Hmmm… lefty politicians putting up high barriers to entry for new businesses in order to protect incumbent businesses who give them money. Shocking.
Today voters in Austin went to the polls to weigh in on Proposition 1, an attempt to overturn a bill requiring mandatory fingerprint-based criminal background checks for new Uber and Lyft drivers in the city.
The results are in, and with 56 percent of total voters voting against Prop 1, the proposition failed to pass. This means that the bill requiring fingerprint-based background checks will proceed, with new drivers needing to pass the check before being able to drive.
In response to the news, Uber and Lyft have announced that they will be shutting down operations in the city — at least temporarily.
Don’t assume that currently-operating taxi companies imposed all those burdens on themselves, Owen–like requiring chauffeur’s licenses, extra liability insurances, criminal background checks, etc., etc. Busybody city councils could have come up with the ideas all by themselves.
By the way, this is a very good poster-child for the difference between “Fair” trade and “Free” trade. Burdens imposed by gummints (such as that of the USA) but NOT imposed by other gummints (such as that of the PRC) make a difference in cost-of-goods, no?