The popular tech-savvy transportation services Uber and Lyft are defying the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ command that they immediately stop operating in the state, and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli believes they’re in the right.

"I am concerned to see this attempt to snuff out a free market transportation alternative that is still in its infancy,” Cuccinelli, a Republican, tells U.S. News.

Uber and Lyft received cease and desist orders Thursday from Richard Holcomb, the Virginia DMV commissioner, who instructed them halt their “illegal operations” until state law is modified. Currently, Holcomb wrote, the law only allows not-for-profit rideshare services.

Unlike traditional taxis, often governed by stiff bureaucratic regimes, Uber and Lyft use smartphone applications to connect passengers with drivers. Lyft drivers accept “donations” and Uber drivers get a cut of a fixed price that floats with customer demand.

Many taxi drivers despise the services, which they claim do not uphold the same driver standards, but the newer arrivals are expanding across the country, particularly in urban areas.

Holcomb, appointed in 2010 by then-Gov. Bob McDonnell, R-Va., instructed Lyft and Uber to halt their operations and work toward crafting regulations ahead of the state legislature’s 2015 session, or face fines.

The companies aren’t listening and are continuing service in Virginia.

Uber has beat back regulators elsewhere and is attempting to rally public pressure to break state officials’ will. It asked users Friday to contact Holcomb and Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D-Va., to express their displeasure and educate the leaders about self-imposed insurance and background check standards.

A Lyft spokesperson told The Washington Post the company believes it’s already complying with Virginia law, and an Uber spokesperson said the company is willing to work to establish new rules, but not stop service.

In the meantime Cuccinelli, a social conservative who sued the Obama administration over environmental rules and the 2010 health insurance reform law, has their back.

“We need all the transportation options that we can get in Virginia – especially options where the private sector carries all the risk and all the cost,” says Cuccinelli, who lost the governor’s race to McAuliffe in 2013. “Instead of encouraging cost effective transportation options, this administration appears to be trying to kill any new option that doesn't have a hefty lobbying influence in Richmond. That is a crony capitalist approach."

The companies and their drivers are taking a risk defying state authorities.

“In a nutshell, any company or driver performing unauthorized operations faces fines up to $1,000 per violation. Criminal penalties could also be levied,” Virginia DMV spokeswoman Sunni Blevins Brown tells U.S. News.

The Arlington County Police Department, which monitors an urban 200,000-person county bordering Washington, D.C., is enforcing the DMV orders, Arlington News reports.