Mitch Perry
Legislation to regulate share-riding services Uber and Lyft failed in the Florida Legislature this year, meaning that their ability to operate in the state without getting in trouble will vary county to county.
Most of the issues here and across the country with Uber and Lyft regard getting their insurance and background check policies in compliance with how governments regulate taxi cab and limousine services. The companies say they operate differently than more traditional vehicles-for-hire, and shouldn’t be held to those same policies.
In the case of Uber, one member of Congress is demanding that they step up their work on background checks.
Oregon Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio has sent a letter to Travis Kalanchik, co-founder and CEO of Uber, telling him his company must immediately begin conducting fingerprint-based background checks on its drivers.
Referring to news reports of Uber drivers violently or sexually assaulting passengers, Fazio writes, “In more than one instance, the driver accused of committing the offense reportedly passed Uber’s background check, despite having been previously convicted of a felony that should have disqualified the driver under Uber’s hiring standards.”
DeFazio, ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, writes that Uber’s use of a professional background check group that relies on a search of commercial databases and public records has been found in an Attorney General’s report to be less reliable than a background check.
In response, Uber Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy David Plouffe wrote back to DeFazio questioning the infallibility of fingerprint-based background checks, citing a recent Homeland Security Inspector General report of the Transportation Security Administration that said that 73 individuals had been cleared to have secure access to airports, despite having criminal records that should have prevented passage of their fingerprint-based background checks.
Plouffe also cited a report that fingerprint-based background checks disproportionately burden people of color.
In March, eight Democrats in the House, including Florida’s Corrine Brown, wrote to the CEOs of Uber, Lyft and Sidecar demanding that they begin using fingerprint-based background checks on its drivers.
