Bills clear House for Uber, loot at arcade

Prize-value rise is to draw restaurant

Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, presents a resolution during a meeting of the Legislative Council in Little Rock, Ark., Friday, June 20, 2014.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, presents a resolution during a meeting of the Legislative Council in Little Rock, Ark., Friday, June 20, 2014.

Bills to bring back adult arcades and bolster smartphone-application driving services cleared the Arkansas House of Representatives on Friday.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Benton, brings up one of his bills in the Senate Committee on Judiciary, of which he is the chairman, at the state Capitol in this file photo.

Senate Bill 800, which would establish state regulations for ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, and Senate Bill 745, which would change game-prize limits to entice the return to Arkansas of restaurants such as Dave & Buster's, both passed by heavy margins and head to the governor's office.

SB800, by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, would not require individual drivers who use an app-based driving service to register with the state. The company, however, does have to register.

The 14-page set of regulations would require an Uber driver to have liability insurance coverage of a minimum of $1 million and would also require the company to do background checks on potential drivers and implement a "zero tolerance" policy for the use of drugs or alcohol.

On Friday, the bill passed 72-1 with no debate or opposition voiced.

The cities of Little Rock and Fayetteville have been resistant to the Uber invasion.

Little Rock passed regulations last year requiring drivers for such companies to be 21 years old and to have a car no older than seven years. Rapert's bill would supersede those and only require drivers be 19.

Little Rock officials also criticized the insurance requirements on Uber in Rapert's bill, which require at least $1 million while a driver is "in service," but those requirements drop to state minimums when a driver is using the app and waiting for the next ride request.

Fayetteville cites Uber drivers because it says they're operating illegally.

SB745, by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, would change the law regulating coin-operated amusements in order to attract a Dave & Buster's restaurant -- a chain that serves food, alcohol and provides arcade games and large prizes -- which has its origins in Little Rock.

State law caps the value of a prize a player can win on items that are only 10 times the cost it took to play, or a wholesale value of $5.

In games where multiple winning tickets are available, the total value of those tickets cannot exceed $12.50.

Hutchinson' bill raises the cap to $500, which would allow for top prizes such as iPads and Xbox video game systems.

The bill also says that such prizes would only be available at businesses larger than 25,000 square feet, offer a full restaurant menu, have at least 100 amusement devices, and service a population exceeding 350,000 in the county and is on a river.

Those standards rule out every county but Pulaski.

Supporters of the bill said that Dave & Buster's, were it to return, would spend $6 million on a new facility and that the restaurant would create as many as 140 jobs.

The bill passed with a 73-0 vote and will head back to the Senate for an amendment before going to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Metro on 03/28/2015

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