CO HB1316

Simplifies the Public Utilities Commission's process for issuing taxicab service certificates in eight Colorado metropolitan counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, and Jefferson.

Applicants must prove operational and financial fitness to provide taxicab service; the Commission cannot consider corporate structure when approving or disapproving applications.

Eliminates the requirement for applicants to prove inadequacy of existing taxicab service; if fitness is demonstrated, the Commission must grant a certificate.

Establishes a rebuttable presumption of public need once an applicant proves fitness, shifting the burden to opponents to prove lack of public convenience and necessity or detriment to public interest.

Declares that nothing in the law requires or prohibits taxicab companies from forming labor unions or requires taxicab drivers to join unions.