Category Archives: 2017 issue

+1 State for Statewide Fingerprinting of Ride Share. 3 Pieces of Intel.

the State: Rhode Island

the Status of statewide ride share laws: Statewide laws passed in 2016

The impetus for the added statewide requirement for fingerprinting:

  • Its from the brain of the State Attorney General
  • The Attorney General wants nationwide criminal background checks that include fingerprinting for all drivers- ride share and taxis alike 
  • Taxis support the requirement
  • Ride Share Company Uber does not

Rhode Island via San Louis Obispo Tribune | Attorney general wants Uber, Lyft…

Local Trend. Alcohol Related Accidents Decline from Ride Share. + Read the related Bill

City: Jacksonville, FL

The decline in crash and arrest statistics noticeable decrease in alcohol crimes:

  • DWI arrests decined by 25%
  • Alcohol related crashes declined by 14%

Are there other reasons for the decline? Maybe. There’s no way to determine what is the cause of the decline nor is there a way to determine that ride share didn’t cause the decline.

Touted in the Jacksonville, FL article: Florida’s SB 340 establishing a statewide regulatory structure for ride share

First Coast News ABC…

Compare. Contrast. Economic Numbers of High Speed Rail vs. Neiman Marcus.

Neiman Marcus

  • private investment: $5 million
  • new jobs based on the $5 million investment: 0
  • requested tax rebates: $1 million

 

Dallas to Houston High Speed Rail

  • private investment: $12 billion
  • new jobs: 10,000 jobs during construction & 750 during operation
  • requested tax rebates: $0
  • tax revenue contributed by 2040: $3 billion

Dallas Morning News | With private funding and no public incentives, how can we oppose the Texas bullet train?

TREND. Regulating Ride Share Aloha Style. Taxi Argument.

State: Hawaii

Taxi industry is pushing for legislation to require: ride shar edrivers to display the excise tax certificate that Taxis must display.

What’s behind this excise tax certificate push? Taxis claim ride share companies do not pay the state’s excise tax like they do

Other issues at play: Whether drivers pay the excise tax

Hawaii Now | Taxi companies accuse Uber, Lyft of not paying millions in excise taxes

Update. The Other Side of the Coin—- 18 Bills = 9 Bills + Companions. High Speed De-Railment.

Highlights from Texas Central Rail repsonse to the high speed rail bill package:

  • ” a slate of discriminatory bills”
  • it is the “use the power of the state government to single out and kill a free market project”
  • 10,000 jobs are represented by high speed rail project
  • Billions of dollars will be invested in the Texas economy
  • Collaborating with landowners 
  • “a majority of Texans have been clamoring for” this project

WTAW Brazos Valley | Texas Central Partners Reaction To State Legislation…

3 Points. East Texas Editorial Opposed to High Speed Rail.

Tyler Morning Telegraph editorial opposing Texas Centrail Rail raises these 3 points:

  • This isn’t a rural-urban issue. This is a property rights issue.
  • You can’t say this is a private enterprise, promoting free market when you use eminent domain, because eminent domain is the opposite of free market.
  • This is crony capitalism with the government  “thumb on the scale”

Tyler Morning Telegraph | Editorial: Texas bullet train an example of crony capitalism

3 Ways the Hoosier State Legislature Is Adding Transportation Revenue. Read the bIll.

Indiana is increasing transportion funding tis year by:

  • 10 cent increase in the gas tax
    • adds an annual indexing through 2024, with a cap at 1 cent per year
  • $150 annual fee on electric cars
  •  $15 transportation infrastructure improvement fee applied to all motor vehicles
    • excepted from the $15 fee are vehicles over 26,000 lbs

Equipement World | Indiana House approves 10-cent gas tax increase, electric vehicle fees

Indiana House Bill 1002 (2017)

18 Bills = 9 Bills + Companions. High Speed De-Railment.

Which members joined forces to file bills to impede high speed rail?

  • Senators Birdwell, Creighton,  Kolkhorst, Perry, & Schwertner
  • Representatives Ashby, Bell, Cook, Schubert, and Wray 

The hot issues in the press release announcement:

  • big bad evil #1 : foreign investments (remember Trans Texas Corridor & Cintra, anyone?)
  • big bad evil #2: it will hurt family farms and private property rights
  • big bad evil #3: this is going to be expensive, more expensive than they are saying
  • big bad evil…

+ 1 State. High Speed Rail.

the State:  Washington

The move toward high speed rail: The Governor calling on $1 million in the Transportation budget to study high speed rail between Seattle and Vancouver

What specifics will the study include:

  • Does the short ditance make rail as competitive as air travel
  • Can high speed rail work with existing rail
  • Proposed station sites
  • Environmental impact
  • Latest high-tech options
  • Projected ridership demand

Construction Dive | WA governor allocates $1M for high-speed rail study