With President-elect Joe Biden set to take office in January, it’s easy for businesses to see what’s coming down the pike: an onslaught of red tape from the coming Democratic administration. What may be surprising, however, is that one bill giving Biden’s Department of Transportation unprecedented new powers to regulate the ride-sharing industry could be approved by the current Republican-controlled Senate before the president-elect even takes power.
Sami’s Law, passed by the House of Representatives in September, would require drivers who work with ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to ask passengers for a PIN to input before starting a ride. Named after a college student who was tragically murdered in South Carolina, the bill is intended to provide assurance to riders that they are riding with an approved driver. It would be the first major act of regulating ride-sharing companies on the federal level by establishing a likely permanent commission in the DOT to propose future rules to the secretary of transportation.
Republican senators should not enable a regulation-happy administration before it even takes power.
As I reported in the Washington Examiner in September, the PIN requirement of Sami’s Law seems harmless, but it’s ultimately unnecessary. Ride-share platforms have already introduced additional safety measures such as PINs on an opt-in basis without government mandates. Just last week, Uber released a summary of all the safety measures it has taken this year, including introducing a text-to-911 feature to allow passengers to communicate directly with emergency operators during a ride, requiring all drivers to undergo assault and harassment training, and partnering with safety groups including Mothers Against Drunk Driving for future recommendations.
In short, these measures accomplish essentially everything that Sami’s Law seeks to require. Yet, the Senate is still entertaining the idea of opening a Pandora’s box full of unknown regulations that could put a stranglehold on some of America’s most innovative tech companies over the past decade.
The fundamental problem of Sami’s Law is not the known knowns, such as the safety PIN, but the known unknowns. The law would establish a 15-person council in the DOT to suggest future “guidances” and actions for the secretary of transportation to take. Here’s the catch: Every member would be appointed by the secretary. Passing the law would give the Biden administration the chance to stack a new council with big-government activists and labor organizers, suppressing the freedom that ride-share companies have enjoyed to revolutionize transportation.
As Americans for Tax Reform explained in its opposition statement on Sami’s Law:
One can only guess how creative this new council of Democratic transportation czars can get with red tape. If California’s Assembly Bill 5 is any indicator, one frontier of regulation could be reclassifying ride-share drivers as full-time employees of ride-share companies rather than contractors. This would curb or eliminate the freedom that ride-share drivers currently have to set their own schedules, work whichever neighborhoods they choose, and get rewarded for exceptional service. Moreover, it could lead to a union power grab to organize ride-share drivers and drive up the cost of ride-shares to that of taxis. No wonder about 82% of ride-share drivers prefer to remain contractors, as shown by two separate polls commissioned by Uber and Lyft.
To add insult to injury, the politicians giving liberal activists this new power may not be Democrats but Republican senators.
GOP lawmakers should know better than to hand-deliver new powers to any agency without serious scrutiny, much less one that will soon be controlled by the opposing party.
Casey Given (@CaseyJGiven) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the executive director of Young Voices.
