Senate quashes ‘anti-Uber’ bill, sends it back for review
Following the vote, Senate Presidend Eduardo Bhatia asked for the bill to be reconsidered in committee.
A bill that seeks to establish public policy and regulate the operation of mobile application-based transportation network companies, such as San Francisco’s Uber, was struck down Monday on the Senate floor in a 13-11 vote.
Bill 1209, authored and introduced last year by Sen. Antonio Fas-Alzamora, sought to curb the arrival of these types of businesses, known as TNCs for short, which allow consumers to submit a trip request, which is routed to crowd-sourced taxi drivers.
A TNC, such as Uber, is a company that uses an online-enabled platform to connect passengers with drivers using their personal, non-commercial, vehicles, according to an industry description. TNCs develop a computing platform that creates an online marketplace in which a driver and car owner registered with a company may offer their own labor and car to people who request a ride.
The measure went down for a vote Monday, after being fast-tracked through the Senate’s Tourism, Culture, Recreation and Sports Committee, which did not open it for public analysis at a hearing.
Following the majority decision to stop the bill, Senate President Eduardo Bhatia asked for it to be reconsidered, a move supported by Sen. Jorge Suárez-Cáceres. Consequently, the measure was returned to the Committee for further review.
