New York state’s highest court upholds livery street-hail service
The New York State Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a state law authorizing the city’s establishment of street-hail livery service in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and northern Manhattan, as well as the City’s sale of 2,000 additional medallions for wheelchair-accessible yellow taxicabs, which is expected to generate approximately $1 billion in city revenue over the next few years.
“With this decision, we can finally bring safe, reliable taxi service to the four and a half boroughs that don’t currently have it,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “That’s a victory for everyone who lives in, works in or visits New York City. This will also advance our efforts to make taxi service available to people with disabilities, by adding 2,000 wheelchair-accessible yellow cabs to the streets.”
In three related cases, Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade v. Bloomberg, Taxicab Services Assoc. v. State of New York, and Greater New York Taxicab Assoc. v. State of New York, members of the yellow taxi industry and other plaintiffs alleged that the law was unconstitutional, claiming that the New York State Legislature enacted the state law in violation of certain procedural and substantive requirements of the New York State Constitution.
Expressing concern over the balance between state and local power, the plaintiffs in each case argued that the state lacked constitutional authority to pass the law without a “home rule message” from the City Council. Some of the plaintiffs also asserted that the state law violates the New York Constitution’s “Exclusive Privileges Clause” by limiting eligibility for the new HAIL licenses.
