One vehicle is stalled, but a second is driving forward.
On Monday, the Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-5 to allow ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft to operate in Alaska. House Bill 132 advances to the Senate for consideration, but with only two days remaining before the constitutional end of the legislative session, there may not be enough time for action this year.
The House’s vote comes more than a month after the Senate passed a similar bill and sent it to the House for consideration. That bill, Senate Bill 14, became caught in a larger struggle between the House and the Senate and remains stuck in the House Rules Committee.
With no sign that the chairwoman of the committee, Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, would allow SB 14 to come to a vote, Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks, began pushing his own version.
That version is now on the move.
“Allowing ridesharing in Alaska provides jobs, can stimulate business, and make our streets safer. We are now moving into the 21st century,” Wool said in a prepared statement after the vote.
As written, HB 132 and SB 14 forbid municipalities from regulating Uber, Lyft and similar companies more stringently than the state does.
In a letter to Juneau’s legislative delegation, the City and Borough of Juneau urged the removal of the clauses forbidding it from imposing its own regulations.
“We believe the need to ensure the safety of our residents when businesses are providing transportation is as important as requiring it for a substitute teacher … a massage therapist or teaching commercial driving,” wrote CBJ manager Rorie Watt.
Before Monday’s vote, several lawmakers attempted to amend HB 132 to meet the concerns raised by the CBJ and communities across the state.
That attempt failed 19-21, as did an amendment that would have allowed municipal governments to forbid ride-sharing companies via local ordinance.
Instead, the bill allows a vote of local residents to ban the companies from operating.
Support for a ride-sharing bill is widespread in Alaska – which is the only state that does not yet permit it in some form – but it remains hotly opposed by taxi drivers and some unions.
Under both SB 14 and the newly passed HB 132, drivers employed by ride-sharing companies are exempt from workers’ compensation laws, and unions have objected to the way these companies treat their workers.
HB 132 has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration.
Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 419-7732.
