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Texas Legislature Clears Road For Uber and Lyft To Return To Austin (austinmonitor.com)
schwit1 shared this article from the Austin Monitor:
The Texas Legislature has cleared the road for Uber and Lyft to return to Austin on their own terms. On Wednesday, the state Senate overwhelmingly approved House Bill 100 on second and third readings, sending the statewide ride-hailing regulations to Governor Greg Abbott's desk for his signature. If Abbott signs it, as he is expected to do, the new law will preempt regulations City Council passed in December 2015 that both Uber and Lyft deemed too restrictive on transportation network companies such as themselves.
The new rules still require criminal background checks, but drop the requirement for fingerprinting. "We find it unfortunate that the 36 lobbyists deployed by the Silicon Valley giants were effective in convincing the State Legislature that there was a need to overrule the Austin voters," said a local ride-sharing company, which vowed to continue operating -- and to at least continue fingerprinting their own drivers. Houston's mayor complained the new statewide rules handed down are "another example of the legislature circumventing local control to allow corporations to profit at the expense of public safety."
The new rules still require criminal background checks, but drop the requirement for fingerprinting. "We find it unfortunate that the 36 lobbyists deployed by the Silicon Valley giants were effective in convincing the State Legislature that there was a need to overrule the Austin voters," said a local ride-sharing company, which vowed to continue operating -- and to at least continue fingerprinting their own drivers. Houston's mayor complained the new statewide rules handed down are "another example of the legislature circumventing local control to allow corporations to profit at the expense of public safety."
"another example of the legislature circumventing local control to allow corporations to profit at the expense of public safety."
As opposed to taxi mafia bribing the legislature to profit at the expense of the public?
Uber might have its flaws, but they're strictly better than taxi corporations (for everyone who's not a member of the taxi mafia, doesn't profit from selling medallions/etc, and doesn't get bribes^Wcampaign donation from said mafia).
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
It's quite frustrating to read, multiple times, how state government continues to override local municipalities. Another instance is in regards to city fracking ordinances. It's also worrisome that Texas has done nothing to reduce the bribes...sorry..I meant to say campaign contributions and the conflicts of interests that exist in the state senate. God, I just sent can't get enough of small government!
State legislators continue to show that their concern for local government doesn't extend downwards from their own level.
The Federal level is too high, the city level is too low. The state level is just right: the "Goldilocks" level.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
to drown in a bathtub comes to mind. My experience is that nobody's really opposed to the government telling people what to do; just so long as they already wanted to do it.
Me? I see strong governments as inevitable; so instead of hunkering down and trying to make it go away I'm with Bernie et al and want to make it do good. It's like fire or, hell, nuclear power. Once it's out there you can't put the cat back in the bag. Better to just take control of it.
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The thing about gerrymandering is that it only works for a while and you start to get diminishing returns.
Once you've gerrymandered yourself into place, what can displace you?
People move. Neighborhoods change. There's an election every two years. For example, some time back Texas had a law where you could only redraw districts every ten years. Texas realized that their safe gerrymandered districts were no longer safe. Passed a law saying they could have a "special" redraw (this is when Tom DeLay was in Congress, before he went to prison). The backlash saw a bunch of Republican districts flip to Democratic control. Not enough to take over power, but enough to scare them from trying that move again.
Texas is inexorably becoming a blue state. There are court cases to compel the state to use an independent commission to draw districts fairly. If those cases are successful, we will learn that Texas has actually been a blue state for a good long time, with the people being held hostage by a hostile government.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Uh, it is definitely a red state despite your wetdreams. Statewide, Trump got 53% of the vote compared to Clinton's 42%.
It certainly is, but the young are far bluer in each generation, due to improved access to information. They've grown up around things like out-of-the-closet homosexuals and even if they are still opposed to the whole idea, they've seen first hand that it doesn't lead to the end of civilization as we know it. That's changing things despite your wetdreams.
Of course, their board of education continues to attempt to compromise education sufficiently to preserve the state's redness, and that really has slowed down progress, but they can't prevent it forever. For one thing, there's just too much money in Texas. They actually have something to lose.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
When it comes to the federal government, states should have more power. When it comes to local government, states should have more power. This seems perfectly straightforward, consistent, and exactly what any reasonable person would expect a state government to believe. Why are you confused?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.