A bill that intends to bring ride share services such as Uber and Lyft to South Dakota passed the state Senate floor today. House Bill 1091 changes insurance requirements and exempts drivers from commercial licensing.
Senator Mike Vehle says the ride share services would be a benefit to the state.
“They’ve grown tremendously and whenever you’re in the banking business and a business grows just really, really fast, you sometimes get nervous-are they leaving some things undone. And Uber has just grown very fast and it would be great. I’ve used them, it’s a great service. So I’d encourage you to support it but I also would ask you to support it but I would also ask you in the future to take a look and see if we might not need to do some auditing of their background checks. They’ve had some slip-ups and that can happen when you’re growing fast. That’s what I had in the bill that I had and I’d ask you to go ahead and support this,” says Vehle.
Supporters say they have been in contact with Uber and insurance companies in drafting the bill. No one spoke against the bill on the Senate floor.
House Bill 1091 passed unanimously. But before the bill advances to the Governor, the House of Representatives must agree with amendments made on the Senate side.