The Massachusetts State Legislature will consider regulation for transportation services Uber and Lyft that calls for more background checks and insurance requirements.
A Tuesday hearing by the Joint Committee on Financial Services that kicked off conversation about four separate transportation bills drew a crowd of Uber, Lyft and taxi drivers.
One of the bills was proposed by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office.
Billy Pitman, a spokesman for Baker, said the bill seeks to create a statewide framework for innovation and transportation to work together safely by conducting background checks on drivers.
“It requires a private national review, which those types of companies are already doing. The state will also run its own background checks, which it already does, through the criminal record system. The commercial, as well as the state background check, when combined, will be one of the strongest systems in the country.”
Pitman also said another aim of the bill is to ensure that all drivers are properly insured, especially since many such drivers work only part-time.
“Where most folks are driving on a part-time basis, we need to ensure that the proper amount of insurance is provided when they are operating as a driver for a company versus when they are simply running errands, or driving to another job,” Pitman said.
Massachusetts Rep. Michael Moran and Massachusetts Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry’s joint bill has similar provisions to Baker’s bill, but also requires drivers to be fingerprinted.
“Fingerprints shall be submitted to the identification section of the department of state police for a state criminal history check and forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history check,” the bill states. “As a condition for employment, a driver shall submit to a random and reasonable suspicion 5 panel drug testing program in accordance with the applicable rules, regulations and policies.”
Massachusetts Sen. James Timilty’s bill focuses primarily on requiring insurance coverage the moment a driver logs into the ride app until the moment the ride is completed.
Lastly, Massachusetts Rep. William Pignatelli’s bill seeks state licensing for drivers in addition to required background checks and insurance policies.
Several residents thought that further regulating app-based transportation service was a good idea.
Bailey Andrews, 26, of Allston, said she doesn’t mind regulation as long as legislators don’t limit transportation services.
“Regulation is good to improve safety and all,” she said. “But I’ve heard a lot about different groups wanting to restrict Uber and Lyft and all and I feel like that shouldn’t be the end goal.”
Megan Leary-Crist, 34, of Brighton, said it was good that legislators wanted all the drivers to have insurance.
“Having insurance is something really important for drivers to have,” she said. “Especially if they’re driving people around, they need to be properly insured, so I’m glad they [legislators] are trying to do that.”
Michael Farry, 32, of Beacon Hill, said it’s good if the regulations are trying to improve safety.
“The industry kind of appeared out of nowhere, so I’m not too sure there are that many regulations in place for safety reasons,” he said, “so if that’s what they’re trying to do now then it’s good to improve the safety for customers.”
