GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 318

Short Title:  Campaign Drivers Licensed as Taxi.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives Cummings; Arnold, Brawley, Clary, Cocklereece, Davis, Grady, Pate, Preston, Shubert, Snowden, and G. Wilson.

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Referred to:  Judiciary II.

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February 28, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON WHO MAKES MORE THAN ONE TRIP DRIVING VOTERS TO THE POLLS ON ELECTION DAY MUST BE LICENSED AS A TAXI DRIVER.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 20-86 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-86. Penalty for engaging in a 'for-hire' business or driving voters to the polls without proper license plates.
Any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of transporting persons or property for compensation, or who makes more than one trip in a day, with or without compensation, driving voters to the polls, except as otherwise provided in this Article, shall, before engaging in such business, pay the license fees prescribed by this Article and secure the license plates provided for vehicles operated for hire. Any person, firm or corporation operating vehicles for hire, or who makes more than one trip in a day, with or without compensation, driving voters to the polls, without having paid the tax prescribed or using private plates on such vehicles shall be liable for an additional tax of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for each vehicle in addition to the normal fees provided in this Article; provided, that when the vehicle subject to for-hire license has attached thereto a trailer or semitrailer, each unit in the combination, including the tractor, trailer and/or semitrailer, shall be subject to the additional tax as herein prescribed; provided, further that the additional tax herein provided shall not apply to trailers having a gross weight of 3,000 pounds or less."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 20-87(1) reads as rewritten:
"(1)	Common Carrier, Contract Carriers and Exempt For-Hire Passenger Carrier Vehicles. – For-hire passenger vehicles shall be taxed at the rate of seventy-eight dollars ($78.00) per year for each vehicle of fifteen-passenger capacity or less and vehicles of over fifteen-passenger capacity shall be classified as buses and shall be taxed at a rate of one dollar and forty cents ($1.40) per hundred pounds of empty weight per year for each vehicle; provided, however, no license shall be issued for the operation of any taxicab until the governing body of the city or town in which such taxicab is principally operated, if the principal operation is in a city or town, has issued a certificate showing:
a.	That the operator of such taxicab has provided liability insurance or other form of indemnity for injury to person or damage to property resulting from the operation of such taxicab, in such amount as required by the city or town, and
b.	That the convenience and necessity of the public requires the operation of such taxicab.
	 All persons operating taxicabs on January 1, 1945, shall be entitled to a certificate of necessity and convenience for the number of taxicabs operated by them on such date, unless since said date the license of such person or persons to operate a taxicab or taxicabs has been revoked or their right to operate has been withdrawn or revoked; provided that all persons operating taxicabs in Edgecombe, Lee, Nash and Union Counties on January 1, 1945, shall be entitled to certificates of necessity and convenience only with the approval of the governing authority of the town or city involved.
	 A taxicab shall be defined as any motor vehicle, seating nine or fewer passengers, operated upon any street or highway on call or demand:
a.	Accepting or soliciting passengers indiscriminately for hire between such points along streets or highways as may be directed by the passenger or passengers so being transported, and shall not include motor vehicles or motor vehicle carriers as defined in Article 17 of this Chapter; or
b.	Accepting passengers, in more than one trip in a day, with or without compensation, for the purpose of transporting them to the polls.
	 Such taxicab shall not be construed to be a common carrier nor its operator a public service corporation.  A taxicab as defined by the second subdivision b. of this subdivision is also a for-hire passenger vehicle for the purpose of this subdivision."
Sec. 3.  G.S. 20-280(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Within 30 days after March 27, 1951, every person, firm or corporation engaging in the business of operating a taxicab or taxicabs within a municipality shall file with the governing board of the municipality in which such business is operated proof of financial responsibility as hereinafter defined.
No governing board of a municipality shall hereafter issue any certificate of convenience and necessity, franchise, license, permit or other privilege or authority to any person, firm or corporation authorizing such person, firm or corporation to engage in the business of operating a taxicab or taxicabs within the municipality unless such person, firm or corporation first files with said governing board proof of financial responsibility as hereinafter defined.
Within 30 days after the ratification of this section, every person, firm or corporation engaging in the business of operating a taxicab or taxicabs without the corporate limits of a municipality or municipalities, shall file with the board of county commissioners of the county in which such business is operated proof of financial responsibility as hereinafter defined.
No person, firm or corporation shall hereafter engage in the business of operating a taxicab or taxicabs without the corporate limits of a municipality or municipalities in any county unless such person, firm or corporation first files with the board of county commissioners of the county in which such business is operated proof of financial responsibility as hereinafter defined.
For the purpose of this section, operation of a taxicab includes making more than one trip in a day, with or without compensation, driving voters to the polls."
Sec. 4.  G.S. 160A-304 reads as rewritten:
"§ 160A-304. Regulation of taxis.
(a)	A city may by ordinance license and regulate all vehicles operated for hire in the city. The ordinance may require that the drivers and operators of taxicabs engaged in the business of transporting passengers for hire over the public streets shall obtain a license or permit from the city; provided, however, that the license or permit fee for taxicab drivers shall not exceed fifteen dollars ($15.00).  The ordinance shall also include within the definition of a driver of a taxicab any person making more than one trip in a day, with or without compensation, driving voters to the polls. The ordinances may also specify the types of taxicab services which are legal in the municipality; provided, that in all cases shared-ride services as well as exclusive-ride services shall be legal. Shared-ride service is defined as a taxi service in which two or more persons with either different origins or with different destinations, or both, occupy a taxicab at one time. Exclusive-ride service is defined as a taxi service in which the first passenger or party requests exclusive use of the taxicab. The following factors shall be deemed sufficient grounds for refusing to issue a permit or for revoking a permit already issued:
(1)	Conviction of a felony against this State, or conviction of any offense against another state which would have been a felony if committed in this State;
(2)	Violation of any federal or State law relating to the use, possession, or sale of alcoholic beverages or narcotic or barbiturate drugs;
(3)	Addiction to or habitual use of alcoholic beverages or narcotic or barbiturate drugs;
(4)	Violation of any federal or State law relating to prostitution;
(5)	Noncitizenship in the United States;
(6)	Habitual violation of traffic laws or ordinances.
The ordinance may also require operators and drivers of taxicabs to display prominently in each taxicab, so as to be visible to the passengers, the city taxi permit, the schedule of fares, a photograph of the driver, and any other identifying matter that the council may deem proper and advisable. The ordinance may also establish rates that may be charged by taxicab operators, may limit the number of taxis that may operate in the city, and may grant franchises to taxicab operators on any terms that the council may deem advisable.
(b)	When a city ordinance grants a taxi franchise for operation of a stated number of taxis within the city, the holder of the franchise shall report at least quarterly to the council the average number of taxis actually in operation during the preceding quarter. The council may amend a taxi franchise to reduce the number of authorized vehicles by the average number not in actual operation during the preceding quarter, and may transfer the unused allotment to another franchised operator. Such amendments of taxi franchises shall not be subject to G.S. 160A-76. Allotments of taxis among franchised operators may be transferred only by the city council, and it shall be unlawful for any franchised operator to sell, assign, or otherwise transfer allotments under a taxi franchise."
Sec. 5.  This act is effective upon ratification.