Senate Bill S5989

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5989

SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
transportation network companies to notify passengers who have reported
an incident of sexual assault of certain information

 
PURPOSE:

To ensure transportation network companies notify passengers who have
reported an incident of sexual assault that their incident will not be
reported to law enforcement and advise passengers of their right, to
make an additional report to the police.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends article 44-B of the Vehicle and Traffic law
to add a new section 1701 to require all transportation network compa-
nies to notify passengers that have reported an incident of sexual
assault during a TNC prearranged trip that the company will not report
              

such incident to law enforcement.  The bill additionally requires every
TNC to ensure every passenger who makes such a report is advised of
their right to make a report to local law enforcement or state police.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft have become
immensely popular in the last decade. In fact, Pew Research Center
reported that in 2019, 36% of adults in America use ride-hailing
services like Uber or Lyft, with the majority of adult users between
ages 18 and 29. While more recent data on the number of total American
users is not yet available, we can expect the percentage of users has
increased greatly since 2019.

As these TNCs have become more commonly used, reports of passengers
experiencing incidents of sexual assault have also become more common.
According to a 2019-2020 U.S. Safety report published in July of 2022,
Uber received 3,824 reports of sexual assault and misconduct from 2019
to 2020. Of this number, 141 were reports of rape and in 91% of cases
the survivor was the rider.* Similarly, Lyft released their`own report
that revealed over 1,800 reports of sexual assault had been made to the
company in 2019.** Many of these incidents are never reported to law
enforcement.

A survivor must have full autonomy over the path to justice they want to
pursue and when, if at all, they want to make an official report to law
enforcement. With that said, TNCs like Uber should ensure that any
person reporting an incident of sexual assault knows how such report
will be handled. Survivors should understand that it is their right to
make a report to law enforcement and if they choose to make a report to
Uber, the company will not report the incident to the police.

This bill requires all TNCs to notify any passenger reporting an inci-
dent of sexual assault that the company will not report such incident to
law enforcement. The bill also requires every TNC to ensure that the
reporting passenger is advised of their right to make an additional
report to local law enforcement or state police. This bill seeks to
ensure transparent communication between TNCs and impacted passengers so
that survivors of sexual assault can confidently understand how their
report will be managed.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
*https://www.nbaiews.com/news/us-news/ uber-reports-141-rapes-2020-even-
sexual- assaultincidents-declined-pan-rona36287
**https://www.npr.org/2021/10/22/1048607981/ 1yft-sexual-assaults-safe-
tyreport