• Home
  • About
  • Contact

The Town Crier

~ The Legislative Blog of the NJ League of Municipalities

The Town Crier

Tag Archives: Lyft

Governor Takes Action on Legislation

16 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by njlmblog in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Governor Takes Action on Legislation

Tags

Housing for Veterans, Local Unit Agreements, Lyft, Property Assessment, School Employees' Health Benefits Program, State Health Benefits Program, Uber, Urban Enterprise Zones

The Governor recently took action on various pieces of legislation, including the following:

  • The Governor conditionally vetoed A-4189/S-2670, regarding Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZs).  This bill would have extended, for two years, UEZ authorization in municipalities where the program was scheduled to sunset at the end of 2016. (Those municipalities are Bridgeton, Camden, Newark, Plainfield and Trenton.)  The remaining zones do not expire for a number of years.   While this bill is a conditional veto, it is effectively a veto since the Governor struck the language that would have extended these 5 zones on a short term basis.    We do not expect the Legislature to act on the Governor’s recommendations.

The Governor also signed the following bills into law:

  • PL. 2017, c. 16 requires that the annual notice of assessment on property to contain bolded notice of filing deadline for appeal.  This legislation took effect on February 10, 2017.
  • PL. 2017, c.19 requires the Department of Community Affairs to establish rules and regulations to provide affordable housing preference to homeless veterans, disabled veterans and family members who are the primary caregiver to disabled veterans residing with them, in a municipal or county housing authority project.   All applicants for the housing preference will also be required to meet the income requirements for admission to the housing project.  Priority for the preference will be given to applicants as follows: (1) homeless veterans shall receive first priority; (2) disabled veterans shall receive second priority; and (3) family members who are the primary residential caregivers to disabled veterans residing with them shall receive third priority.  This legislation will take effect May 1, 2017.
  • PL. 2017, c. 21 permits local units to enter into a shared service agreement with a federal military base for services that the local unit involved in the agreement is empowered to provide those services within its own jurisdiction.  Also the services must be permitted by 10 U.S.C. s.2679.  The law shall not be construed to impact existing Federal or State civil service laws and if there is a conflict regarding the content and duration of such agreements, federal law will control.  The League supported this legislation that took effect on February 10, 2017.
  • PL. 2017, c. 26 which preempts municipal regulation of some taxi services such as Uber and Lyft.   This new law unnecessarily exempts ride for hire services from local regulation. We had asked the Governor to conditionally veto the bill, so as to delete Section 26.
  • PL. 2017, c. 28 which requires health insurance carriers, and the State Health Benefits Program and the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program, to adhere to certain coverage requirements for treatment of substance use disorders.  The bill also places certain restrictions on the prescription of opioids, and requires certain notifications when prescribing Schedule II controlled dangerous substances used to treat chronic or acute pain.  The bill also requires certain health care professionals to receive training on topics related to prescription opioid drugs.

Contacts:

Michael Cerra, Assistant Executive Director, mcerra@njslom.org, 609-695-3481 x120;

Jon Moran, Senior Legislative Analyst, jmoran@njslom.org, 609-695-3481 x121;

Lori Buckelew, Senior Legislative Analyst, lbuckelew@njslom.org, 609- 695-3481, x112.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Preemption or Public Awareness? Two Approaches to a New Public Safety Challenge

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by njlmblog in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Preemption or Public Awareness? Two Approaches to a New Public Safety Challenge

Tags

Lyft, Public Safety, Taxi, Uber

 

It appears that the Legislature might soon choose to make it much easier for certain high-tech innovators to do business anywhere in our Garden State. We hope that decision respects the concerns of all local officials in protecting the public’s interest.

The League of Municipalities opposes S-2179 and A-3695. These proposals would create a new class of taxis, exempt from local oversight. Instead, the legislation establishes State-level safety and insurance requirements for transportation network companies.  According to the bill, a transportation network company (Uber or Lyft, for example) is an individual or entity that uses a digital network or software application to connect a passenger to a transportation network company driver for the purpose of providing transportation to the passenger. Provisions in both bills exempt these entities and individuals from any local regulation.

Since 1917, in order to protect prospective passengers and the general public, and to preserve order, municipalities have been empowered by statute to license and regulate ride-for-hire businesses. Throughout that period, in order to protect the public, local governing bodies have been responsive to concerns raised by passengers, drivers, pedestrians, local merchants and other motorists. Local first responders have attended to accidents. Local law enforcement has responded to incidents. While no level of regulation is perfect, municipalities have clearly demonstrated their effectiveness in this area for close to 100 years.

The manner in which the service is dispatched and provided does not materially alter the responsibilities that local governments will bear. Nor will the manner of dispatch obviate the concerns of local elected officials in ensuring the public’s legitimate interests in public safety. Further, enactment of this bill could motivate traditional taxi and limousine businesses to, similarly, avoid local over-sight, by a change to their business models. That, in turn, could make it more difficult for older residents and for the economically disadvantaged to access transportation alternatives. On that basis, absent deletion of the preemption provisions, the League of Municipalities cannot support this legislation.

As an alternative, and on its own merits, the League supports S-2415.  This bill, which does not preempt local interests, looks to create a For-Hire Vehicle License Plate Task Force to design uniquely colored licenses plates, for display on for-hire vehicles. Under the bill, “for-hire vehicle” includes a taxi, limousine, and personal motor vehicle used to provide passenger transportation for which a fee is paid and is prearranged through a digital network.

The task force would be given six months to deliver findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature. After appropriate action by State elected officials, the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) would issue special license plates to the owners of for-hire vehicles.  The MVC would also establish a public awareness campaign to inform the public about the uniquely colored license plates and to post signs with this information at each airport, motorbus, rail, light rail, and ferry terminal and station.

This bill would help the public and the police to identify all vehicles that are authorized to provide ride-for-hire services. It would also help local police better enforce safety requirements.

Please contact your State Legislators and communicate your concerns with S-2179 and A-3695, as currently drafted.   And, please ask that instead for their support for S-2415.

Contact:

Jon Moran, Sr. Legislative Analyst, jmoran@njslom.org, 609-695-3481, x121.

 

 

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

NJLM Homepage

Visit NJLM's homepage

Archives

  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016

Categories

  • Uncategorized

New Jersey League of Municipalities

222 West State Street, Trenton, NJ, 08608
609-695-3481

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 81 other followers

No upcoming events

Tags

Affordable Housing Animal Cruelty Atlantic City Atlantic City 5- Year Recovery Plan Bail Reform Beekeeping Best Practices Bills Bill Signings Bills of Interest Budget Proposal cannabis Casinos Civil Service CMPTRA Dash Camera Footage Disabled Veterans e-waste Economic Development Electronic Waste Management Act Employee Health Benefits Energy Tax ETR Executive Order FCC Federal Budget Federal Communication Commission Federal Infrastructure Flawed Bill S2490 Gas Tax Governor Murphy Interest Arbitration Cap Labor Negotiations Legalization of Marijuana Libraries Library Construction Bond Act Liquor License Local Budgets Lyft Marijuana MLUL Municipal Land Use Law Open Public Records Act Opioid Addiction OPMA OPRA PERS PFRS Police and Fire Retirement System Prescription Drug Plans Property Assessment Property Taxes Property Tax Exemption Public Finance Public Records Public Safety S-3040 SALT SCOTUS Signed Bill Signed Bills Standardized Changed Condition Clauses State Budget State FY 2017 Budget State Health Benefits Program Taxes Taxi Tax Relief Programs Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) Uber UEZ Urban Enterprise Zones USDA Volunteering Zoning

Blog at WordPress.com.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: