State lawmakers are debating whether the state should regulate ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft.
Currently, about 20 cities across Texas have their own local regulations for ride-hail drivers. That’s caused Uber and Lyft, the two largest ride-hailing companies, to leave places like Austin, Midland and Galveston.
The State Senate Committee on Business and Commerce took up three bills Tuesday that would override local ordinances and implement one set of statewide regulations for ride-hailing drivers.
State Sen. Charles Schwertner said, “The State of Texas needs to take a bold step forward and make sure we have the right framework that is fair and consistent and minimal for this novel and new technology.”
The Republican out of Georgetown added, “Transportation and safety are state issues.”
The author of Senate Bill 176, Schwertner said the legislation aims to promote safety and allow for “economic liberty.”
Austin City Councilwoman Ann Kitchen pushed for more strict background checks on ride-hail drivers there.
“Liberty is about respecting the rights of voters and our voters in Austin spoke clearly that they wanted to choose their public safety,” said Kitchen.
Nearly a year ago, Austin voters passed a city regulation forcing drivers to be fingerprinted— that’s when Uber and Lyft left.
“This is about a company saying ‘we don’t want to do fingerprinting’ even though it’s in the best interest of the public and coming to the state to ask the state to side with them,” Kitchen said.
The statewide regulations would require background checks for drivers but not fingerprinting.
“It doesn’t improve safety, it’s just a barrier,” Schwertner said. Fingerprinting ride-hail drivers is a barrier, Schwertner said, that only protects the taxi industry, which he described as an outdated model that’s unable to compete with ride-hailing companies.
Senator Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, advised if people don’t feel comfortable using a ride-hailing app that doesn’t fingerprint drivers, then don’t use it.
“But I don’t think you should restrict the others and then let the free market work itself out,” said Nichols, who authored a similar bill.
The State Business and Commerce Committee is expected to vote on whether to advance the bills to the full Senate by early next week.
