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Senate advances safety-related transport bill to third reading after lawmakers clarify scope
Summary
Lawmakers moved the first substitute of Senate Bill 12 to third reading after floor questions about whether the measure would apply to rideshare services; the sponsor said the bill governs employee-transport situations and 'does not' apply to rideshare firms in the described context.
Senators debated first substitute Senate Bill 12 on the floor and took questions about its scope, particularly whether it would apply to consumer rideshare services. A senator asked specifically, “So is Uber the rideshare program on the Internet?” The sponsor replied on the record that the bill does not affect that service for the described context, and suggested some press coverage had misread the language.
The sponsor described the bill as focused on safety standards for transportation providers that convey employees or crews, citing stakeholder input (including a company that carries crews) and a 25-question safety framework mentioned in committee. After summation, the chamber voted to move the first substitute to third reading; the clerk recorded 24 yea, 4 nay, 1 absent.
Floor discussion emphasized the bill’s workplace-transport focus and included questions about the statute’s applicability to non-employee passenger transport; the sponsor responded that current language limits coverage to the employee-transport contexts described in the bill.
