FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 420
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR KLARICH.
Read 1st time February 6, 2001, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
1635S.03I
AN ACT
To amend chapter 67, RSMo, by adding thereto five new sections relating to the creation of a regional taxicab commission, with an emergency clause.
Section A. Chapter 67, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto five new sections, to be known as sections 67.1815, 67.1818, 67.1821, 67.1824 and 67.1827, to read as follows:
67.1815. As used in sections 67.1815 to 67.1827, the following words and terms mean:
(1) "City", a city not within a county;
(2) "Commission", the regional taxicab commission created by section 67.1818;
(3) "County", a first class county with a charter form of government adjacent to a city not within a county;
(4) "District", the geographical area encompassed by the regional taxicab commission created by section 67.1818;
(5) "Chief executive", the mayor of a city not within a county, and the county executive of any county, which city and county are located within the geographical area encompassed by the regional taxicab commission created by section 67.1818.
67.1818. There is hereby created a "Regional Taxicab Commission", which shall exercise authority over a regional taxicab district, comprising any city not within a county and a first class county with a charter form of government adjacent to any city not within a county. Such regional taxicab district is created for the purpose of improving the quality of taxicab service within its boundaries, and shall be a public corporation acting in a governmental capacity.
67.1821. 1. The regional taxicab commission shall be comprised of eleven members, five of whom shall be appointed by the chief executive of the city, and five of whom shall be appointed by the chief executive of the county, which city and county are encompassed within the geographical area of the district. Of the members first appointed, two from the city and two from the county shall be appointed to a four-year term, and two from the city and two from the county shall be appointed to a three-year term, and one from the city and one from the county shall be appointed to a one-year term. Members appointed after the expiration of these initial terms shall serve a four-year term. The chief executive officer of the county and the chief executive officer of the city, in that order, shall alternately appoint a chairperson who shall serve a term of three years. The respective chief executive who appoints the members of the commission shall appoint members to fill unexpired terms resulting from any vacancy. All members shall serve without compensation. The respective governing bodies of the city and the county shall confirm the appointments to the regional taxicab commission.
2. All members of the regional taxicab commission shall reside within the district throughout their term of service on the commission. The commission shall elect its own secretary and such other officers as it deems necessary, and may make such rules and regulations as are necessary and consistent with the commission's purpose.
3. The regional taxicab commission is empowered to:
(1) Develop and implement plans, policies, and programs to improve the quality of taxicab service within the district;
(2) Cooperate and act jointly with other governmental entities, including the government of the United States, this state, other states, and political subdivisions of this and other states;
(3) Contract with any public or private agency, individual, partnership, association, corporation or other entity, consistent with law, for the provision of goods and services necessary to improve the quality of taxicab service within the district;
(4) Accept grants and donations from public or private entities for the purpose of improving the quality of taxicab service within the district;
(5) Make grants and donations to public or private entities for the purpose of improving the quality of taxicab services within the district;
(6) Appoint a director and necessary staff, fix their compensation, and remove such appointees;
(7) Execute contracts, sue, and be sued;
(8) License, regulate, inspect, enforce, and set rates of taxicab companies, individual taxicabs and taxicab operators, and to improve the quality of taxicab service within the district; and
(9) Adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business.
67.1824. The legislative authority of any city or county encompassed within the geographical area of the regional taxicab district shall have the power to enact ordinances or orders imposing suitable penalties for the punishment of persons committing injury upon such district's property.
67.1827. 1. The regional taxicab commission shall, before the second Monday in April of each year, make an annual report to the chief executive officers and to the governing bodies of the city and county and to the general assembly, stating the conditions of the commission as of the first day of January of that year, and the sums of money received and distributed by it during the preceding calendar year.
2. Before the close of the regional taxicab commission's first fiscal year, and at the close of each fiscal year thereafter, the chief executives of the city and the county shall appoint one or more certified public accountants, who shall annually examine the books, papers, documents, accounts and vouchers of the commission, and who shall make due report thereof to the chief executives of the city and the county and to the regional taxicab commission. The commission shall produce and submit for examination all books, papers, documents, accounts and vouchers, and shall in every way assist said certified public accountants in the performance of their duties pursuant to this section.
Section B. Because there is a serious and immediate need for improving the quality of taxicab service in the City of St. Louis and in St. Louis County, sections 67.1815, 67.1818, 67.1821, 67.1824 and 67.1827 of this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution and sections 67.1815, 67.1818, 67.1821, 67.1824 and 67.1827 of this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.