PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey admitted Friday that he fired an agency director shortly after taking office to thwart plans to aggressively enforce state laws regulating those who offer rides for money.
Ducey, boasting of accomplishments of his administration to a national Republican leadership meeting, said that shortly after he took office he interviewed Shawn Marquez, director of the Department of Weights and Measures.
Against a backdrop of the Super Bowl coming to Arizona, Ducey said Marquez told him, “I’m going to run a sting on Uber and Lyft and shut them down,” having undercover officers cite drivers for both companies who were not in compliance with the same background checks and insurance coverage required of traditional taxi companies.
That, Ducey said, did not comport with his views of the role of government.
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“I’m happy to tell you that that director is now in the private sector,” he told his audience at the spring meeting of the Republican National Committee.
After firing Marquez, Ducey appointed former House Speaker Andy Tobin to run the agency and directed Tobin not to enforce the taxi laws against Uber and Lyft drivers while legislators looked for a fix.
It took several more months for lawmakers to actually approve a measure which provided parallel but somewhat different laws to govern the ridesharing services and the people who drive for them.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, the governor said the firing was justified.
“What we are not going to have are overly aggressive regulators who are going beyond the scope of authority to hurt innovative, entrepreneurial new ideas in Arizona,” Ducey said.
The governor, however, did not dispute that the laws in effect at the time, which Marquez was seeking to enforce, did apply to anyone offering rides for money.
The agency was already citing Uber and Lyft drivers for operating a ride-for-money service outside the law last year, before Ducey took office.
But Ducey was dismayed Marquez had a more active enforcement planned, one scheduled for a week when Arizona would have tens of thousands of out-of-town visitors.
“We’re not looking to sting or surprise companies,” Ducey said.
“You know, it’s not the role of government to crush businesses and to crush innovation,” the governor continued. “And in my administration, that’s not going to happen.”
Uber and Lyft have a business model built on ordering up rides online. Companies then send out messages to individuals who, using their own vehicles, are willing to pick up patrons and, for a fee, take them to their destination.
Passengers pay the fee online, with the company forwarding a share of that to the driver.
Last year, as the services became more popular, the Department of Weights and Measures started citing drivers for not complying with laws regulating taxi services. The legislation approved earlier this year creates a similar, but modified, set of regulations for those who drive for “transportation network companies.”
On Twitter: @azcapmedia
