Governor Mark Dayton indicates he does not favor statewide regulations for Internet ride services like Uber and Lyft. Bills are moving forward at the legislature, but Dayton stresses local control. “It’s just too fluid an arrangement right now to be amenable to the kind of standardized control that some people are calling for,” he says.
Dayton says driver screening should be a requirement, but should be handled by local governments. Backers of the bill stress public safety concerns. Taxicab companies warn Uber and Lyft are trying to lock-in lenient statewide regulations so they can drive out competition.
Here are the governor’s comments from his Wednesday news conference: