Next stop for a bill that paves the way for ride-booking companies like Uber to operate in West Virginia: Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's desk.
On Monday, the state Senate voted unanimously to approve legislation that establishes rules for the app-based transportation services in West Virginia. The House of Delegates passed the bill 94-4 on Feb. 15.
Tomblin is expected to sign the legislation, and West Virginians could start hailing rides with their smartphone apps starting July 1.
"This legislation provides an opportunity for people to benefit from self-employment opportunities, will provide an additional transportation option in many cities and should cut down on drunken driving," said Chris Stadelman, a spokesman for Tomblin.
Ride-for-hire services will likely be most popular in larger cities like Huntington, Morgantown and Charleston.
"It will create more opportunities for people to get to where they need to go safely," said Sen. Chris Walters, R-Putnam.
The legislation also is expected to give a boost to the state's tourism industry and convention business.
"One of biggest complaints I hear is [people] not being able to get around, not being able to take taxis ... from one area of [Charleston] to another to explore our city," Walters said. "This creates more competition, and any time we have more competition, we have more options for our citizens and we create more reliability."
The bill requires ride-sharing companies to conduct background checks on drivers, though not comprehensive fingerprint checks as some senators suggested at recent meetings. The proposals followed a string of shootings in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that involved an Uber driver and left six people dead.
Taxi drivers also aren't subject to fingerprint checks.
Under West Virginia's bill, Uber drivers won't be allowed to accept cash. All payments would be electronic.
Uber and Lyft connect people needing rides with local drivers using an app on their smartphones. Uber drivers use their own vehicles.
According to the bill, the companies also would be required to make sure drivers secure adequate insurance coverage. While not logged into the system, drivers would have to maintain $50,000 in coverage for death and bodily injury per person, $100,000 in coverage for death and bodily injury per incident, and $25,000 for property damage.
If a driver has a fare, insurance must provide at least $1 million of coverage in case of any accident.
The Republican-controlled Legislature pushed for an Uber bill last year, but a group of lawmakers torpedoed the legislation by opposing a provision to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender riders from discrimination.
Last month, Delegate Stephen Skinner, D-Jefferson, proposed an amendment to the Uber bill that would require ridesharing companies to adopt non-discrimination policies that listed specific classes of people. The House rejected Skinner's proposal.
The legislation does mandate the companies to have non-discrimination policies, but the policies can't be more stringent than existing state laws that bar discrimination.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.