{"id":34200,"date":"2016-08-03T09:58:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=34200"},"modified":"2016-08-03T09:58:13","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T16:58:13","slug":"uber-lyft-fbi-background-checks-worthy-of-discussion-even-for-free-marketers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/uber-lyft-fbi-background-checks-worthy-of-discussion-even-for-free-marketers\/","title":{"rendered":"Uber, Lyft FBI Background Checks Worthy of Discussion even for Free-Marketers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"a\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Chuck Muth)<\/strong> <\/em>– Although I supported legalizing \u201cride-sharing\u201d in Nevada during last year\u2019s legislative session, the \u201cUber\u201d bill that was ultimately passed was just plain horrible from a conservative, free-market point of view \u2013 especially the new passenger tax on not only ride-sharing services, but on taxis, as well.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not why I\u2019m writing today.<\/p>\n

My position during the last legislative session was that if a private citizen wishes to join a private ride-sharing club like Uber and freely assumes all the risks associated with using the service, that\u2019s one thing.<\/p>\n

But if those Uber drivers are picking up fares from the general public who do not belong to the ride-sharing network club, well, that\u2019s another thing altogether.\u00a0 At that point community safety concerns come into play.\u00a0 And according to a July 21, 2016 story in the Las Vegas Sun, that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s been happening since ride-sharing was legalized last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn February,\u201d reporter Daniel Rothberg wrote, \u201ctaxicab giant Bell Transportation hired a private investigator who identified several illegal off-platform Uber and Lyft rides \u2013 where drivers were paid cash rather than through the app \u2013 during a convention.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a big problem, even though Uber and Lyft don\u2019t condone such behavior.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it IS occurring and lends credence to the taxi industry\u2019s complaint that ride-sharing operators aren\u2019t subjected to the same stringent FBI background checks as taxi drivers even though some of those drivers are picking up people off the street.<\/p>\n

Rothberg reports that Uber and Lyft oppose having their drivers undergo the same FBI background checks as are required for taxi drivers because they \u201care typically more costly and often take months longer to process.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, Uber and Lyft are so opposed to having their drivers be required to pass an FBI background check they shut down their operations in Austin, Texas in May after voters voted to require them.<\/p>\n

Rothberg further reports that during the 2015 legislative session Senate Minority Leader Aaron Ford \u201cpushed for language requiring Uber and Lyft to conduct FBI background checks,\u201d but that requirement \u201cdid not make it into the final bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford is expected to propose the FBI background checks again next session, but Assemblyman Derek Armstrong has already voiced his opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the law has been enacted,\u201d Armstrong told Rothberg, \u201cwe haven\u2019t seen any public safety concerns that would lead me to believe it is as ripe as he (Ford) believes it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe he should check out www.WhosDrivingYou.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The website, admittedly sponsored by the taxi and limo association, chronicles all manner of \u201cincidents involving \u2018ridesharing\u2019 passengers being harmed and criminal offenders behind the wheel.\u201d\u00a0 The incident categories include Deaths, Assaults, Sexual Assaults, Kidnappings, Felons, Imposters and Driver DUIs.<\/p>\n

Again, if Uber drivers are only transporting Uber club members and the Uber club members are willing to take the risk, that\u2019s one thing.\u00a0 But the very fact that some rogue ride-sharing drivers displaying Uber and Lyft stickers in their windows are providing a public conveyance, that\u2019s another thing.<\/p>\n

In addition, while it\u2019s one thing for the Uber member to be willing to take the risk, it\u2019s another thing for pedestrians and other motorists who haven\u2019t agreed to that risk to be put at risk.\u00a0 And indeed there are multiple examples of Uber and Lyft drivers hitting pedestrians and other cars, sometimes resulting in death.<\/p>\n

That public safety aspect of the issue is something I hadn\u2019t fully considered last session.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if requiring the same FBI background checks for Uber and Lyft drivers as are required for taxi drivers is the right thing to do or not.\u00a0 But I do know it\u2019s a topic worthy of further discussion in the next legislative session and folks such as Mr. Armstrong (if he\u2019s re-elected) should encourage such a debate, not try to shut it down.<\/p>\n

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of Nevada News & Views<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Chuck Muth) – Although I supported legalizing \u201cride-sharing\u201d in Nevada during last year\u2019s legislative session, the \u201cUber\u201d bill that was ultimately passed was just plain horrible from a conservative, free-market point of view \u2013 especially the new passenger tax on not only ride-sharing services, but on taxis, as well. But that\u2019s not why I\u2019m writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34200"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34203,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34200\/revisions\/34203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}