From now on, any business that operates for-hire vehicles (Uber and Lyft, for example) in the City of Auburn will have to comply with the sections of King County Code that regulate them.

A code amendment recently adopted by the Auburm City Council will mandate such compliance squares with a proposed interlocal agreement between the city and the county.

That’s all because of changes that King County made to its regulations in late 2023, requiring that the city update its regulations and the interlocal agreement with the county.

To date the city has not received any applications for additional businesses operating for-hire vehicles.

“(No applications) that Auburn is aware of,” said Public Works Director Ingrid Gaub. “For-hire vehicles were already regulated prior to this update and would have gone through the permitting and approval process with King County.”

King County regulates for-hire vehicles for several agencies, including the City of Auburn, and new sections referenced in the city code to allow King County to continue regulating for-hire vehicles in Auburn.

“The city has an interlocal agreement with King County for King County to provide for the regulation of all ‘for hire’ vehicles operating within Auburn, which requires that our City Code reference King County’s code and that all ‘for hire’ businesses must comply with King County’s code,” Gaub said.