Senator Charles Schwertner of Georgetown has sponsored a bill in the Texas legislature to provide uniform requirements across the state for ride-sharing companies such as Lyft and Uber. Two hours of witness testimony before the Senate Business & Commerce Committee was heard on three bills aimed at overriding local regulations concerning ride-hailing companies.
One of the issues is whether companies such as Uber and Lyft should have to require their drivers undergo fingerprint-based background checks.
David Piperno, chief financial officer of Fasten, the Boston-based company that has taken over a large part of the Austin ride-hailing market since Uber and Lyft left, said the city's fingerprinting requirement helped him avoid hiring drivers with criminal backgrounds. Senator Schwertner noted that Fasten was not required to fingerprint drivers in it's home city of Boston.
Uniform rules across the state will simplify and lower the costs for ride-sharing companies that provide rides across multiple jurisdictions common in the Georgetown-Austin metro area.
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