House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North
Reading) has appointed Representative Shawn Dooley (R-Norfolk) to serve as his
designee on a legislative task force that will review the current laws,
regulations and local ordinances governing licensed hackneys, taxis, livery and
transportation network companies in the Commonwealth.
Created as part of a new state law regulating Uber, Lyft and
other ride-sharing companies operating in Massachusetts, the Ride for Hire Task
Force will explore issues related to public safety, consumer protection and the
economic fairness and equity of the regulatory structure governing the ride for
hire industry.
Representative Dooley currently serves on the Joint
Committee on Financial Services, which held a public hearing on several ride-sharing
proposals last fall and produced an earlier version of the bill that was signed
into law in August.
“It’s important that we have sufficient safeguards in place
to protect the public while also making sure consumers have a wide range of
transportation options available to them,” said Representative Jones. “Representative Dooley’s work on this bill in
committee gives him a unique perspective on the industry that will enable him
to be a key contributor to the task force.”
The Legislature this year authorized the creation of a new
division within the state’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to oversee the
ride for hire industry. As part of its
review, the task force will look at ways for the new division to compile statistical
reports relative to the number and type of incidents reported to transportation
network companies, and the possibility of establishing municipal licensing
commissions to regulate the development and oversight of the industry at the local
level.
The task force will also explore requiring transportation
network companies to provide an emergency safety alert feature on their user
interface so riders can connect a call to the police, send alerts about their trip
and their driver to local authorities, access contact information for the
company’s incident response team, and send automated messages to preselected
emergency contacts using real time global positioning system monitoring.
The task force is due to report back to the Legislature with
its recommendations by July 1, 2017.
In addition to Representative Dooley, the task force will
also include Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, Secretary of Public
Safety and Security Daniel Bennett, Insurance Commissioner Daniel Judson, the
director of the new division that will oversee transportation network
companies, and three other legislators.
The remaining six members of the task force will be appointed by
Governor Baker, and will include representatives from the Disability Law
Center, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and the Massachusetts Chiefs
of Police Association, as well as members representing transportation network
companies, the hackney and taxi industry and the livery industry.
Representative Dooley represents the Ninth Norfolk District, which includes the towns
of Norfolk, Plainville, Wrentham, Medfield, Millis and Walpole.
