Mitch Perry
In what is being described as a good faith gesture, Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission Chairman Victor Crist announced on Thursday that the PTC has asked its legal counsel to temporarily postpone all legal actions currently pending against ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft until after the Florida Legislative session concludes early next year.
“We want to show a good faith that we really want to go into this process with an open mind and open eyes and a willingness to try to get something worked out,” said Crist.
Currently there are three separate pieces of litigation between the PTC and Uber ongoing in the county.
The Florida Legislature has failed to address issues like insurance and background checks that have become sticking points with local governments in Florida since Uber and Lyft began operating in the state in 2014.
Working with Plant City House Republican Dan Raulerson, the PTC has produced a piece of legislation to address those issues (as well as a provision regarding disabled passengers) that they hope will be passed next year. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jeff Brandes has also introduced legislation.
The move is the second conciliatory action that the PTC has taken in the past month, after they angered Brandes by announcing that they would continue to issue citations against Uber and Lyft drivers in August, even after a Hillsborough County circuit court rejected their request that could have prevented Uber from operating in the county.
In September the PTC backtracked from that announcement, voting to stop ticketing rideshare drivers through the end of October while the legal issues with Uber and Lyft continued. Now they will stop legal actions against those companies until at least the middle of next March (the Legislative session is expected to conclude on March 11).
Last month Crist and Brandes ended up meeting face to face at Shula’s Steakhouse in Tampa, and the Hillsborough County PTC Chairman says that the two found a lot of common ground, with the main sticking point between them being background security checks on rideshare drivers.
A Level 1 check generally refers to a state only name based check AND an employment history check. A Level II check generally refers to a state and national fingerprint based check and consideration of disqualifying offenses, and applies to those employees designated by law as holding positions of responsibility or trust.
Crist says he wants a Level II background check, Brandes prefers a Level 1 check, but they did agree to what they’re calling a Level 1 “plus” for undocumented immigrant, who would automatically get a Level 2 check. He also said that if a felony or DUI arrest pops up during a Level 1 check that the drivers would be compelled to have a Level II check.
Crist and PTC Executive Director Kyle Cockream also want to have access to lists of all Uber and Lyft drivers operating in the county, a move that Uber has forcefully rejected.
“We’re still talking to Uber’s counsel about this exact terms of the abatement,” said Rob Brazel, Chief Assistant County in Hillsborough.”We have not technically agreed to anything yet, though we think we’re pretty close about the terms such as when it begins and when it ends, things of that sort. but we’re trying to make some progress with them and get it finished up.”
Florida Politics reached out to representatives with Uber for comment this afternoon, but had not heard back from at the time this story was posted.
