Is This County’s Regulation of Uber Legal?
Las Vegas, Nevada Philip Bird LRPS CPAGB / Shutterstock.com
Nevada doesn’t think so, and commissioners are thinking twice after catching flack in Las Vegas for catering to the taxi industry.
Nevada seemingly paved the way for Uber and Lyft to operate statewide with ridesharing legislation passed this year, but a Clark County ordinance could spur a second wave of regulation.
Ridesharing service drivers, under the purview of the Nevada Transportation Authority, must already pay the state’s $200 business license fee annually. But on Nov. 17 the County Commission unanimously approved requiring both the companies and their employees to pay for local licenses as well.
The business license fee for services runs from $1,000 to $75,000 annually, depending on the number of drivers NTA authorizes, and for drivers is $25 a year.
Opponents fear the commission is setting a bad precedent by deterring ridesharing company employment and innovation that the county’s cities like Las Vegas could copy.
"The County Commission should know what it has done is illegal. The language of state law is clear, and the Legislative Counsel Bureau has already issued a legal opinion explaining in plain terms that the County Commission could not do what it is now doing,” said state Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson in a statement. “No matter. The good graces of a single special interest and the prospect of a million-dollar money grab were simply too tempting."
No additional regulation can be imposed on ridesharing services or their drivers “unless it is generally applicable to any other business that operates within the jurisdiction of the local government,” according to the legal opinion.
And taxi services in the county are neither subject to the same fees, nor the ordinance’s other stipulation that ridesharing services report their drivers’ names monthly—a competitive disadvantage.
“We urge the county to stop protecting the special interests of the taxi industry from competition, listen to the people of Clark County and comply with state law,” Uber spokesperson Taylor Patterson told the Las Vegas Sun.
The commission may already be backpedalling, Chairman Steve Sisolak requesting the ordinance be reconsidered at its Dec. 1 meeting on the advice of the county’s legal counsel.
In the meantime, Uber is rallying drivers and users to press the commission into granting the company access to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas—a game changer.
“We are disappointed that the Clark County Commission is making it difficult to access ridesharing services on the Las Vegas Strip and at McCarran Airport,” said Gary Shapiro, Consumer Technology Association president and CEO, in a Tuesday statement. “A vibrant array of convenient transportation options is a key element of Las Vegas’ success as a world-class tourism destination.”
(Photo by Philip Bird LRPS CPAGB / Shutterstock.com)
Dave Nyczepir is a News Editor at Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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