National News
Austin City Council calls for fingerprint checks, fees for Uber, Lyft
October 19, 2015 posted by Steve Brownstein
The Austin City Council, after a two-hour discussion about the efficacy of various types of background checks, overwhelmingly passed a resolution Thursday night to develop requirements for fingerprint-based criminal background checks for drivers with ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.
The council also took the first step toward creating a fee for such transportation network companies, similar to what the local cab companies pay.
Neither measure is final yet. The council on Thursday directed staff to draw up an ordinance with those requirements, which would likely return for a final vote in November.
Uber and Lyft, who instead perform name-based background checks on prospective drivers, have fought against fingerprint check requirements across the country, and Lyft uniformly has declined to operate in cities that mandate them.
Austin already requires cab drivers to undergo fingerprint background checks.
Representatives for Uber and Lyft maintain that requiring fingerprint checks creates “friction” that substantially reduces their stable of drivers and hurts response time for customers. They also argue that such checks disproportionately and unfairly hurt people of color by focusing on arrest records rather than convictions.
Council Member Ann Kitchen, chairwoman of the council’s Mobility Committee and a staunch advocate of fingerprint-based checks, brought a new rhetorical weapon to the debate: Mike Lesko, deputy assistant director of the Texas Department of Public Safety and someone with a deep and technical involvement in background checks. Lesko was blunt in his assessment of which approach is best.
“The very most important thing is to have proper identification so you know who you’re actually talking about,” Lesko told the council. “That can only be done with fingerprint background checks. You can’t do it with name checks. … In the law enforcement community, we have seen that criminals have a tendency to lie. I know that comes as a shock.”
