80R5524 MSE-F
 
  By: Bailey H.B. No. 2338
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a municipality to regulate a vehicle
operating as a limousine.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Section 215.004, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
       Sec. 215.004.  TAXICABS AND LIMOUSINES.  (a)  To protect the
public health, safety, and welfare, a municipality by ordinance
shall license, control, and otherwise regulate each private
passenger vehicle, regardless of how it is propelled, that provides
passenger taxicab or limousine transportation services for
compensation, is designed for carrying no more than eight
passengers if the vehicle is operating as a taxicab or no more than
15 passengers if the vehicle is operating as a limousine, and is
operated:
             (1)  within the jurisdiction of the municipality;
             (2)  on property owned by the municipality, singly or
jointly with one or more other municipalities or public agencies;
             (3)  on property in which the municipality possesses an
ownership interest; or
             (4)  by transporting from the municipality, municipal
property, or property in which the municipality has an interest and
returning to it.
       (b)  The ordinance may include:
             (1)  regulation of the entry into the business of
providing passenger taxicab or limousine transportation services,
including controls, limits, or other restrictions on the total
number of persons providing the services;
             (2)  regulation of the rates charged for the provision
of the services;
             (3)  establishment of safety and insurance
requirements; and
             (4)  any other requirement adopted to ensure safe and
reliable passenger transportation service.
       (c)  In regulating passenger taxicab or limousine
transportation services under this section, a municipality is
performing a governmental function. A municipality may carry out
the provisions of this section to the extent the governing body of
the municipality considers it necessary or appropriate.
       SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.