One sponsor of the bill called Uber’s threat a “cynical and disheartening move by a multi-billion dollar company.”
Uber has threatened to cease operations in Colorado if a newly passed rideshare safety bill becomes law. House Bill 25-1291 was recently approved by the Colorado General Assembly and now awaits Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’s consideration.
The bill aims to enhance safety and accountability in the rideshare industry by introducing stricter driver reporting requirements and compliance checks on restricted practices, such as offering food and water to passengers. To secure its passage, lawmakers removed some of the bill’s more contentious provisions — including a mandate for audio and video recording of all rides — and narrowed the circumstances under which passengers can sue rideshare companies, shifting many disputes to arbitration. Despite these concessions, Uber has continued to threaten a statewide exit.
Democratic State Rep. Jenny Willford, a lead sponsor of the bill, has emphasized the need for companies like Uber and Lyft to take more responsibility for rider safety. In January, Willford herself filed a lawsuit against Lyft, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a driver operating under a fraudulent account in 2024.
Willford said that lawmakers have “worked with Uber in good faith for months and accepted many of their amendment requests — including a full rewrite of the bill.” She called Uber’s threat to leave Colorado a “cynical and disheartening move by a multi-billion dollar company to turn their back on survivors rather than implement real safety measures.”
In Uber’s latest U.S. Safety Report, the company documented 2,717 reported incidents of sexual assault in 2021 and 2022. While the frequency of overall incidents has decreased, the rate of reported rapes has remained largely unchanged since 2017.
“The bottom line is one sexual assault is one too many,” Willford said. “For years, Uber has checked the box on safety, but time after time failed to deliver for victims. It’s clear Uber won’t stand up for safety, so they can continue to maximize profits rather than address the horrible incidents that change the lives of riders and drivers forever.”
Uber has a history of threatening to leave cities over regulatory disputes but not following through. For example, the company has previously resisted unionization and fingerprint background checks in Seattle and Chicago but ultimately continued operations. In 2024, Uber and Lyft announced plans to leave Minnesota over a driver pay ordinance in Minneapolis. Similar scenarios have unfolded in New Jersey and California, where exit threats led to policy concessions but were ultimately not acted upon.
“I know when we pass this bill, and the governor signs it into law, that we will be actively taking a step forward to prevent this kind of sexual assault from happening in the future to make rideshare more safe for all of us,” said Colorado State Sen. Jessie Danielson.
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