Governor Nathan Deal signed HB 255, the ‘Uber Bill’, into law on Wednesday, and ride sharing services and their thousands of supporters throughout the state raised a toast in celebration, (and didn’t have to drive themselves home from the bar either).
The bill had three essential parts, none of which figure to put much of a damper on Uber’s, (or Lyft’s) business in Georgia.
First – The addition of a requirement is that Uber drivers, (just going to lump all ride sharing services under the ‘Uber’ banner from this point hence) maintain $1 million worth of insurance on their vehicles while driving for the service. A stiff new regulation right? Wrong. Uber already enforced the $1 million insurance coverage on all its drivers in the state.
Second – Uber must perform extensive background checks on new drivers, and those checks may be audited by the state. Again, nothing new; Uber already had a comprehensive background check system in place that meets the new requirements.
Third – Ride sharing companies must pay state sales tax or an annual fee for each car operating on behalf of the company. No real eyebrows being raised that a company should pay some taxes for generating a hefty profit while using Georgia’s roadways.
The Taxi lobby’s cries for blood have, at least for now, been quieted, even as they continue their sleepwalk toward irrelevancy at the hands of a newfangled phone app business that caught them still living in the 1980’s.
At the end of the day, HB 255 has served merely to turn some of Uber’s pre-existing standard business practices into law. A perfectly good step for a developing industry that has taken the state by storm. One of the most highly debated bills of the 2015 session, sponsor Alan Powell, who initially came under fire for his proposals, should receive credit for seeing it through in a manner that both sides found acceptable. On the other side of the coin in Kansas this year, Uber left the state entirely after their legislature enacted a law looked similar to Georgia’s, except with far harsher restrictions regarding insurance and state-run background checks. A bitter pill to swallow for both Uber users and a dark red legislature that should be as anti-regulation as any in the nation.
But no worries to be had here in the Peach State, where common sense and compromise have ruled the day, and Uber will continue to provide a safe, easy, and affordable means of travel much to the delight of everyone not stuck behind the wheel of a smelly yellow cab.
