DENVER — With less than three weeks left for Colorado lawmakers to work under the gold dome, a piece of legislation that would implement increased regulations on rideshare operators was introduced on Monday — a proposal that revives a debate that ended in a veto from Governor Jared Polis last year.
Those behind the bill believe this year will be different.
"I'm excited and I'm anxious," said State Rep. Jenny Willford, D — District 34. "It has been the result of, I mean, at this point, over a year's worth of work.”
For Willford, a prime sponsor of the legislation, the work combines her profession with her personal experience.
"I am involved in this work because in 2024, I was sexually assaulted by a Lyft driver in view of my home," Willford said. "I started to understand, more intimately, just how many issues there are and just how questionable safety is when you're in an Uber or Lyft. I'm not the only person that has gone through what I have, and felt that it was my obligation as a state legislator and as, frankly, as a parent raising two kids in this world, to build a better, more safe system for everybody involved.”
House Bill 26-1424 has a number of objectives surrounding transportation network companies — businesses like Uber or Lyft. The bill states that "internal safety reports confirm thousands of reported sexual assaults over multiple years, yet transportation network companies have not implemented meaningful reforms."
“They spend millions upon millions of dollars telling everybody just how safe they are," Willford said. “You make the assumption that, based on what you know, that they are safe, until something happens."
The legislation would mandate criminal background checks every six months after the initial check is conducted, sets a 72-hour response time for such companies to fulfill subpoenas or search warrants, and requires policies be developed that prevent imposter drivers and account sharing or renting.
Account renting is when a hired driver allows another person, who has not been vetted by the company, to use their account.
“Requiring that Uber and Lyft have policies around preventing rideshare app sharing as well as imposter drivers," Willford said, explaining the bill. "And it requires them to actually flag when there are accounts that have a bank account that is different from who the driver is... When somebody changes their address, we're not saying deactivate, because that's not what we want. But we're saying, when one of these major pieces of information changes on a driver's account, you should be taking a look at that and making sure that there is not somebody else who is now using that account to drive.”
According to Uber, the company performs criminal background checks on drivers once a year, in addition to the initial check. Uber's online platform also states drivers are rejected from the service if they have ever been convicted of sexual assault, sex crimes involving minors, murder, kidnapping, or terrorism.
Under the bill, drivers would only be allowed to provide passengers with factory-sealed food or drink.
“The compromise that we reached with the governor's office was that any food or beverage that's provided or offered in a rideshare should be factory-sealed," Willford said.
In addition, Willford believes one of the most important parts of the legislation is a requirement for annual reporting metrics.
"A lot of transparency will come from a piece of the bill requiring annual reporting metrics around how many sexual assaults are happening, how many fatalities are happening, how many physical assaults, how many motor vehicle accidents, so that we can finally get a true and complete baseline of what is happening on our roads connected to rideshare companies here in Colorado," said Willford. “That information will really help us identify any sort of trends, right? Things that are really concerning, so that we can take a deeper look and have a better understanding of how we keep people safe. Furthermore, it ensures that rideshare companies can't explain away their metrics.”
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Last year, Governor Jared Polis vetoed House Bill 25-1291, which had a number of very similar goals to the proposal introduced this year. The bill from 2025 would have, among other intentions, required regular criminal history checks for drivers, initiated a review of a driver for deactivation when complaints are filed, and banned any offers of food or drink between riders and drivers.
While HB25-1291 was being considered in the Colorado State Capitol, Uber threatened to end operations in the state if it was signed into law. Lyft sent Polis a letter asking him to veto HB25-1291 10 days before he issued his decision.
Willford said she and State Rep. Meg Froelich, D — District 3, have worked to ensure that all parties come to the table for the legislation this year.
"Representative Froelich and I have worked really hard to reopen conversations and negotiations and level set in terms of what is acceptable," said Willford. "Packing up all your toys and deciding to go home because you don't like the outcome of legislation is not ongoing conversation, and it's hostile.”
In Polis' letter explaining his decision to veto the legislation, he said such a change in the law would "impose unworkable regulations" on companies like Uber or Lyft, and "potentially jeopardize their continued operation in Colorado."
“The first time we ran it, last session, we had done everything that we could," Willford said. "We had talked to all of the stakeholders. We had negotiated for hours upon hours, and I was so hopeful that if we got the bill across the finish line, and we got it on the governor's desk, that he would sign it, and he didn’t. It was absolutely heartbreaking.”
The governor continued to say in his veto letter that "enhancing safety in rideshares is a goal I share," directing the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to review the current rules on rideshares and "strengthen them where authority currently exists — with a particular focus on safety specifically including strengthened driver impersonation and penalties."
The PUC is the primary regulator in the state for companies like Uber and Lyft. According to the PUC, Colorado was the first state in the country to establish localized regulations for rideshares in 2014.
Since those regulations were first implemented, the rideshare industry has expanded and changed. The PUC launched a survey to see if new regulatory approaches were needed for rideshares in the future.
"I definitely pulled the definitions for imposter driving and account sharing from the work that was done at the Public Utilities Commission," Willford said.
The five licensed Transportation Network Companies (TNC) operators in Colorado are Uber, Lyft, HopSkipDrive, River North Transit, and Drivers Cooperative. The PUC reports more than 35,000 licensed drivers between the companies, providing an estimated 35 million rides across Colorado in 2024.
Willford said HB26-1424 also contains a requirement for the PUC rulemaking process when it comes to audio and video recording of rides.
"If and when a rider wants to have audio and video recording, and the driver also wants audio and video recording, that they're matched up and that both interests and both needs are matched so that people feel safer and have that option," Willford explained.
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With the countdown on until the end of the 2026 legislative session, Willford believes this bill will move quickly.
"I've no doubt that we'll be able to move this bill. Heck, we move massive pieces of policy during special sessions in four days, so I'm confident that we'll be able to get it to the governor's desk," Willford said.
Willford said this year she has worked alongside Governor Polis' office to make the changes she believes will get the bill, if passed, signed into law this year.
“I'm confident that when this bill makes it to his desk — because it will, we had bipartisan support across the board last session — I fully expect that when it gets to the governor's desk that he will sign it," said Willford. "It's bittersweet, because I think about all of the good that we could have done in Colorado and all of the people that we could have have created safety for last year.”
Denver7 reached out to Governor Polis' office about HB26-1424, and was provided with a statement that says Polis is "encouraged to see the progress made since last year to ensure we are keeping riders safe."
Read the full statement from Polis below:
No one should have to fear for their safety when using ridesharing services, and we know there is more we can do. Cracking down on imposter drivers and tightening driver vetting, including more frequent background checks and ensuring that accounts for drivers who are a serious threat to rider safety are removed protects riders. The Governor’s office has been engaging closely with the sponsors of last year’s legislation, and are encouraged to see the progress made since last year to ensure we are keeping riders safe.
HB26-1424 is scheduled for its first hearing on Thursday afternoon in the House Business Affairs and Labor committee.
Denver7 reached out to press teams for both Uber and Lyft regarding the new legislation. Neither company replied by the time of publication.
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