Senate passes ride-hailing bill
SHNS
Taxi drivers and advocates gathered Tuesday ahead of a scheduled debate in the Senate on ride-hailing legislation.
After scrapping a requirement for companies to enable tipping and roughly matching the House and governor's two-tiered approach toward background checks for drivers, the Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to create a regulatory structure for the novel app-based ride-hailing services.
Senators debating how best to regulate the industry of app-based ride-hailing services opted by a 14-24 vote Wednesday not to mandate fingerprints for drivers.
Supporters of a fingerprint requirement, which was also not included in the House version, argued the biometric checks are already in place for teachers, camp counselors and others working with vulnerable populations.
Opponents countered that it would be a governmental overreach, potentially deter the black and Latino population from participating as drivers, and some said the division of the Department of Public Utilities – the regulatory authority that would oversee the new industry – could already decide on its own to require that step.
"It would be well within the powers of the division to require a fingerprint-based background check," argued Belmont Democrat Sen. William Brownsberger.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments