685710 DC Taxicab Commission extends regulations that allow current SUV Taxicabs to Continue Operating in the Disrict of Columbia pending further rulemaking action

 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TAXICAB COMMISSION

NOTICE OF EMERGENCY AND PROPOSED RULEMAKING

 

The District of Columbia Taxicab Commission (Commission), by its Panel on Rates and

Rules, pursuant to the authority set forth under §§ 8(b)(1)(C), (F), and (G) of the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission Establishment Act of 1985, as amended, effective March 25, 1986 (D.C. Law 6-97; D.C. Official Code §§ 50-307(b)(1)(C), (F), and (G)) (2001), hereby gives notice of emergency rulemaking action taken on  January 21, 2011, to amend Chapter 6, Section 601 of Title 31 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR). The proposed amendment of § 601 provides those taxicab owners and operators with sport utility vehicles (SUVs) registered by the Department of Motor Vehicles with Commission taxicab tags  to continue to operate as taxicabs in the District of Columbia and be allowed to complete the taxicab inspection process while the Commission completes the process of rulemaking that would allow certain SUVs to operate as taxicabs on an ongoing basis and establish standards for the operation of SUVs as taxicabs.

 

This emergency rulemaking is an extension of the Emergency and Proposed rulemaking adopted on January 21, 2010, which became effective on January 22, 2010 and was published as a final rulemaking in the D.C. Register on April 2, 2010.  The rulemaking will expire on January 22, 2011.  It was anticipated that a more substantial rulemaking on this issue would be incorporated into a more substantial amendment of Chapter 6 before the January 22, 2011 expiration; however the substantial amendment of Chapter 6 has been delayed.  

 

This emergency action is necessary in order to avoid an immediate negative economic impact on taxicab owners and operators who have been allowed to register SUVs as taxicabs and who would be negatively impacted were they to immediately be prohibited from meeting the on-going taxicab registration and taxicab inspection requirements. 

 

This emergency rule was adopted January 11, 2011, and became effective on January 11, 2011.  The emergency rulemaking will expire one hundred twenty (120) days after the effective date of the emergency rulemaking.

 

The Commission also gives notice of its intent to take final rulemaking action to adopt these proposed rules (which are identical to the emergency rules) in not less than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.

 

Title 31 DCMR, Chapter 6, TAXICAB PARTS AND EQUIPMENT, Section 601.1A is amended as follows:

 

Subsection 601.1A is amended to read as follows:

 

601.1A            Notwithstanding the provisions of § 601.1 above, taxicab owners or operators with sport utility vehicles previously registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles with Commission taxicab tags shall be allowed to continue to operate as taxicabs and be allowed to complete the taxicab inspection process if they comply with all other laws and regulations. 

 

Copies of the proposed rulemaking can be obtained at www.dcregs.dc.gov or by contacting Dena C. Reed, General Counsel and Secretary to the Commission, District of Columbia Taxicab Commission, 2041 Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue, S.E., Suite 204, Washington, D.C. 20020. Any person desiring to file written comments on the proposed rulemaking action must submit their written comments to www.dctaxi.dc.gov not later than thirty (30) days after the publication of this notice in the D.C Register.