Senate committee adopts amended TNC driver-pay bill after contentious debate

The Senate committee adopted the -3 amendment to Senate Bill 1166, a measure addressing pay and protections for transportation network company (TNC) drivers. The amendment establishes compensation rates, reporting requirements, and certain transparency obligations but removes other elements from the original bill, such as a driver resource fund, task force, and some reporting and deactivation-policy mandates.

Committee staff summarized the amended bill: it establishes compensation at $0.39 per minute of passenger platform time and $1.34 per passenger-platform mile, or $6 per dispatch trip; it requires certain trip information and receipts; and it tasks the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) with administration and enforcement. The dash-3 amendment also narrows definitions and omits the monthly/quarterly reporting and driver resource fund included in the original bill. The measure declares an emergency effective July 1, 2025.

Senator Thatcher said she would vote no on the amendment, noting she did not understand the changes and regretting there had been no hearing on the amendment. Senator Bonham said he would vote no on the bill’s passage to the floor, predicting the measure could drive TNCs from the state or raise costs for consumers. Senator Golden praised the effort and framed the bill as addressing an imbalance between platforms and drivers; she thanked the chair for offering a vehicle to address the issue.

The committee adopted the dash-3 amendment on a roll call (Senator Golden: aye; Senator Manning: aye; Senator Badger: no; Vice Chair Bonham: no; Chair Johnson: aye). Chair Johnson then moved SB 1166, as amended, to the floor with a do-pass recommendation and referred it to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. On final roll call the motion passed (Chair Johnson and a majority voting aye despite some dissents). The committee closed its work session on the bill.