BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana won’t join 44 other states in regulating ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft after a proposal to standardize rules and expand access to smaller cities was blocked by New Orleans lawmakers, the bill’s sponsor said.
Rep. Kenny Havard’s House-backed measure was expected to be heard by a Senate committee Tuesday. But instead, Havard, a St. Francisville Republican, pulled the bill from consideration, shelving it without a committee debate.
After the meeting, he said the proposal is dead in the legislative session that ends June 8. He blamed opposition from New Orleans lawmakers and taxi unions for stalling the bill, making it unable to pass.
“Protecting the taxi unions is what it all amounted to,” Havard said, who argued that his legislation would help keep drunken drivers off the road. “Forty-four other states have done this, but Louisiana is last in everything, so why not be last in regulating Uber, too?”
Under the bill, state and local municipalities would have shared 1 percent of each fare.
Representatives from New Orleans said their city could lose $2 million annually if the agreements it has with Uber and Lyft were superseded by Havard’s legislation.
New Orleans’ rate - it currently charges riders a $0.50 fee under a 2015 agreement - is the highest in the country, Havard said.
Uber and Lyft both operate in a handful of markets in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, Lafayette and the greater New Orleans area.
After Tuesday’s committee meeting, representatives from Uber and Lyft issued statements decrying the developments.
“Political gamesmanship should not keep people in Louisiana from getting the safe rides and flexible work opportunities they deserve,” Uber spokeswoman Evangeline George said.
Other states’ agreements with ride-hailing services vary widely.
Most states levy a fixed annual fee, while some, such as Tennessee or Florida, do not charge anything. South Carolina imposes a similar 1 percent fee.
A proposal to regulate the services in Alabama also recently stalled before the end of Alabama’s legislative session this month.
___
House Bill 527: www.legis.la.gov
Please read our comment policy before commenting.