MN Governor rejects rideshare pay bill due to Uber’s warning.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has vetoed a bill that would have required a minimum wage for rideshare drivers, such as those working for Lyft and Uber.

The Bill

The bill, House File 2369, would have mandated that drivers be paid a minimum of $5 per ride, or at least $1.45 per mile and at least 34 cents per minute in the metro area. The rates would have been adjusted annually for inflation. Drivers would also be entitled to 80% of cancellation fees if they had already started their trip to pick up a customer.

The Veto

The veto came after Uber threatened to leave the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and only provide its “premium services” in the Twin Cities metro area starting August 1 if the bill was signed. An Uber spokeswoman said that the decision came after “several months of unanswered requests to work with legislators” on the matter and that the bill in its current form would “make it impossible to continue serving most areas of the state.”

The bill had narrowly passed the Democrat-controlled state legislature over the weekend, on party-line votes. It marked the first veto of the Democrat governor’s tenure.

The Governor’s Statement

“Rideshare drivers deserve fair wages and safe working conditions,” Walz said in a statement announcing the veto. “I am committed to finding solutions that balance the interests of all parties, including drivers and riders. This is not the right bill to achieve these goals. I have spent my career fighting for workers, and I will continue to work with drivers, riders, and rideshare companies to address the concerns that this bill sought to address.”

Walz’s office said the governor has issued an executive order to commission a study.