A.G. Gancarski
On Tuesday at high noon, a conference room in Jacksonville City Council’s offices had a Vehicles for Hire committee meeting, including Councilmen Bill Gulliford, Matt Schellenberg, Garrett Dennis, Jim Love, Anna Brosche, Reggie Gaffney, and Council President Greg Anderson.
The Tuesday meeting’s main event: a phone-in presentation from Broward County Assistant County Attorney Annika Ashton regarding Broward’s Transportation Networking Company regulations, recently imposed and enacted after a typically fractious negotiating period.
Broward, like Duval County, is one of those places where “everybody starts driving at 16,” said Ashton.
Broward began its review of legislation in April 2014, directly after state legislation on the subject, looking at how other governments dealt with the issues.
The taxicab industry, not surprisingly, argued for the status quo.
Broward’s County Commission, unlike Jacksonville’s government, is dominated by Democrats; of nine commissioners, only one is GOP.
By December 2014, Broward issued a cease-and-desist order.
The wommission weighed the pros and cons of injunction and regulation, even as a counternarrative emerged that ordinance in Broward was 20 years behind.
Despite this, citations continued, and Uber paid up to half a million dollars in fines for its drivers.
By April, new regulations were being discussed, adding a TNC category to the previously extant ones.
Vehicle inspections would be handled by private mechanics; level 2 background checks would be imposed on drivers; proof of state minimum liability insurance was required.
Uber was not thrilled, messaging against the ordinance, with mailers pushing users of Uber to give commissioners feedback.
The regulations passed, and Uber called them “draconian” and “onerous,” claimed Ashton.
Communication continued to break down, with Uber and Lyft shutting down in Broward on July 31, no longer “picking up in Broward … because of the Broward County ordinances.”
Uber, on its app saying they wouldn’t pick up, provided a link to legislator emails.
The new ordinance passed in October,
Level 1 background checks were imposed, with a seven-year look back for most crimes, but the vehicle inspection would be independent of the county, available “on demand” for “spot checking,” said Ashton.
Ashton said that all this facilitated the “level playing field” the cab industry and other established players wanted.
“The big test for us is going to be how audits happen, and how compliant they are with auditing,” said Ashton.
Ashton says that Uber claims they are a “technology,” not a “transportation company,” yet she challenges that definition on the grounds that Uber controls transportation in its network.
“Broward County’s ordinance is drafted very broadly,” asserted Ashton, and “we knew that we would have to take action to ensure they weren’t in violation of our motor carrier ordinance.”
Transportation Network Companies are part of Broward’s ordinance code.
Another sticking point for Uber: Florida’s insurance laws, which contravened Uber’s practice of national insurance.
Conflicts emerged between county and city governments as well, with the 31 cities in Broward not necessarily jibing with the county ordinance.
With all this in mind, Ashton asserted that the “preemption bill” on the state level was Uber’s ultimate goal.
After the forty minute presentation, Schellenberg observed that there is “no interest” in doing anything with this on the state level, saying Jeff Brandes is not pushing it, and neither is Jack Latavla or the Senate President.
“The House bill is dead on arrival, and they’re going to leave it at the [local] level going forward,” Schellenberg continued.
“We’re going to have to figure out a way to make it palatable,” Schellenberg continued, to all parties.
Industry folks were skeptical, regarding Level 1 background checks not being sufficient, and saying that Uber was “handed a prize” at the expense of “public safety.”
As well, the complaint about medallion fees totaling $114,000 being due by taxis and limos, and a possible moratorium given the exemption from fees for Uber and Lyft, came up again.
Late fees, at $10 a month per medallion, would add up to roughly another $10,000 a month in penalties for the industry.
Councilman John Crescimbeni, who has an “interest” in an “equitable playing field,” proposed quick legislation to suspend fees, to issue a “temporary moratorium,” on tonight’s agenda.
Councilman Gulliford noted that politicians were heavily pressured to come up with a compromise in other places by satisfied customers of Uber and Lyft; “you’ve got people out in the community,” he said, who want to keep the service.
The insurance issue, Gulliford notes, was unresolved in Broward.
As with the previous meeting of this subcommittee, there is a huge gulf between the established providers and those on the Uber “independent contractor” side.
Speaking on behalf of Lyft, lobbyist Steve Diebenow contends that there is a good-faith effort on Lyft’s part to comply, and that it is Lyft’s belief that current ordinance does not apply to them.
Jason Teal of the Office of General Counsel suggested that a potential solution would be a court order barring the use of the app for non-compliant services
Marcus Blunt, CEO of First Coast Corporate Transportation, railed at Council being unduly influenced by the Uber relationship with the Jacksonville Jaguars, in light of Council members and staffers being given free entry into Jags’ owner Shad Khan’s suite.
The next meeting of the group is Dec. 8.
