Ride-hailing firms must check drivers before trips start.
H.R. 10897 — Sami’s Law · Filed by Chris Smith (R-NJ) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill is named after Sami Viitanen. It requires Uber and Lyft to let riders check their driver before trips. Firms must run background checks on drivers each year. The checks include sex-offender lists. Firms must also check that drivers can work here. The bill bans fake ride-hailing signs.
Who it affects
Riders get tools to check their driver before trips. Drivers gain protection from someone pretending to be them. Ride-hailing firms must set up these check systems.
One thing to notice
Riders can turn off the check system if they want. This could lower safety for those who pick speed over checking. The bill does not say what happens to drivers who fail checks. It also does not say what happens if drivers lose work rights during a contract.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Oct 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 22, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Budget and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on Energy…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- ride-hailing firms — Companies like Uber and Lyft that let people request rides through an app.
- check — Look at something to see if it is real or correct.
- background checks — A search of police records to see if someone broke the law.
- work rights — Legal permission to work in the United States.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (11,826 characters) on Oct 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,595 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-28.
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