Tier licensing has been around in Europe for years. I think it's no more than 33 HP for new riders in the UK. In 2008, Utah adopted the tier licensing system but they based it on cc instead of hp from what I gathered which didn't make much sense to me because the gap of power is so wide from a vlx to a r6 even though both motors grouped in the same 600cc category.
Yep, not many options between 250 and 600 now. The only models I can think of on top of my head are the DR and the Ninja 300. Not like the old days where there are plenty of models ranging from 100-600 but then again, vehicles are getting bigger and bigger ("Bigger is better" still sells). I looked for a rental car recently, I can't believe they listed the Toyota Carolla a "mid-size"...