Austin Ride-Sharing Supporters Ask Texas Supreme Court To Intervene In Upcoming City Election

AUSTIN, TX -- An Austin music manager has teamed up with ride-sharing firm Uber in asking the Texas Supreme Court to intervene in an upcoming May initiative election to compel the city to

rewrite ballot language on a proposed ride-hailing ordinance they say is designed to make voters reject the measure.

“The council falsely portrayed the proposed ordinance as something that only takes away and does not give,” says the 21-page “writ of mandamus” filed late Wednesday reads, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

Samantha Phelps, a talent buyer and marketing manager for Stay Gold, an East Austin bar and music venue filed the petition to the court.

“That portrayal could not be further from the truth,” the document reads in referencing the perceive slant in the verbiage.

The ride-sharing firm’s urgency in asking the state’s high court to intervene is made more urgent because the Travis County clerk’s office, which will run the election on the city’s behalf, will “lock down” the ballot language on Monday, the Statesman reported.

As a result, Phelps and her lawyers opted to file the writ directly with the Supreme Court instead of with a lower court of appeals. Uber and Phelps are hoping that the high court will act on their writ by the end of the week, an Uber spokeswoman told the Statesman.

The council on Feb. 17 approved the ballot language for the proposed ordinance. If approved by voters May 7, it would replace an ordinance for ride-hailing operations that the council passed on a 9-2 vote in December.

Officials at Uber and a competitor, Lyft, joined forces to decry the existing ordinance -- chiefly because of its requirement to have their drivers fingerprinted as part of their criminal background checks.