This story by Sara Wilson appeared on Colorado Newsline on June 15, 2026.
Colorado state Rep. Jenny Willford is calling on congressional leadership to strike an amendment in a major federal transportation bill that could jeopardize new state-level safety protections around ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft.
The amendment, added to the BUILD America 250 Act by a California House Republican during the federal bill’s committee hearing in May, would limit when ride-hailing companies can be held responsible for damages caused by their drivers by limiting vicarious liability — when an employer or superior is liable for an employee’s mistakes.
“In plain terms, it would make it far harder and, in the cases that matter most, effectively impossible to hold multi-billion-dollar rideshare corporations accountable in court when a passenger or a driver is sexually assaulted on its platform,” a letter to U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, signed by Willford and over 275 other state lawmakers, says. “We hold different views on many things. On this we do not differ: under no circumstances should any corporation be shielded from liability for sexual assault. The scale of the harm is not speculative.”
Signers of the letter are women lawmakers from 42 states and one territory.
A federal jury ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona passenger who said a driver raped her, and in April, a jury found Uber liable for a sexual assault in North Carolina.
Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, is joined by 28 other Democratic state lawmakers from Colorado in the letter. The proposed amendment would preempt Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.