Will ‘Uber bill’ make it through the Senate?

The state Senate Commerce, Labor and Energy committee unanimously passed the so-called Uber bill on Thursday, but the legislation is expected to face stiff opposition when it’s taken up on the Senate floor.

Following a 45-minute session, the committee sent Senate Bill 439 to the full Senate, but some committee members said they voted yes only to hear more debate on the matter and would vote no unless certain safety provisions are added.

The bill establishes a framework for transportation network companies to operate legally and be regulated by the Public Utilities Commission in Nevada.

An accompanying bill regarding changes in insurance laws for transportation network companies was pulled back and is expected to be addressed Friday.

Senators said they received more lobbying attention on the bill than any other in the session. Among the proponents of the bill are advocates for Uber, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company that operated for about a month in the state last year before shutting itself down after losing a court case.

Several senators voiced concerns prior to the vote and one, Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-Las Vegas, offered an amendment that would require transportation network companies to pitch in to the state Highway Fund as a result of the additional driving on state roads. Atkinson’s amendment enacts a fee of 25 cents per ride for every tripped log by a company.

Sen. Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said he was concerned about whether the Public Utilities Commission would be able to regulate drivers since its the companies and not the contracted drivers would be under the commission’s jurisdiction.

He also suggested that contracted drivers be subject to FBI fingerprinting as part of the background checks required of drivers.

Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said he felt it was disingenuous for companies like Uber not to consider themselves transportation companies since their business is for contracted drivers to deliver passengers to a destination.

Uber officials have said repeatedly that they consider themselves a technology company, not a transportation company, so it should be treated differently than taxi and limousine companies.

That point rubs Sen. Patricia Farley, R-Las Vegas, the wrong way. She said even though the taxi industry is failing to meet the demand of passengers that a company like Uber shouldn’t get special entitlement to operate outside transportation regulations.

Manendo, noting that there were still several unanswered questions, suggested that lawmakers consider commissioning a detailed study on transportation network company models and reconsider legislation at the next session in 2017.

Because the bill establishes a new regulatory framework, it would require a two-thirds majority vote for passage by the Senate and Assembly. For that reason and the numerous concerns listed by the committee, passage of the bill faces an uphill battle.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate Transportation committee met and legislation that would remove the so-called “competitor’s veto” in the Nevada Transportation Authority’s system of approving operating certificates was approved.

Committee members unanimously approved Senate Bill 183, which would eliminate language that directs the authority to take into consideration whether an action “will unreasonably and adversely affect other carriers operating in the territory …”

The bill does not eliminate similar procedures currently used by the Nevada Taxicab Authority.

The committee also sent Senate Bill 457 to the floor. The bill, in effect, ends the state’s relationship with California on the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission and replaces it with the formation of the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority.

The authority would include five gubernatorial appointees, a majority from Southern Nevada, charged with developing a high-speed rail system connecting Southern Nevada with Southern California.

The Super Speed Train Commission for decades was focused on magnetic-levitation technology, but the bill approved by the committee changes that to a steel-wheels-on-rails train.

It was boosted by XpressWest, the company that has been working since 2005 to develop a train to Los Angeles by way of Victorville, Calif.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find @RickVelotta on Twitter.