Requires transportation network companies to notify passengers who have reported an incident of sexual assault of certain information

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic5
• Republican1

This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Michelle Hinchey says this is needed

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft have become immensely popular in the last decade. In fact, Pew Research Center reported that in 2019, 36% of adults in America use ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft, with the majority of adult users between ages 18 and 29. While more recent data on the number of total American users is not yet available, we can expect the percentage of users has increased greatly since 2019. As these TNCs have become more commonly used, reports of passengers experiencing incidents of sexual assault have also become more common. According to a 2019-2020 U.S. Safety report published in July of 2022, Uber received 3,824 reports of sexual assault and misconduct from 2019 to 2020. Of this number, 141 were reports of rape and in 91% of cases the survivor was the rider.* Similarly, Lyft released their own report that revealed over 1,800 reports of sexual assault had been made to the company in 2019.** Many of these incidents are never reported to law enforcement. A survivor must have full autonomy over the path to justice they want to pursue and when, if at all, they want to make an official report to law enforcement. With that said, TNCs like Uber should ensure that any person reporting an incident of sexual assault knows how such report will be handled. Survivors should understand that it is their right to make a report to law enforcement and if they choose to make a report to Uber, the company will not report the incident to the police. This bill requires all TNCs to notify any passenger reporting an inci- dent of sexual assault that the company will not report such incident to law enforcement. The bill also requires every TNC to ensure that the reporting passenger is advised of their right to make an additional report to local law enforcement or state police. This bill seeks to ensure transparent communication between TNCs and impacted passengers so that survivors of sexual assault can confidently understand how their report will be managed.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.