Battle over background checks for Uber, Lyft rages in Austin before vote

A major battle is raging in Austin, Texas, over how ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft vet their drivers.

Lyft has told its drivers it plans to leave the city unless voters pass a ballot measure that would do away with required fingerprint-based background checks.

{mosads}“We’re hopeful that people will vote for Prop 1 on Saturday but must prepare for all outcomes,” Aaron Fox, the general manager for Lyft in Austin, told drivers in a text message posted to Twitter and verified as real by a company spokesperson. “If Prop 1 fails, Lyft will shut down at 5am on Monday. This would be a terrible outcome and we’ll work together to come back as soon as possible.”

Uber says it will also stop operating in the city if the proposition fails.

It’s just the latest development in a fight that Lyft and rival Uber are spending millions of dollars to influence.

The ballot measure — which will be up for a vote on Saturday — boils down to a question of whether the name-based background checks used by ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft are sufficient.

If the ballot measure fails, the city will implement requirements for fingerprint-based background checks. The ordinance up for a vote, however, would “repeal and prohibit required fingerprinting.”

Close to 58,000 people have voted early on the ballot measure, according to public radio station KUT. And the debate over background checks at the heart of the proposition has resonated nationally.

When an Uber driver in Kalamazoo, Mich., went on a shooting spree in February, many questioned whether the company had been delinquent in checking its drivers’ backgrounds. The company countered forcefully that, because the man lacked a criminal history, no background check could have predicted his behavior.

Other jurisdictions around the country, such as Massachusetts and Atlanta’s major airport, are also weighing tougher requirements for background checks for the ride-hailing companies. 

Both firms have spent heavily in recent months to make their position known in Austin. Uber made a $500,000 donation on Wednesday to a political action committee supporting its position, according to filings released on Thursday. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the committee has now raised $8.6 million dollars.