(a) Notice. The Director may periodically issue new licenses to qualified applicants or reissue any license that has been revoked or not renewed under this Chapter, as provided in this Section. The Director must advertise the availability of these licenses in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the County for two consecutive weeks before accepting applications. The Director should also notify, by electronic mail or other reasonable means, any licensee or driver who requests to be notified of the availability of new or reissued licenses.
(b) Criteria. The Director may issue new or reissued licenses to qualified applicants, including existing licensees and persons who do not then hold licenses, who meet criteria defined by regulation which promote competition and further the purposes of this Chapter. The criteria must:
(1) be based on public convenience and necessity, such as the need for more taxicab services in the County generally or in certain geographic areas of the County, or for certain types of passengers, as shown by such measurements as taxi utilization rates and response times; and
(2) consider the performance record of each applicant in providing taxicab service in the County or elsewhere.
(c) Individual allocation. Of the new or reissued licenses issued in any 2-year period, at least 50% must be allocated to individuals who:
(1) have held a Taxicab Driver Identification Card, and have regularly driven a taxicab in the County, during the preceding 3 years;
(2) have a superior driving record, as defined by regulation; and
(3) do not already hold a license under this Chapter.
In deciding among individuals who qualify under this subsection, the Director must rank them by the number of years that each individual has regularly driven a taxicab in the County. If a sufficient number of qualified individuals do not apply for a license under this subsection, the Director may allocate the remaining licenses to individuals who already hold a license under this Chapter.
(d) Biennial limit. During calendar year 2016 the Director must not issue more than 70 new licenses. In each later even-numbered year, the Director may issue a total number of new licenses that does not exceed 10% of the number of licenses then in effect.
(e) Additional licenses - extraordinary authority; population limit. The Director may issue more licenses than are authorized under subsection (d) if the Director finds, after holding a public hearing, that additional taxicabs are necessary to improve service to specified geographic areas or types of taxicab users or generally to increase competition. However, the total number of licenses issued must not exceed one license for each 1,000 County residents, as computed in the most recent decennial U.S. Census or any census update published by the appropriate federal agency.
(f) Individual limit. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the Director must not issue a new or reissued license to any licensee that holds more than 40% of the licenses then in effect. (2004 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 1; 2006 L.M.C., ch. 32, § 1; 2015 L.M.C., ch. 39, § 1.)
Editor’s note—2017 L.M.C., ch. 21, §1, 2015 L.M.C., ch. 39, § 2, state: Not later than January 1, 2016, the Director must issue 100 new licenses following the procedures in Sections 53-205 and 53-210 as follows:
(a) 25 to individuals who do not hold a license under this Chapter, and of these, eight must be for accessible vehicles;
(b) 25 to fleets that hold fewer than 100 licenses, and of these, eight must be for accessible vehicles; and
(c) 50 accessible vehicle licenses to a driver-owned cooperative fleet that the Director determines is a qualified applicant under Chapter 53.
2017 L.M.C., ch. 21, §1,also states: Sec. 3.
(a) A license approved for issuance under Section 2, but for which a taxicab vehicle was not placed in service, must be issued if the applicant:
(1) notifies the Department of its intention to place a taxicab vehicle in service under this Section;
(2) is a qualified applicant under Chapter 53; and
(3) places a taxicab in service not later than January 31, 2019.
(b) If any of the 50 accessible licenses allocated to a driver-owned cooperative under Section 2 are not issued to the cooperative by January 31, 2019, either because the Director determines that the cooperative is not a qualified applicant under Chapter 53, or because the cooperative otherwise declines to obtain them, the licenses may be issued to individuals who do not currently hold licenses under this Chapter.
2015 L.M.C., ch. 39, § 3, states: If any of the 50 accessible licenses allocated to a driver-owned cooperative under Section 2 are not awarded to the cooperative by June 1, 2016, either because the Director determines that the cooperative is not a qualified applicant under Chapter 53, or because the cooperative otherwise declines to obtain them, the licenses must be issued to individuals who do not currently hold licenses under this Chapter.
2006 L.M.C., ch. 32, § 2, states: Transitional provisions; alternative criminal background check.
(a) Until September 1, 2007, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 53-306(c)(2)(D) and Section 53- 306(c)(3) to the contrary, the Director may issue a temporary identification card to an applicant for a taxicab driver identification card, before the Department receives the results of the state criminal background check required by Section 53-306, if:
(1) the applicant submitted all information necessary to process the state criminal background check required by Section 53-306 at least 10 days previously and the Department has not received the results of that background check;
(2) the applicant submits an initial criminal history background check, conducted within the previous 10 days by a third-party vendor approved by the Director;
(3) this third-party background check covers each jurisdiction in the United States where the applicant resided during the previous 5 years; and
(4) this third-party background check does not disclose any information that would disqualify the applicant from receiving an identification card under Section 53-309 (now Section 53-308).
(b) For any new passenger vehicle license issued in 2006 under County Code Section 53-205(d), as amended by Section 1 of this Act, the licensee must place the vehicle in taxi service not later than March 31, 2007.