Public Transportation- House

First up we have concurring in the Senate amendments to H. B. seventeen oh to represent a color you paired pro stable down by yourself and you may proceed. Representative the Makola District thirty three. I'm here was here before you before with this a bicycle crosswalk bill in the Senate they wanted to get rid of the the last part that said about speed restrictions because they were I think we had some questions in here about that anyway and they wanted to delete that so we did. That's it any of any questions from committee. Resident ray you're recognized. I'm gonna stay away from that one but thank thank you for your question. Of this committee allowed to bear with me we've got a lot of different system in it and we do a maxi so. Are are you through representative right yes Sir okay. Do not do represent feeling you're recognized read will most probably come. Okay thank you any any other questions from committee represented in it did you did you have a question. Okay Say no more say no more questions no one signed up to speak for against the bill you will read close I'm close thanks any feeling you're recognized for motion motion to present concurrent sentiment I have a motion do pass in currency an amendment in discussion of committee all in favor say aye. You oppose same accent hearing none congratulations thank you Mr thank you Committee. Next on the agenda concurrent Senate Amendment H. B. nineteen twenty two representative Wardlaw. Identify yourself emergency. Thank you Mister you guys help me get a great bill out here last week went down to the Senate. The automotive manufacturers finally showed up they all came to town we call them out in the House Committee and I appreciate your help on that they showed up in town we sat down had negotiations we stuck in the amendment on the Senate and to appease we still have the definition a digital platform which was go to the bill and with that I'd be happy to take any questions so totally agreed upon bill at this point. Any questions from committee. Okay we don't have. Pressure my. Senate proper time. No one signed up to speak for against. Any questions any other questions. River are you are you close optional regulating a. Our motion do pass in Your current Senate amendment. As soon as hasty nineteen twenty two all in favor say aye. Any posts in lack sign here in a resolution classes thank you Mr chairman and I would say there was no senators in the room during the negotiations of this amendment thank you. You can get away with that. Okay next we have a on the regular agenda Senate bill six fifty seven representive Leding bill I thank representative will make a run that there Womack probation dent by yourself you may proceed thank you Mr chair committee of response that represented district eighteen Arkansas this is a very simple bill it for the purposes of registration put sailboats that are not powered by a motor in the same category as of taxing canoes. And that is the others no opposition any questions from committee. Six representative bright point your. You're recognized thank you Mr most most celebrates so both I've been on have small small motors to assist in the in two thousand water ways that pertain to this bill as well no Sir it says it says a vote that is powered solely by so. Follow follow so so it has a ten horse motor on the back that would not be suitable for propulsion the suitable for for Tugnutt nudging into the into the slips you still fall good earnings this bill. I'm not sure I understand your question if if it has a motor this. This does not pertain to it so even the even the small motors that are not suitable for pushing it through the waterways but suitable for a question into say the boat slip it has just one of those is it still exists this would not apply if it has that little motor for maneuvering this this is for sale but Samsung's own so we on serving sentences you. Any other questions committee. Of. We have. Representative right punching punching. Okay representative Womack I I like the bill I was just curious where did it originate how did this idea come about it was a constituent idea that had dealt with the I believe they on the sailboat and. And had to register even though it was only used by Salem occasion. Thank you. Any other questions representative Robert. Thank you Mr chairman a representative Richard I think this may have something in common with this fall under the same situation with a B. W. as a regular bill. If this bill doesn't address that this is only. Pertains registration of that vote I see thank you. Saying no other questions we have to testify for Paul Calvert Paul do you want to speak real here. Okay. Any other questions from committee. Seeing none representative will make your clothes closer bill appreciate a good vote what's will committee representative right you're recognized for motion. I have a motion do pass of any discussion all in favor say aye. Any oppose same last sign here nine congratulates you bill passed thank you Mister Committee. In next Senate bill six eighty six. A representative needs you're recognized that by yourself. And you may proceed. Thank you Mr chair committee I realize I'm the only thing standing between you and the end of your very last committee hopefully so I'll try to be fairly brief here. Senate bill six eighty six is a bill about leveling the playing field and it's ultimately comes down to being a bill about property rights if you own and any piece of property in particular we're talking about airport property here S. the property owner for that land you have the right to be able to determine who does business in what capacity on your property and that this bill is about there is a at any time that we have a new disruptive technology a new type of business it it's a challenge sometimes to for them to be able to be do things in a way that conforms with somebody else's property and when you have a an airport property for example the national airport in northwest Arkansas that has takes care of the infrastructure of security all these things and they have no of revenue coming in from state revenue general revenue or say local sales taxes they pay for their costs their feast the through fees that they place on those that do business on their property so if you agree that you want to do business on the property you want me to play by the rules and we determine that over the years as we said if we had new business models come into play that want to utilize the airport for the growth in their business model like uber and left and and we've added those in fact when I first talked about this bill. it was brought to me that this this model is very similar to what we think of Airbnb which is a great business model its growing really fast abuse it a couple times and very impressed for they cations but if you go to book Airbnb now what those kinds of things that get added to it they're put on the same level playing field so that they're competing on the same level as our local hotels so you're going to pay your local sales tax you're gonna pay possibly in a and P. tax it's going to benefit those communities and those business continue to grow because they if it's something that the customer's desire they're gonna can see positive growth out of that and so what we're asking for is if you'll look on just the it's very short bill the on the Page two line forces regional airport authority under this act may impose regulations tolls and fees on a peer to peer car sharing program as authorized so that they're competing as the same way for business if there is the property if they wanna go off property they can do it anywhere they want if they're gonna use airports property they need to build compete on the same level as all the other businesses that use that same service and I would be happy to try to answer any questions questions from committee. thank you thank you but. President right yep thank you Mr chairman a few questions that I. Generated over the weekend studying this issue so I'll I'll ask a few then yielding in my come back to me but you know what the current statutory definition is for rental car company in the state no I do not. Okay Do you know how however. Which reserve with miss Blair ports currently receive revenue from previously approved entities such as uber lift taxis House here to. I know some it's a different levels on different areas like if it's on like a rental car company I know they have fees that they use for the parking space and they also have fees they charge if they utilize space inside the building for something like that so it's in and there's I think there's a percentage that they have an agreement on a certain percentage of sales as well usually. Okay next Sylvester representative bear. Thank you Mr chairman so center about four years ago we passed a bill a new per Bill. so house is the language any different in in this bill than it was when uber lift and all the other ride sharing companies when that bill was passed resistance premises same language the I don't know the specific language I mean it's very generic says may impose regulations tolls and fees and and this one just on that particular line is focused specifically on peer to peer car chain program so I don't know if it was exactly the same but I would imagine it was something fairly similar follow up follow Mr chairman so centered so it was the the language basically the same thing but the so my only question is if if it was good with uber why would it not be good with any other work ride sharing type company do no one what composition is I think it just specifically names it is a new type of business and so they felt like they were excluded from the language that specifically mentioned those type of companies that were similar to what over over and left thanks Sir thank you Mister chairman if you put me in the queue up for follow up please. Representative rate. Thank you Mr. Is it says may impose regulations tolls and fees on a peer to peer car sharing program is there any limiting factor here I made it seem or or is it just open ended they can impose whatever regulations they want well that would be I mean we did want to get in this specific details of contract negotiations so that would be whatever they felt was competitive I mean there's probably six or seven different of just these type of companies that are popping up around the country so I mean obviously they're going to want to have all kinds of avenues available for their customers to be able to utilize to you you want to be competitive so that it just like it would be from taxi cabs who were left they're gonna probably have similar levels of agreements with them so that they can utilize their services it would be the same thing as you at between these but that would be I don't we want to get into specific negotiations between the companies follow Mr follow up well I guess I'm a little bit confused on this point because. My understanding from talking to. Parties on both sides of this is that. Where we're at currently is the. Ride the peer to peer ride ride ride sharing companies. And the airports are some or are trying to negotiate an agreement this would move from. Them them arranging that agreement between the two parties to. Basically giving the airports the authority to impose on them. This this regulatory fee structure my understanding that right well they have supposedly been. Working on this for close to four five years now not there's not been a lot of progress made because there's nothing to say that they have to do that they've just been able to continue to do things as they've always done without any type of penalty or any of any type of a bearing on whether they have a car on their not in so all we're asking is them to come to the table and make a decision and this that's what again what we want going to specific levels will let the local companies make that decision this doesn't give any kind of restrictions on what those can those announcmenet come out to everything that's between the two companies. President Dr you're recognized issue thank you Mr chairman sentries list you say now that a person gets in a car next independent as it is any rise in the cost of this you say go seven miles and cost say six dollars could this make that the goal will to say eight or nine dollars potentially yes if they're gonna pass that cost on through to the customer just like every other business that does business on their property. Are you there is Iraq representative. President feeling oral motion programs is everyone of you read it we're not ready yet so represent hall recommend I think there's some public safety concerns as well but this could help alleviate in terms of identifying what vehicles are. So so much have been pre vetted and away I know that we hear stories all the time of college students going and getting in vehicles that they don't know and different things so would you say that this has a public safety aspect to it as well that would be very beneficial for canceling because right now there there may be a number of those cars on the property and they have no idea which ones are there how many or where they're parked or anything like that so this would help identify those specific vehicles that are part of that and agreed agreements on this between the carsharing company that is correct absolutely thank you. President bright recognized thank you Mr I think reference to what representative berry was saying that really if they want anything transportation network companies Services Act that really is under the probe public service commission that that helps identify and regulates those types of commercial services whether airport weather just in general. Why are we seeking to use that's really change this for permissive language to the airport verses moving those peer to peer sharing underneath that legislation is enacted four years ago. Well I am not sure why this section or section of code was actually use but I think it does essentially the same thing And but and I and I'm not sure why when this was written it was written in this way but it just you know gives them the permission to hopefully bring them to table and they can make a decision about how they want to do I mean this is essentially no difference to me if you if you consider the possibility of war we were a few years ago as as statutory body of determining whether or not we wanted to do online sales tax and whether you're you know philosophically opposed to that or not it was putting our local businesses in a difficult situation because they were not competing on the same level as some of those companies so all we're asking to do here is that anybody that uses the airport property that they play by the same rules that everybody else does and if they have a good business model and they have something the customers want they're going to succeed and that's gonna provide more for the airport to be able to offer to their customer base they just want everybody to be able to operate in the same rules. Your follow. Okay. Yeah I think I'm on now so. To follow that does this airports currently have the ability to restrict commerce on their grounds. Yes they do. Representative berry you're recognized. Part party rock. should be on. There goes a thank you Mr chairman so in to follow up with the my colleague representative ray on his question so is my understanding that we already have control over all the ride sharing platforms in our airports whether it be taxis of uber lift of bus transportation the airports already have a degree of regulation over all those other transportation platforms that correct that's correct okay so a follow up Mr Mahler so one of one last question I have so if I had a food truck. And I want to park that the truck on airport property and I want to start selling hot dogs out that the truck I'm probably gonna have to have the airports permission because the airports property is that correct that's correct okay thank you Mr. I don't. thank you but. Representative ro you're recognized thank you jim The airport is if the people that run the airport are they on board with this yes yes absolutely in fact I don't think she could be here today but this does what that chief or not the CEO with the C. O. I believe of the error of the report and also the Little Rock airport we're here testifying for this on the city okay okay. As well as with okay thank you Whitaker you're recognized and then be signed up to speak for this as well so. Yes euro you should be okay. Right now I thank you Mr chairman just to as the old adage says how great minds think alike The general already asked my questions about the hot dog stand thank you all right thank you. Any other questions committee saying none we have some to speak for against the bill the bill Kelly Johnson. The approach thereof by yourself speak. Mr Johnson live fire several your within you may begin. Thank you my name's Kelly Johnson on the CEO of the northwest Arkansas national airport thank you Mr chairman for allowing us to speak today and thank you members of the committee for the opportunity This this story with the tour goes back with XNA several years we started in twenty fifteen trying to have a dialogue with Toro it went back and forth we got our lawyers involved it went on for about five months we understood they had vehicles for rent or airport we had an agreement with them we have no insurance certificate from them we have nothing from them they wouldn't talk to us so we did emails and we did letters and lawyers got involved in I'd like to read you one quick sentence here from of their seal with the time Mr Alex been. Back and forth emails back and forth emails we sent an ordinance we say anymore permit to fill out the response I got was we do have the ordinance and the permit that was sent and in my read of it I just don't see how any of it would be appropriate or applicable to these private individuals or to us as a market place. So forty later are attorney asked them to remove this from the website and cease operations didn't have. Did they ignore us we're still being ignored we were told by the Senate committee so we can go Thursday to try and work out an agreement with them of we reached out they didn't reach out to us as little rock airport we spent all day that Friday cobbling together a lease agreement that we sent to them we had signed a non disclosure agreement asking them to the level of activities on both of our airports we did not get that information until eight thirteen the night before the next Senate meeting so we were trying to negotiate in a vacuum we didn't know what kind of volume they were doing we didn't know what they were doing on our own property that's a problem of the fact that there are safety concerns we have we don't know when they're out there we don't know who they are we don't know if their vehicles are signed we don't have any insurance certificate we don't have anything from these folks except I downloaded the rap on how many cars they have available at my airport in any given time but I don't know where they're doing business are they on our current are the in our parking lot or the transporting people off of our property I do not know. And as an airport employee we have a sacred trust with our customers to provide for their safety health and welfare we can't do that when people are operating on our property without agreements with us additionally as you stated earlier we don't receive any tax base revenue we have to subsist on the revenues that we generate from our tenants. Red rates fees and charges car rental companies do pay at our airport they pay for their internal space they pull that pay for their parking spaces they pay as a percentage of their gross revenues the percentage of the gross revenues is below the line on the contract is a pass through from the passenger to the airport that is given to us by the tenth of the following month maybe the twenty I can't remember exactly but to at any rate this reminds me and is very reminiscent of what happened with uber and lift up uber came on the scene we were dealing with uber in twenty fifteen as well we knew Cooper had quite a heavy presence at our airport the state passed a law that basically allowed the state to regulate uber the state to charge you Brophy or any of the TNCs for that matter and they did that and did not leave airports the opportunity to negotiate for fees or opportunity business opportunities are property so we went back to the legislature in twenty seventeen and got the bill the act amended to allow airports to negotiate as well with these TNCs we did that Little Rock was in the process of negotiating in twenty fifteen that were well ahead of us down the road they did it very successfully. Uber drug their feet with XNA for two years we got the bill amended after got the bill amended we waited for it to go into effect we sent them the agreement again the again didn't sign it and drug their feet even though we had a law in place. That said thank you the could we have the opportunity and the right to deal with them we finally told them if they didn't sign the agreement by October the first. They would they were to cease operations are property. They signed the bill. Assesses give me some or lease so so you all know we are not anti competition we are not anti app we are not anti technology platform to that end in twenty nineteen there were forty eight thousand eight hundred and forty five pick ups between uber and lift on our property. And almost that many Dropbox we had six taxicab companies when they came in the business on our property we now have three we have three internal shuttle operators we now have one. The customer chose what they wanted to use in the way of ground transportation and that's fine with us and so you all know the net revenues to the airport in twenty nineteen for uber lift we also had it at develop for taxicabs so they can operate in the same platform we put together geo fence so we know where they are on our property we know how they're operating we have insurance requirements. The those operators generated a hundred thirty thousand four hundred thirty seven dollars in twenty nineteen to XNA we need that money to take care of the roadways they use to pay light bills. The passengers use our our facilities that use a restroom so use our sidewalks all of the things that we have to pay for on our own the FAA requires us to have in place Senate rates fees and charges that make the airport is financially sustainable as possible we can't do that if we don't have the ability to contract with the people that are doing business on our airports. I'm happy to answer any questions you want me. Of ms Johnson just a couple quick questions has it has this. is this occurred in any other states in is your committee litigation in court decisions as force is what we're dealing with today could you speak to that there are currently lawsuits The Boston lawsuit there was a ruling last week by the Supreme Court of the health for the airport massport in lower court it was taken to the Supreme Court was appealed to the Supreme Court and the courts found just last week for the airport of there's a lawsuit currently in Nashville I know there was one at one time in San Francisco I think there's one in Tampa. We decided to sit back with their fifteen volley with these folks we didn't want to get into a very expensive litigation we're hopeful that we could see what others did And we could ride their coattails okay would you did save some medications are amended side including in in airports five S. what you said yes any other questions committee a representative right. Thank you Mr chairman Mr Johnson I'm sympathetic to a lot of the arguments that you're making there's some aspects of this that I still. Not understanding from a process standpoint I. If this is an issue if this is a dispute that's been ongoing since since two thousand fifteen. What why was this bill to compel. This company to enter into an agreement with you filed on April thirteenth we are. We've been here for four months some of the filing period been open since last thanksgiving. Help me understand why we're seeing this at the last minute we actually became aware of it I believe it was December of last year it was somebody else's bill and it was sent to us and we ask for some airport language to be added to that bill at that time and of the Little Rock airport concurred and we work together with the little rock airport come up with some language to answer in the bill I don't remember that bill number perhaps Little Rock ducks but we've been working on this since last December. The other piece if you will of the only way we've got to try and figure out who these folks are in our property is to set up stings if you will for us to rent cars through this platform and then go out and try and catch these folks the sad part about that is the people that will be ticketed or the vehicles that will be told are the people that own the cars not the company that is propagating the business so we we have hesitated to really push the issue hopeful that something could be worked out. Okay follow up Mr. So. You mentioned the Massachusetts example. and the dispute that they've had with that are for everyone why not why not pursue legal action against this company rather than. Trying to pass a law to this effect it will be very costly of we're smaller port unfortunately we're in the midst of pandemic in our revenues are nearly what say what what are not what they once were. But we didn't know until a week ago Thursday what their little elected he was on property it wasn't shared with sign a non disclosure agreement even get that. Okay thank you answer can. I'll get back to your other questions represent Bryant you're recognized. Abbott thank you Mister chair Mister Johnson good to see you again assisting you question if any goes back to some some examples given you're if if a food truck showed up on your thoroughfare just parked out there. And you were you were amenable to the idea of it not say that I can see acts in a little national doing something like this but under what statute would you go pursue them to collect rates and fees author food truck operation we've actually had a food truck truck that occurred for six weeks in a row in on Wednesday we've actually had a couple different ones we reached out to them because it was a request from the public we trying to satisfy the demands from the request of the public something different a lot of our employees that aren't badge to go to the secure cider utilizing that food trucks as well so we've got a lot of employees in the airport hopefully we'll get back to the numbers that we had in nineteen but they're utilizing that food trucks we've got a place where we parked at the truck and we charge a fee for that truck so so it's a mutual understanding is not a statutory rule correct relationship follows Mr so that's that same theory when you apply that to taxi service to other transportation organizations that utilize service your facilities is there's statutory authority for that. Contract negotiation or is that too based on a mutual agreement we have in the regional airport Act forty two impose fees for the uses of our property our roadways or parking lots in those things so statutorily technically there is a statutory authority a we would like to negotiate our agreements with our potential tenants in our users of the facility and we just hit a brick wall with these folks We don't know like I said the level of activity we would like to come to an agreement and I think that's possible but we've seen this push back from these folks all across the country to the point where they're fighting with the large hub airport in Massachusetts they're fighting with a larger of airport in Florida they're fighting with national I think they're large of airport and they may still be meeting report because they don't want. to mutual agreement and basically follow the rules of the operating procedures the airport or pay anything. Nexter represent berry recognized thank you Mr chairman so in the follow up the represented by Bryant's comments so the difference between that the truck that you're getting a fee from also you're getting absolutely zero from zero in the business is being conducted on your property is that correct that is correct okay so in an and by the way ms Johnson thank you for your many years of dedication to northwest Arkansas on protecting the public especially under very difficult the past year I know you had some significant challenges so that leads me into my question are you are you required to provide for the safety and security of your patrons as well as making all of your business standards equitable for everybody that's doing business on airport property that is our first line of protocol thank you thank you Mr. Okay representative hawk ridge but recognized thank you chairman and thank you miss Johnson I also want to say thank you to what you do for us and the Little Rock airport as well hi the bill is also written to include whether there's I don't know how large a group of people to do this at city or municipal airports does it not it would include other municipal airports that you might share with in terms of plain hops or things like that so it doesn't just include our regional airports but it also says municipal airports as well that is correct it would cover them as well thank you. Thank you. Representative Brian. Yeah one more quote Mr so if if if you were to enter into an agreement with Turo how would you go about regulating their activity as far as not details the contract but identifying those vehicles because if I if I am understanding to roads it's my cards my insurance and it's it's user X. that wants to use it by choose to do a drop off at your airport I would I would identify. That I am entering your property to do this transaction and how would you recover fees for that of the agreement that we basically Little Rock and XNA work together on would allow them the parking space or if they need more than one more than one parking space it would be appropriately signed in a well lit lot easy to identify it also would require the people that are renting their personal cars to these folks through this platform to have a sticker on that vehicle so that the person knows when they're getting that vehicle that is the vehicle they are supposed to be getting into we don't want them operating at the curb when we get our numbers back from nineteen or Kerr will again be congested that's not the proper place to be doing business transactions a we would like to have them in our parking lot in the curve is also pretty will of we got six lanes of traffic out there any can you get pretty busy and people get in a hurry and don't always drive the speed limit so they're safer to be in another location besides curbside additionally we want an insurance certificate we want to make sure that the people that get in these vehicles are appropriately protected. Okay saying no more questions thank you for your testimony thank you. next the against the bill Dustin Brighton. You approach defy yourself you within you may proceed. Mr chairman members of the committee my name is Dustin Brighton I represent euro here today we are opposed to the bill with all due respect I I live in northwest Arkansas so I'm arguing with the some of my colleagues here is is is not a lot of fun but I will tell you that we and Pterophoridae solution is very unnecessary we think it's super superfluous frankly it gives just another tool for the airports and I find it interesting this has been mentioned the rent rental car companies it gives them another tool to try and frankly discriminate against our business model the airports already have the ability to impose rules and fees upon services like to roll I have to be honest I don't know what happened in two thousand fifteen I was not associated with the company then what I can tell you is right now and twenty twenty one the negotiations are happening right now to try and work out an agreement that's going on without this law or this proposed law I can tell you also that this bill that you're considering today was introduced on April thirteenth Turrell had reached out after receiving contact from the little rock airport had reached back out and started negotiations which those negotiations are going on right now so again I fail and the company fails to see why a law of this nature is is needed frankly there been other states that have passed something that codifies something in this nature if Turo does not agree to the mandated not to go share but mandated terms and conditions at the airports put out there they sit as has already been mentioned there are several lawsuits or I should say multiple lawsuits that are going on right. Right now I find it interesting that the Massachusetts lawsuit was brought out because frankly Yes the company has been sued by message is the message amid a Massachusetts airport but the fact of the matter is there's no state law like this one they can sue anyway so I again I don't see why this needs to be codified at this time we certainly are willing to work with the airports in negotiating a fair permit we are not a rental car company so it's very hard for our business model to comply with the terms and conditions of an airport and permit like that of the rental car company frankly we're not that big we're not a thirty five bit zero is not a thirty five billion dollar company like enterprise so this bill it we seen in other places and normally it does come at the behest of the rental car companies you may here today I and other testimony that the FAA has mandated that they have to have a like fees and services for like business the fact of the matter is the FAA does not regulate as a rule ground transportation at airports that's what we are I have this in writing from the FAA in an email that was sent to us and it says as a rule the FAA does not get involved in access disputes between an airport and ground transportation provider local government and airport authorities tend to regulate manage access to the airports covered front except in certain circumstances are regulatory Tory focuses on aeronautical issues not ground transportation at airports while the sponsor of a federally obligated airport has a federal opposition to ensure the aeronautical users have access to airport facilities on reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory Sturm's and without granting exclusive rights the airport sponsor is not obligated to oversee pricing service levels or competition for non aeronautical activity. He's or concessions such as public parking and ground transportation so again the FAA has told us that really they don't get into the ground transportation issue here so and we heard that when this bill was debated on the Senate side so again I I I do I am somewhat confused as to why there is a need for a state statute when I already have the ability to negotiate a contract with us they already have the ability to sue has been demonstrated by other airports including the Massachusetts lawsuit that has been referenced so we would respectfully ask that you vote no on this bill thank you questions from committee of the committee members you don't raise your hand to sponsor my cannot issues a little more sophisticated what we have a maxi illness like chip on board so represent right you're recognized thank you Mister chairman Mr Brighton how many airports in the United States this Turrell have an agreement with currently that's a very good question I don't know the exact number off the top of my head could you approximate I could approximate I'd say that it's probably. Between six and ten at this point we're constantly looking to negotiate how many go follow Mr. How many airports would you say across country would you say that euro is operating at where it does not have an agreement. It's been rage that's a good question I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that they're not operating Aksumite I I would say that I mean the larger airports were probably work they're probably operating there however again I go back to we reach out to airports in several places to trying to go she had a contract and a lot of times we get still. Okay thank you. The hawk recognized. Yes. Thank you for being here. The State Farm agent is going to cover my accident and a city that I don't live in or and so on so how do you work with your the people that they're renting their cars are having their cars rented out how do you work with them and assure me as a person renting that vehicle that both it's safe and it is insured from anything that I would be held accountable for or that you might be held accountable for how do you ensure that yes ma'am it's a very good question represent I'm glad to answer that to roll as part of a group of companies that worked with in coil National Committee on insurance of the insurance legislators they came up with a model bill and we supported that model billing we have in several states as a matter of fact we offer that up with regard to another bill that I had Senate bill three fifty one that encompassed many quite frankly what we felt were negative ramifications for peer to peer carsharing companies the insurance piece is one of the ones that that bill tried to address in frankly it was the in court model but it wasn't the inquire model they were several add on's within the language the fact of the matter is if this had been just a clean in coral bill that addresses the insurance concerns I wouldn't be here today testifying against this bill it probably testifying in support of it we have a deal to roll does with liberty mutual insurance insurance is provided to those who who use our services it usually applies as soon as the transaction starts our insurance takes over from there so they are covered the whole time during during the transaction as far as other safety like the automobile itself which. She referenced we have a checklist if you want to list your car on Turo you have to provide proof that the car's been inspected that it meets certain safety need certain safety requirements because listen if and you know as well as I do if we have a bunch of unsafe cars out there and something happens our business isn't going to exist for very long. If there represent all yes okay represent very. Thank you Mr chairman so would you say that the. should be allowed to operate a business on somebody else's property without any oversight or regulations. I would say in this case with the airports that we would be willing to work with them now but we're willing to work with anybody to negotiate a contract thank you Mr. Right. Thank you chairman I've heard I've heard several comments bill presenter previous testimony in years that the airports currently have this authority. So why am I sitting here. Good question same reason I am this is a follow up if this bill were to pass does it change anything. No it would not as I said as far as policy goes what I will say is the airports we use it and just say look we've got a state law now and again it's somewhat negotiating under duress right because we've been negotiating and the whole time this is the third bill this is one of three bills is been introduced this session where we had to address problems for our business model and I would say we've been negotiating through that the whole time again representative we re we started trying to go share them before this particular bill was even entertainers thank you for the ride recognized for a question yes Sir thank you Mister chairman Sir I know it's an old question only ask one more time. Let's just say that a person gets in that car and. And they go five or six miles and it's separate dollars charge if this bill passes will this radio. They absolutely could put that condition on us for the negotiations are taking place sure. Reserve so that you're recognized. Thank you though for the comment. You should. Of my question I guess is is the. you know that. But a. Thank you but again would you please. Okay now. Hello number should be on. You're not. You should return three waiting for now there we go high all right of we've heard since two thousand fifteen that these and they go she ation so being going on yet no negotiations been reached and so I I mean I guess my question is is what what from the company's perspective wine why hasn't it been reached at all I mean you're doing business essentially on somebody else's property and your basically. not competing at the same level as your competition you're getting a pass on it because you're not having to pay the airport anything when all these other groups are so I guess my question is is you know why why do you think you deserve a pass and why haven't negotiations been concluded in six years. Yes Sir again as far as two thousand fifteen hard for me to address that I will tell you that as XNA just testified there was five months of talks and then it went dark again I'm not sure if the period was just dark that whole time until like the last last year it's hard for me to address that so I don't know what kind of communications we're going on I wouldn't say I I have to admit I think that to road tell you they don't feel like they should be operating on somebody's property or their users should be operating on somebody's property without without the airports knowledge of that again I would go back to we've reached out several times to negotiate contracts several airports I will say that a lot of times and this is the truth there been several times where we have reached out to airports negotiated contracts date things are going well looks like apartment will be in place very soon and literally the night before ninety ninety two instances off top of my head when there was supposed to be a permit that was secured we got a call from the airport turreted saying sorry we can't do this the rental car companies aren't agreeing to it that they're threatening lawsuits et cetera again we're not a rental car company we don't make the amount of revenue that they do so it's very hard for us to agree to something I mean are they a competitor. I would say their competitor in the space but it's a very different business model we don't own inventory they do they get a sales tax exemption when I buy a car for their fully all of our people have paid their sales taxes and fees and put their when they put their car on the platform there are a lot of differences so it's it's going to be very difficult and frankly impede the company's growth if we are treated as a rental car companies by entities such as our. President right you're recognized thank you Mr chairman mid Mr Brighton There's a comparison made in the the presentation to an internet sales tax I'm not asking you about fees their airport specific but. For regular state and local taxes distros collect and remit regularly applicable state and local taxes we do when we meet the mandated thresholds absolutely. Okay follow up Mr chairman I want to go back to the email that miss Johnson read from several years ago. That email seem to indicate this goes similar to to representative berries question. That email seem to indicate that it was the company's believe that they don't need any sort of agreement to operate. On airport property or is what you're saying that the company no no longer believes that that the company. I believe they should. And I would agreement yes Sir to dress that I would say two thousand fifteen the company was very young they were trying to start out the rental car companies had become very aggressive in their tactics to try and and stifle the growth I would tell you that was probably the reason although I can't speak to that again this is just me is assuming that the whatever the the negotiations were with XNA they we're not gonna work for us just due to the amount of revenue that was being made at that time here we are six years later the company is growing it behooves the company to work with airports obviously it makes sense just from a business standpoint for our customers to be able to procure a car for their use or an automobile at that airport it does us no good to fight with airports thank you see where we are today I'm sitting in front of you because of something that might happen in two thousand fifteen what I can tell you is this is two thousand twenty one we will negotiate agreements and that this this bill and if it were to become a loss purpose again the the the airports can already come after so so what's the hold up I mean what what's what's the friction points why follows sorry about that Mister chair so what what's the friction point wise an agreement not been reached what are the sticking points I mean I'm glad to go with you through some of the things in the negotiation car capital limitations our problem they're saying at a lot airports will say you can only have two cars per customer per year at the airport I mean that that goes all over the place it's been it's interpreted different ways that a lot of times parking spaces or negotiate or in negotiation again real car contracts with airports a lot of times there are parking spaces that they procure because again they have inventory we don't. Frankly there's not a need at either XNA or little rock for us to have to pay them for for parking spaces they're not needed right now as I understand it they are ready you know and they want to surety bond they take that from an airport contract in December frankly the two airports right here we hope they're there someday but they're not as large as Denver yet so again it's it's it's trying to place other. Other at terms and conditions that may not necessarily imply Arkansas they wanted ten percent of gross revenue from us we offered five we could possibly come off that five percent if the the airport came off some of the other points it's almost like at times were negotiating a take it or leave it deal again we're talking about the terms and conditions that's that's essentially as I understand it that's what it we could work through these terms but before the Senate hearing we reached out ask for a phone call with the airports we got no response you know again we we want to procure a workable deal but it won't be a deal that's going to. That the business is structured as a. There's a very you're recognized for a question. I thank Mr so. You've been operating out of XNA in little rock for five or six years so how much revenue bill generated the two airports over five or six years I would have to get back to you on that but I don't know the number off the top of my head I can definitely get back with the committee on it but I will tell you it's it's minimal would be my as follows Mr Milo so how much of that revenue have you've given XNA or little rock for the use of their lights sidewalks this is sick implied security they haven't so far how much of your revenue from Touro has has been given to them I would say at this point without agreement not okay thank you Mr. Whitaker recognized thank you Mr chairman I move immediate consideration. More or. Okay. Okay when the public debate part of it it would have to be in public debate or limit public debate the one limit public debate. I yes I'd like are thank you Mr chairman like to limit public debate to two minutes per Speaker I have a motion. Then the public back to main Speaker all in favor say aye all right any opposing like sign hearing none will continue to do that well go then the next question representative Brooks you're recognized for a question and thank you Mr chairman allocate quick since we're working limit this and I'll I'll admit is somewhat frustrating to sit appearing here of your poor folks say that that would like to work out something and then here you also say we like to represent groups hold on just a minute Sir did did your motion include questions or just the the. Why why yes Mr. We're gonna we're gonna follow read that represent Brooks faces questions then we'll move on. I'll go do pass my frustrations us question then at so if and I'm still working to wrap my mind around the concept up maybe I'm just slowing it's okay so is due currently if if someone is is renting utilizing them as as a method of transportation are they taking a parking space at some point. At an airport that that could happen yes it doesn't necessarily have to happen that way as far as the transfer of the car from the host to the gassed I mean it could it could happen at a at a parking place at the airport or it could happen somewhere else. K.. And if they are utilizing parking spaces at the airport whose whose maintain the liability for that vehicle father on airport property may maybe not occupied let's let's say they had to act in a and and the passengers arriving at twelve PM so my drops or being off at ten AM well who's maintain liability for that and and could potentially airport base of a liability situation if if that people sitting there and standards in some way right well the insurance again kicks in when somebody decides to use a car it kicks in once the transaction begins so I think that you know. As far as a liability on that the heckle the insurance from us to roll would apply if the transaction is started as far as a liability for their poor I could not speak to that I have to be honest. Thank running questioning here thank you for your testimony Mr Brighton thank Nicks speaking for the bill is Brian Malinovsky if I pronounce that wrong right you can correct this come up Introduce yourself and who you're representing. Thank you got two minutes thank you Sir Brian no one else ski I am the executive director of the Little Rock minutes getting my guess would be more brown if you will thank you I'm the executive director for the little rock airport. honestly I wish we were sworn into pose today because half of what you just heard was not true I want to tell you that the airport has been reaching out to Toro not the other way around in for me. this is a safety issue we'd like to know who is operating on our airports in and have some kind of permit with them from a safety perspective we would very much like to identify one two three or four spaces in our parking lot have it well let identified to be able to tell the passengers this is where you go if you're renting a Toro of Kerr same way we do with uber and lift we identify space they go there we can keep it very safe for the passengers what bothers me today is the possibility of somebody getting into a vehicle with somebody they don't know going off airport going to somewhere else on the report I don't know in I think that's just a recipe for a for a bad situation and that that bothers me personally and so that's that's the safety aspect of that second Turrell has asked us to park some of these cars on or curb we simply can't allow that from a regulatory standpoint with security TSA and so forth we can't leave unattended vehicles on our curve and I think most of us know that in last without insurance piece of he says that the insurance will cover these transactions we don't know that we've never seen an insurance certificate we that's that's part of the permit process is to make sure that there is insurance I thank representative thank you you mentioned that how do I know I'm covered I can't take his word for it I need to see that in those types of things in short I I'll be very brief they've been negotiating with airports for a long long time Kelly from XNA mentioned this this gentleman from from Toro back in twenty fifteen Alex band and as a follow up to that Alexander times of I'm sorry Alex now the president of the company thank you okay next testifying for the bill is Shane Carter. At. We know your sister we got two minutes for the Speaker and the question so yes. Allen. All right who to ask questions. Thank you bye. I don't see any okay represent branch recognized. This. This would proponent representative book Brooks follow up to his right now when they park those vehicles in they're waiting for their transaction to occur. When they leave the parking lot they're gonna be paying something for their time being used at that actor it may be accurate Sir the the challenge here the difference between and I'm the one that used a hot dog truck representative five a hot dog truck out there operating without a permit I can go out there and I can take a police officer with me and and and you know in in addressed the issue in this case when there are three or four vehicles on the curb I can not tell you which one as of tomorrow which one is a private individuals that's that's the challenge here is trying to identify just who they are and that's why we want the details of the stickers and what we've recommended is a couple parking spaces well defined well marked and will lead in a specified area of the parking lot of and a reduced rate on the parking and those types of things for me this is not about revenue for me this is about safety and always has been. Right. Thank you Mr it. If this is just a safety issue then why have you not been able to hammer out an agreement on some of what Mr Brighton Senator the sticking points related to the number of spots the required to purchase related to the gross proceeds I mean Mr Brighton didn't indicate that any of the safety concerns were problem so I assume that they're fine with their rate we got thirty seconds on Miller I'll do my best to answer that when we talk we we are regulated entity and we have grand assurances corrections for twenty two requires us to be nondiscriminatory and rates and charges regardless of what is said we view this as a rental of a vehicle if you go on their own website it says you're going to rent a car so we Trent we treat them no differently than the other rental car companies who do pay that ten percent of gross it's it's not the revenue that is developing more so it's an issue of being a nondiscriminatory level same on the parking spaces which charge a rental cars one half of our parking rate we offer the same here and I'll give them as little as one space just wanna ask you times of sorry but in on you know what the rules are rules I'm trying to get everybody the same fair chance yes Sir okay a nexus speaking for the bill would be amber Bagley is that correct. This bag issue several you represent remember your clock two minutes. Hello everyone thank you Mr chair and members of the committee I'm amber Bagley and we are general counsel for the little rock airport Mr stating I'm and I hear mainly to answer any legal questions that that you may have if I may I'd like to spend my time trying to pick up on representative raise questions about one he asked on I can't this just be a matter for the judiciary why can't we just manage this in court only one of the things that we're struggling with and we've been trying to manage this and then in the agreement side is we can't police this issue we don't know where these folks are you can't look on the app and tell the difference between my personal car your personal car anyone else that may be using the app so in order to go to court you have to have evidence right you have to have information you can't go seek an injunction in the circuit court without being able to tell the judge what you're trying to enjoin so and because we do have the enabling statute the enabling legislation that allows us to impose regulation on those that use our property that statute hasn't been effective in accomplishing the goals that we have for regulating Turow and so which is which is evident by the the testimony heard today for ms Johnson that they haven't been able to use that legislation that they have to effectively regulate terror today. Question committee. We've got a few seconds. Correct thank you Mr back you testimony we're thank you Mr we have somebody punching okay execute where's beverages but we got a. President very thank you Mr this real quick and so if I if I is up a private party if I own five vehicles I can go take about the Little Rock airport parking out there in random off the Turrell platform conducting business is that correct the essentially that's what's happening regulated that's what's happening right now thank you yes Sir thank you Mr president this motives any other questions next on the list Steve Mangum. State procs bench there by yourself the representative made again. Remember you have two minutes on the clock. Thank you Mr chairman I am Steve being I'm at with miss Bagley I'm one of the general counsel for the airport again I just kind of wanted to extend what she was saying and address what representative Brian asked earlier why are we here because the airport does have essentially the authority to do Sir regulations by the problem we have what we can do it with a hot dog track then I pull up on the stand on the property because we recognize that we don't have that ability with these cars that have no is nothing other than a standard Arkansas license plate so and sent the decals which to roll in our last attempt to negotiate with them rejected they didn't want to have any kind of markings on the cars and without these designated parking spots we just have no way to regulate and and we feel much it and in addition the imposition that would be placed on the airports to and that. To address these are abilities that they have would be much it would create a new a policing authority or policing aspect that would be costly to them and we think with this bill if it's approved it puts it shifts the burden back to Turo date in order for them to operate they need to get That agreement with the airport and all of the concessionaires and the airports have agreements with the import is when we're not looking to create any kind of problems are the county in with them we just want to know who they are and and let them operate on the same level playing field with all the others. Thank you question of the committee got just a few seconds. Thank you for your testimony thank you Sir percentage would you like to close that's all we have to testify today. Thank you Mr chairman Committee let me leave you with one thing and there's a business model that we're seeing all over northwest Arkansas happen to pricing seven since similar in other parts of state where these drive thru coffee facilities are coming in and they're going and renting a spot like in a parking lot of a grocery store or something like that and you would know if you're going to agree to something like that that before the little begin putting up for those pre fab will drive throughs to to have an agreement in place before you let him start well that's pretty easy to take care of but if if you had a a facility like that and in the middle of the night somebody came in while you were closed and everything was gone and brought in some kind of business and open it up indeed transactions on your parking lot that you pay the infrastructure for at night time and you had no idea who it was or what they were doing this comes down to a property rights issue and I pray would please help you help me I move this forward and I'll create a good vote on this bill please represent feeling you're recognized for motion. I have a motion do pass any discussion all in favor say aye opposed same accent.