ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Republican-led Senate approved its own version of allowing ride hailing apps like Lyft and Uber to operate outside of New York City, the first step in a negotiation.
"I think it's important to move forward and that's what the Senate is doing," said Jim Seward, (R) State Senate, Milford. "If in fact there is interest before budget on the part of the governor and the Assembly to come to terms I'm all for it.
The Senate approved its version of the ride hailing measure 53 to five. It includes a 2 percent tax on hails, lower than the 5.5 percent surcharged proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"I think the 5.5 in my mind is excessive," Seward said. "That's why our bill says two."
The Senate was undeterred by a social media campaign that arose after Uber drivers continued to pick up hails at JFK during a boycott from traditional cab drivers over Donald Trump's immigration ban.
"If you judge what you're going to do by the number of protests we would do absolutely nothing because everybody is protesting everything nowadays," said John DeFrancisco, (R) State Senate, Syracuse.
In the Assembly, Democrats plan to take up their own version of ride hailing soon.
"I'd say in the not too distant future we will have a version of where we are and as we usually do with all pieces of legislation try to find a compromise," said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D).
And that could pave the way for an agreement ahead of the budget after the measure has stalled for the last year in Albany amid disagreements over how to insure drivers.
"No, I think it's perfectly appropriate for the Senate to stake out where they want to go in negotiations," said Kevin Cahill, (D) State Assembly, Kingston. "We will be doing the same very shortly."
Governor Cuomo has framed a ride hailing expansion as a means of fairness for upstate New York.