Sami's Law 2020-07-29 Passed House Sami's Law

This bill establishes requirements for transportation network companies. A transportation network company (TNC) is an entity that uses a digital network to connect riders to drivers affiliated with the entity to transport the rider using a vehicle owned, leased, or otherwise authorized for use by the driver to a point chosen by the rider.

Each TNC must establish and implement a system and policy within its platform to make available to each passenger a digital method to verify that the driver with whom the passenger has been matched through the platform has been authorized by the TNC to accept the passenger's trip request prior to the beginning of the trip.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) must establish the Safety Actions for Matching and Identifying Ride Share Customers' Council (SAMI'S Law Council) that is an advisory council for developing recommended performance standards for successor technology that will protect TNC passengers and drivers.

The bill prohibits the sale of any signage that is designed to help a passenger identify a TNC vehicle and contains a TNC's proprietary trademark or logo, or purports to be that of a TNC, unless the sale is authorized by the TNC.

DOT may issue penalties to a TNC for noncompliance with this bill, including up to $20,000 each day when such noncompliance is knowing and willful.

The Government Accountability Office must conduct a study on the incidence of assault and abuse perpetrated on drivers by passengers of TNC vehicles and on such passengers by drivers of TNC vehicles.

]]> 2019-10-15 Introduced in House Sami's Law

This bill directs the Department of Transportation to withhold specified graduated percentages of a state's apportionment of certain federal-aid highway funds if the state has not enacted and is not enforcing certain transportation network company (TNC) vehicle identification laws. A "transportation network company" is an entity that uses a digital network to connect riders to drivers affiliated with the entity to transport the rider using a vehicle owned, leased, or otherwise authorized for use by the driver to a point chosen by the rider.

States must require TNC drivers to display (1) a front and rear license plate; (2) a scannable quick response or similar code on the windows for riders to verify that they are entering the correct authorized vehicle; and (3) illuminated signs that are visible in both day and night, and readable from fifty feet. Drivers must also get periodic safety inspections of their ride-hailing vehicle.

The bill prohibits the sale of illuminated TNC vehicle signs by any person other than a transportation network company and the display of such signs by individuals who are not authorized drivers.

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