Bill would make it legal to greet a man and a man all over Oregon, while taking the rules into the hands of Portland

Legislation to legalize Lyft and Uber's activities throughout the state of Oregon was introduced in the Legislature yesterday, with further provisions that would strip Portland's ability to regulate corporations. of cyclists.

Bill House 3023, whose main sponsors are the State Representative, Susan McLain (D-Hillsboro), Representative Brian L. Clem (D-Salem) and Representative Janelle Bynum (D-East Portland ), would maintain Portland's main requirements in terms of insurance and background checks while applying them to the statewide.

An attempt to pass the bill two years ago was canceled, in part because of this year's Uber scandals.

McLain, who sits on the transportation committee, has not sponsored the previous bill and his support could mark a change in the results of the bill in Salem.

Lyft officials said the bill enforced many of the same security standards as those put in place by the City of Portland and provided a fact sheet on the bill.

"This legislation will ensure that the safety standards and rules that currently allow car pooling only in certain cities are enforced in Oregon," Lyft spokeswoman Lauren Alexander said in a statement.

But city officials strongly oppose this approach, which would remove the city's ability to regulate businesses.

Marshall Runkel, chief of staff of city commissioner Chloe Eudaly, said city officials met key representatives of Lyft on Wednesday.

"We said the city was surprised and disappointed that the legislation is warning local authorities," Runkel said. "Lyft's social innovation and cooperative spirit have distinguished it from its competitors and conquered market share in Portland. We have expressed our willingness to continue working together to achieve a positive result and we promised to organize a call directly with our bosses as soon as possible. "

City officials say Portland is the place where Uber and Lyft will have the most business and the most impact on traffic and transport, which means that local authorities should have a say in how companies work. .

State law would prevent future changes to existing insurance requirements and would prevent the city from collecting business data or imposing fines. It would also prevent the city from imposing future taxes or royalties on businesses.

"The drivers could come from all over the state to work here (where 95% of the activities are carried out) without having to be locally licensed," said Noah Siegel, acting deputy director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation. "We would no longer be able to conduct internal investigations to protect customers."