A.G. Gancarski
On Monday, Jacksonville City Council President Greg Anderson met with Rules Committee Chair Matt Schellenberg (and a room full of interested parties from the taxi cab industry) regarding vehicles for hire, a legislative issue that Council has, of yet, no easy answers to.
A special subcommittee might change that.
Anderson: “where we left this off… we were going to wait for the Florida Legislature to take action.”
Referring to “seemingly some interest in Tallahassee to create legislation,” Anderson observed that “more unified standards” statewide would have been ideal.
Schellenberg observed that the Legislature will not be taking up this bill, leaving “each county or city on its own,” which creates issues, such as travel between counties that might have different rules.
Schellenberg then discussed the “sharing economy,” balancing the evolving paradigm with a need “not to have it be the wild west out there.”
Anderson then discussed the perpetually-deferred bills on the table, before asking Schellenberg to form a committee, with the intent of “just go[ing] ahead and clear[ing] it out.”
Anderson also urged the committee to talk to “legislative decision makers” in Tallahassee, with an eye toward getting guidance.
Schellenberg expects this to launch in January, with an eye toward a finish before March 31.
“By the time they finish out [the January session, the legislature] should have made a decision regarding” Uber and other such platforms.
If guidance comes from Tallahassee, obviously that will drive the discussion.
Anderson’s concerns regarding this industry: insurance; driver background checks; inspections; medallions; penalties for non-compliance.
Industry advocates were skeptical of this, with one taxi cab proponent saying that this is about making it easier for Uber to operate, rather than people putting money back into the city of Jacksonville.
As well, concerns were raised about UberX siphoning taxicab business related to the Florida/Georgia game last month, and potential pitfalls of a council member’s hypothetical “drunk daughter” being picked up by a rogue Uber driver who had escaped the scrutiny of a background check.
Additionally, there apparently are at least a dozen liability issues related to UberX drivers sitting on a lawyer’s desk.
The cab industry lobbyists mentioned the unfairness of paying for medallions, when Uber does not, saying that they’re being crushed by a non-level playing field.
With phrases thrown around like “they’re crushing us” and “we’re bleeding to death,” what’s clear is that the established cab services are not going to roll over passively in this situation.
Issues like commercial insurance and creating a level playing field, as well as striking a balance between the mythical free market and the realities of regulated capitalism, will enliven the deliberations of this subcommittee.
The cab industry objects to paying the medallion fee of $100 per car at the end of the year, given that the Uber/Lyft folks have no such obligation. As well, the three times a year inspections are an obligation of traditional vehicles for hire.
As the meeting, which was slated to be short, went on, reactions of industry representatives got more heated, with Anderson, Schellenberg, and Councilman Bill Gulliford getting pilloried with emotional appeal driven talking points, a powerful cocktail from an industry that has not been shy about exercising its political muscle.
Gulliford expressed skepticism about meaningful action from Tallahassee, and broached the possibility of bringing the stalled bills up in Finance; Anderson advised to wait until there was at least one subcommittee meeting.
