Arizona legislators have proposed regulations for ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, which would help legitimize their operations in the state.
The system of using an app to find a ride from a private driver might sound like a taxi service, but these companies aren't registered with the state as taxi companies. Instead, the proposed legislation would create rules and regulations unique to the ride-sharing services.
The regulations include mandating that ride-sharing networks have insurance with minimum coverage of $1 million per incident for any accidents, conduct background checks on drivers, and perform annual safety inspections of the vehicles, among other things.
These ride-sharing companies have faced various problems over the legality of their operations in several states.
For one, such operations generally aren't licensed like cab companies, and they may not be liable for accidents to the extent that a taxi company could be -- which are both addressed in Arizona's legislation, House Bill 2273.
In San Francisco, taxi drivers protested that ride-sharing services were undercutting their traditional taxi operations, which becomes less of an issue when the companies are fully regulated by the state.
The Arizona bill just passed its first committee assignment earlier this week.
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