AUSTIN -- Austin voters will decide on regulations for ridesharing applications like Uber and Lyft.
Austin's City Council issued on an ordinance requiring ridesharing companies to do fingerprint background checks in December.
Ridesharing groups had an issue with this and filed a petition that had more than 25,000 signatures. The petition forced city council to either accept the ridesharing groups' ordinance or call for an election.Before ridesharing, Carole Thorp didn't have a steady job for five years.
"They saved my life," Carole Thorp said. "I could not get hired in this town because I'm not the median age of 32. So, I started 'Lyfting' and I haven't looked back".Thorp drives for Lyft between 30 and 40 hours a week.
"It's been great, Plus, we're taking drunk people off the streets," Thorp said. "We're saving lives. We're providing access to mobility that's never been seen before in this town and I think it's about time".Ridesharing Works for Austin Political Action Committee asked voters to support Proposition 1 in the May 7 election. The proposed ordinance repeals the council's decision and adopts a new one -- drivers will go through background checks but will not be fingerprinted.
Rather than pay 2 percent f the ridesharing company's gross revenue to the city, Proposition 1 requires the company's to pay 1 percent."We support ridesharing and we think it's good for our traffic issues," said Joe Deshotel, Travis County Democratic Party Communications Director.
Deshotel told KVUE, while the party is for ridesharing, it opposes Proposition 1."This is a huge test case for whether corporations can come in and essentially write their own rules around our elected officials," Deshotel said.
Early voting for the May 7 election is April 25 through May 3.