The Kansas Legislature can usually be counted on to be pro-business. Too much regulation to protect air quality or clean water or workers’ rights is bad.
Why then, did the Legislature go out of its way to run the business Uber out of Kansas?
Uber is a ride-sharing service. Users can find a ride from an everyday car, using a mobile phone app. They can also pay via their phone. Uber claims this service is “better, faster and cheaper than a taxi.” The company claims it does background checks on its drivers and the drivers are required to have auto insurance, but the Legislature wasn’t convinced that customers were protected.
So a bill was passed that would require drivers for ride-hailing companies to undergo Kansas Bureau of Investigation background checks, the Associated Press reported. “They’d also need additional auto insurance coverage beyond the $1 million Uber offers when drivers are logged into its network or transporting passengers.”
Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed the bill, and Uber promptly expended its service from two cities in Kansas to six. However, our lawmakers overrode the veto. Uber no longer offers service in Kansas.
Who are the customers that our lawmakers were so eager to protect? It must be the established taxi companies — who didn’t like the competition.