Rideshare Proponents Demand Senate Floor Vote On Stalled 'Uber' Bill

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TALLAHASSEE (NSF) – With just a day left in the legislative session, proponents of app-based transportation network companies are making a last-ditch effort to get a Senate floor vote on a seemingly doomed measure focused on the burgeoning industry.

The Senate measure (SB 1118) remained parked on the special order calendar Thursday, despite increasing demands from supporters --- claiming to have the backing to pass it --- for an "up or down" vote on a broader House rideshare bill (HB 509), which in part would block local governments from regulating ride-sharing services.

Proponents of the industry blame Senate President Andy Gardiner, who has been targeted for having close ties to Orlando-based Mears Transportation, for blocking the measure, known as the "Uber bill."

"President (Andy) Gardiner has always been telling us, 'don't fear the debate,'" St. Petersburg Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, told reporters Thursday evening. "We have yet to have the debate on rideshare. The House passed their bill over a month and a half ago. It's time to have the debate on the Senate floor."

But Gardiner said efforts by Rules Chairman Sen. David Simmons --- who has sought a compromise between the Senate's insurance centered-bill and the House's more industry-friendly proposal --- remained at "an impasse" Thursday evening.

"There's always next year," Gardiner, R-Orlando, told reporters after the floor session.

The stalemate comes after lobbyists for competing rideshare giants Uber and Lyft spent weeks frantically working the halls to get the upper chamber to move the measure.

Apart from rounding up support from lawmakers, the companies have urged drivers and riders to email lawmakers, released television ads and mail pieces highly critical of Gardiner, and even staged the dropping off of petitions Thursday at the president's office.

After the Senate finished business Thursday evening, Brandes and Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who is leading the rideshare efforts in the House, joined Uber executives at a hastily-organized press conference.

"There's a lot at stake," said Colin Tooze, public affairs director for Uber, which is already operating in the state. "Secure access to safe, reliable, affordable rides for hundreds of thousands of Floridians. Flexible work opportunities for people across Florida who look to Uber to help fill gaps in their income."

Meanwhile, the Florida Taxicab Association has countered with its own demands that lawmakers who back Uber drop their support, highlighting incidents that call into question the California-based company's screening process for drivers.

"Uber's 'model legislation,' which passed the House earlier this session (HB 509), lets them off the hook from a number of regulatory measures that traditional taxi and other vehicle-for-hire operators have complied with for decades," the association said in a press release issued Thursday. "For example, Uber's bill would prohibit any regulator, law enforcement officer, city or county from requiring fingerprints of any Uber driver for criminal background checks. The bill sets lower limits for insurance for the app companies when they are not carrying passengers, which also happens to be the time most accidents occur."

Simmons and Brandes on Thursday filed opposing amendments that further scuttled the efforts.

When questioned by reporters, Simmons expressed frustration with the rideshare companies' aggressive approach.

"It's a heavy-handed, inappropriate way to solve a problem," Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said. "What I'm looking at is trying to have an intelligent debate about this. Uber's problem is that they have addressed these issues in other states and they have not gotten the results that they want. So they are here because there are 20 million people in the state of Florida and they want us to go ahead and exempt them from the same obligations that every other business in this state has."

Simmons tried throughout the week to craft a compromise that dealt with the wishes of both sides, while also addressing federal disabilities, anti-discrimination and workers' compensation requirements, and the need for background checks that include multi-state criminal records searches, sex-offender screenings and driving histories.

An exasperated Brandes on Thursday complained about the management of the Senate, which has spent hours on the floor bidding farewell to out-going lawmakers. Brandes wanted to tack onto the Senate's proposal a more expansive version of rideshare legislation, already approved by the House but not vetted by any Senate committee.

The House measure, overwhelming approved with a 108-10 vote in January, would require drivers to have less insurance, when a vehicle is not being used, than the Senate plan. The House measure also includes a more controversial element that would prevent local governments from regulating app-based transportation services. The House version would also require each rideshare company to pay a single annual fee of $5,000 to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

The House plan is expected to have brighter prospects next year when Sen. Joe Negron is set to replace Gardiner as Senate president. The Stuart Republican was recently included in a press release among other lawmakers who support statewide rideshare regulations.

The News Service of Florida Jim Turner, Dara Kam and Tom Urban contributed to this report.