Today, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn vetoed a bill that would have dealt a debilitating blow to the state’s burgeoning ridesharing industry. The Institute for Justice represents three Chicago ridesharing drivers who intervened in a case brought by the city’s taxicab cartel. The taxicab cartel’s suit seeks to force the city of Chicago to arrest ridesharing drivers because they compete against taxis. Having now failed to win in the legislature, the taxicab owners now appear ready to move forward with their lawsuit. The danger still exists, however, that the legislature will override the Governor’s veto.

Institute for Justice Attorney Anthony Sanders, who is lead counsel representing the intervening ridesharing drivers to oppose the taxicab cartel’s lawsuit, issued the following statement:

The Institute for Justice and its clients who are Chicago ridesharing drivers are very pleased that Illinois governor Pat Quinn today vetoed an anti-competitive ordinance designed to kill ridesharing in Illinois. The bill would have made it exceedingly difficult for services such as those offered by uberX, Lyft and Sidecar to operate.

Backed by the taxicab cartel, the legislation included anticompetitive requirements that bore no relationship to public health and safety, such as requiring all ridesharing vehicles to be no more than four years old and barring ridesharing vehicles from servicing airports.

Faced with a choice between embracing new technology and a broken regulatory system that too often leaves consumers stranded, the governor’s veto allows innovation to move forward.

Whatever happens in Illinois, however, the long-term future of transportation freedom generally—and ridesharing in particular—is bright. More and more cities and states, from Milwaukee and Seattle to Colorado and California, have accepted ridesharing technology as a wonderful innovation that should be encouraged, not stamped out.