Bill would shift to the state all regulation and licensing of ride-share companies

SB 5620 is a significant piece of legislation aimed at establishing statewide uniform regulation for transportation network companies (e.g. Uber, Lyft). The bill would clearly establish that these companies are different from traditional taxi service companies and would shift all regulation and licensing to the state, pre-empting any regulation at the local level. The bill does call for a “ten-cent per trip passenger surcharge fee to cover the costs of enforcement and regulation of state transportation network company licensing and to be distributed to local political divisions of the state.” The distribution would be based upon the number of trips originating within a jurisdiction.