Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, bangs the gavel to close the floor session Thursday in the Legislative Building in Carson City. The Assembly voted 42-0 not to override a veto of a bill that would have outlawed payments to taxi drivers from businesses.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.
CARSON CITY -- Taxicab drivers can continue to legally accept tips for bringing customers to strip clubs and other businesses, the Assembly voted Thursday.
The Assembly voted 42-0 Thursday to support Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of a bill passed in 2005 that would have banned acceptance of the tips.
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Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said legislators did not intend to harm cabdrivers two years ago when they unanimously approved Assembly Bill 505.
The bill dealt with truck regulations and whether the Transportation Services Authority should continue to have control over transportation companies, he said.
A little-noticed amendment was tacked on the bill at the end of the 2005 Legislature when it went to a conference committee.
The amendment would have blocked any business licensed by a city or county from paying cabdrivers for bringing customers to their businesses.
"This is an example of a good bill being made bad," said Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas.
Oceguera, author of the controversial amendment, voted to support the veto.
At the time, Oceguera said he introduced the amendment at the request of businesses who did not want to pay cabbies for bringing customers to their doors. Oceguera said the businesses felt the tips were a form of extortion or kickbacks.
Guinn vetoed the bill on June 14, 2005. The Legislature had adjourned and could not consider sustaining or overriding the veto until the 2007 session.
"Taxicab drivers contribute greatly to the economy of this state," Guinn wrote in his veto message.
He added that the bill was unfair because "it singles out and hurts the financial well-being of taxicab drivers."
Hundreds of cabbies protested the bill that month by driving slowly -- and sometimes stopping -- along the Strip.
Many said they depended on the tips routinely doled out by some strip clubs, massage parlors and other businesses. They were also upset because the ban would not have applied to limo drivers, bellhops and other tip collectors.
After the vote, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said legislative leaders have agreed on new rules for conference committees to prevent legislators from being caught unaware when late changes are made to bills.
She said information detailing what changes have been made to bills by conference committees will be placed on the Legislature's Web site and on bulletin boards in the Legislative Building.
"It will prevent something like this from happening again," Buckley said. "Someone was well meaning, trying to stop extortion or kickbacks, but there is more to the story."
In his veto message, Guinn mentioned that he objected because cabdrivers had not had an opportunity to testify on the tip amendment before the bill was approved at the end of the 2005 Legislature.
