Since 2013, 45 state legislatures have passed bills that impose some degree of statewide regulation on transportation network companies (TNCs). TNC is the term given to private-ride service providers such as Uber and Lyft. In six states, including Texas, the regulation focused on insurance requirements for TNCs and TNC drivers. In 39 states, a more complex regulatory framework was introduced. Often, these bills explicitly overrule existing TNC ordinances and the local authority to regulate TNCs. This is sometimes called state “preemption” of local authority. While state versus local authority is an important governance issue, it’s intertwined with the regulatory question of how much TNCs should be regulated (if at all) and the extent to which TNC regulations need to be tailored to local context.
In the current legislative session, Texas lawmakers are considering TNC legislation that would preempt local ordinances in 20 Texas cities and replace it with a statewide law.