay a $100 annual fee.”

McDonnell has not said whether he’ll veto the $100 fee on other alternative vehicles, which would be annually assessed on top of the regular car registration fee. The so-called hybrid fee was in the governor’s original transportation bill.

Unlike traditional automobiles, it’s virtually impossible to say how many mopeds in Virginia face new state fees because they haven’t been registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Thomas Nau , owner of Long Run Mopeds in Vinton, said state registration and regulation could be a serious challenge to his business.

Many people who buy mopeds do so because they don’t need a license, plates or insurance.

“That’s a big part of my market,” he said.

Some simply don’t want the expense and hassle of paying for a bigger vehicle and keeping it legal, and in some cases owners have no option, because their disabilities or troubles with the law keep them from having a driver’s license.

Newman’s bill would require mopeds to be registered by July 1, 2014, but they still don’t have to be insured and drivers could operate them without a license, though they now would be required to carry some form of photo identification.

He said his aim was to craft a bill that balanced safety with consumer protections. The new law requires moped riders to wear helmets and have protection such as a face shield or goggles, Newman said, adding the state registration system can aid authorities in the recovery of stolen mopeds.

The bill came out of a DMV working group established at the direction of legislators, which tasked the agency with overseeing a panel to examine issues surrounding the proliferation of low-speed vehicle use. Its inclusion of Segways and foot scooters as additional types of vehicles localities could regulate by ordinance bothered Del. Salvatore Iaquinto, R-Virginia Beach .

A financial wrinkle in the bill that Newman and the Virginia Motorcycle Dealers Association say they hope the governor will amend is for moped buyers to pay the state car titling tax rather than the sales and use tax when they purchase them.

Dealers wanted that because some sell motorcycle and mopeds and wanted uniformity, said Charlie Finley, executive vice president of the association, which participated in the DMV working group.

Roanoke Times staff writer David Ress contributed to this report.

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