Florida Senate - 2014                             CS for SB 1618
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Brandes
       
       
       
       
       
       596-04212-14                                          20141618c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to chauffeured limousines; creating s.
    3         316.901, F.S.; prohibiting a special district from
    4         discriminating or restricting the use of certain
    5         chauffeured limousines by requiring a minimum wait
    6         time or minimum fare, restricting the number of
    7         permits issued to operate in the county, or
    8         restricting access across county lines; requiring
    9         chauffeured limousines to meet certain minimum
   10         financial responsibility requirements; defining the
   11         term “chauffeured limousine”; providing an effective
   12         date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Section 316.901, Florida Statutes, is created to
   17  read:
   18         316.901 Chauffeured limousines; prohibited practices;
   19  definition.—A special district may not discriminate or restrict
   20  the use of chauffeured limousines for hire using digital
   21  transportation request services by requiring a minimum wait
   22  time, requiring a minimum fare, restricting the number of
   23  permits issued to operate limousines in the county, or
   24  restricting access across county lines from limousines for hire.
   25  Chauffeured limousines shall meet the minimum financial
   26  responsibility requirements of s. 324.032 or greater
   27  requirements set by the county if those same requirements apply
   28  to individuals and businesses that provide the same or similar
   29  service. As used in this section, the term “chauffeured
   30  limousine” means a chauffeured, nonmetered motor vehicle with
   31  four or more doors, designed to carry fewer than nine passengers
   32  excluding the chauffeur, and operated for hire pursuant to an
   33  advance reservation, the fare for which is calculated on the
   34  basis of time and distance, except for trips to airports or
   35  other point-to-point trips based on well-traveled routes or for
   36  event-related trips such as sporting events, which may be
   37  charged on a flat-fee basis. The term does not include a
   38  taxicab; a vehicle used for not-for-profit, tax-exempt
   39  operations; or a vehicle used for transportation of persons
   40  between home and work locations or of persons having a common
   41  work-related trip when ridesharing is incidental to another
   42  purpose of the driver.
   43         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2014.