Agreements on permitting ride-hailing services outside New York City and a measure to treat 16- and 17-year-olds as juveniles, not adults in the court and prison system, known as Raise the Age, were coming together as the state budget deadline approaches in Albany.
The Assembly sponsor of a bill to expand ride hailing services outside of New York City, Kingston Democrat Kevin Cahill, confirms there is agreement between the governor and legislature on allowing services like Uber and Lyft Upstate and on Long Island.
“Now it appears there’s a three-way agreement to recognize their unique business model,” Cahill said. “And provide a means by which they can conduct business in New York the same way they do in other states.”
Cahill says the compromise will allow the ride-hailing services to regulate themselves, including devising specific rules for background checks, provided they allow state Department of Motor Vehicles to monitor their regulations. Individual cities and counties with over 100,000 people would have the option of accepting those rules, or opting out and banning the ride hailing services. He says Assembly Democrats had sought more local control over regulating the companies, and rules similar to safeguards for taxi cab drivers, like fingerprinting.
The ride-hailing companies will be required to provide $1.25 million in insurance for drivers riding with passengers, or on their way to pick them up, and $75,150 of insurance protection for drivers without anyone else in the car. Drivers will be part of the New York City Black Car Fund that provides health coverage if they are injured on the job.
Uber and Lyft, as well as some state and local politicians including Governor Cuomo, say ride-hailing services will boost the upstate economy. Assemblyman Cahill is not convinced.
“I don’t think it will do particularly much for the upstate economy,” said Cahill, who said claims by the companies are “spin” and “not based in fact.”
Another major non-spending issue connected to the budget is to treat 16- and 17-year-olds accused of crimes to be treated as juveniles, not adults in the state’s court and prison systems. Supporters want the teens to be processed in family court, and if found guilty, placed in juvenile detention center. A compromise emerging between Cuomo and legislative leaders would divert some of the teens accused of violent crimes to a new “youth court,” says Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein.
“There would be family court for the less serious cases, and youth court for more serious,” said Klein. “But we’re still talking about the logistics.”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who championed the issue, holds a slightly different view of what the youth courts could mean. He views them more as a “temporary mechanism” before the teens’ cases are ultimately addressed in family court.
“The idea that there’s going to be a total separate court to handle all cases for 16- and 17-year-olds, that’s not correct,” Heastie said.
The governor and lawmakers are also close on a third item, a multi-billion dollar bond act to provide infrastructure for clean water, says Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan.
