Colorado Now Forces Uber and Lyft to Investigate Assault Complaints in 7 Days

Uber and Lyft riders in Colorado now have a legal guarantee their state did not offer two weeks ago: a company must open an investigation within seven business days of a complaint about sexual assault, harassment or stalking, or face state penalties. The provision is part of House Bill 1424, the Colorado Rideshare Safety and Accountability Act, and it took effect August 12.

The law requires a human being, not an algorithm, to review every complaint. It also blocks drivers who use imposter, shared or rented accounts from continuing to pick up passengers, closing a loophole that let unauthorized drivers operate under someone else’s verified profile.

Why Colorado Moved Now

Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill in June after lawmakers spent two legislative sessions trying to get it through. Polis vetoed a similar measure in 2025, and Uber threatened to stop operating in Colorado if that earlier version became law.

State Rep. Jenny Willford, one of the bill’s sponsors, said a Lyft driver sexually assaulted her in February 2024 after dropping her off following a night out. The driver climbed into the back seat of her own car. She later discovered the man was not the driver listed on the Lyft app; he had accessed the account of a different, registered driver working for a transportation company called Shanu Transportation LLC. Willford sued both Lyft and Shanu.

Willford said other people had probably gone through what she did, and that her position as a state lawmaker gave her the platform to speak up and force lawmakers to listen. “I shouldn’t have to use my position. I shouldn’t have to share my pain to force change. But it’s part of the reason that I am,” she said.

Rep. Meg Froelich, another sponsor, said the law ensures “drivers who have committed serious offenses are quickly removed from the app to keep Coloradans safe.”

Willford wanted the bill to also make rideshare companies automatically liable in lawsuits over assaults that happen in their vehicles, but she dropped that provision after courts began ruling against Uber and Lyft in related cases anyway. A jury awarded $8.5 million against Uber in one bellwether verdict earlier this year, and companies including Lyft now face consolidated sexual assault litigation in multiple states.

The Scale of the Problem

A New York Times investigation found that Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct on more than 400,000 trips between 2017 and 2022, roughly one report every eight minutes somewhere in the country. Both companies say they use a zero tolerance policy toward inappropriate behavior, but neither publishes a required timeline for acting on a complaint. Lyft’s public safety policy does not specify a deadline for follow up action after a report comes in, which is the exact gap Colorado’s new law closes.

What Happens Next

The seven day investigation requirement is only the first phase. Two more provisions arrive on a delay:

By January 2027, rideshare companies operating in Colorado must run background checks on every driver every six months, rather than once at hiring. Companies that administer more than 20,000 rides a month carry the added requirement of paying for those recurring checks themselves.

By June 2028, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission must write rules governing what companies can do with audio, video and other data collected inside rideshare vehicles, along with new standards for driver safety training.

How Colorado Compares

Colorado is not acting alone. New York City’s driver deactivation law, Local Law 52, took effect January 29 after the City Council overrode a mayoral veto; it lets companies immediately deactivate drivers accused of violence, sexual harassment or assault while requiring written notice within five days. Uber and Lyft sued the city in June, arguing the law violates their free speech and due process rights. Virginia and Ohio have separately proposed or passed their own driver background check bills this year.

At the federal level, the fight has moved in the opposite direction. Lobbyists for Uber and Lyft helped attach an amendment to the BUILD America Act, a federal transportation spending bill, that would shield rideshare companies from liability in crashes, assaults and sexual harassment cases and would override state laws like Colorado’s. Willford sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson this June asking that the amendment be stripped out, and more than 280 other women state legislators signed it. The bill has passed committee and is now before the full House.

“It’s deeply concerning,” Willford said of the federal push. “They have shifted their focus from the state level to the federal level.”

A small but growing alternative to Uber and Lyft has also taken root in Colorado. Drivers Cooperative Colorado, an employee owned service launched in 2024, now employs 1,500 drivers, guarantees them 80 percent of each fare and requires dash cams on every ride, something neither Uber nor Lyft mandates.

What Background Checks Missed Before

Until this law, Colorado followed the industry standard: a single background check at hiring, then nothing further unless a driver was flagged through a separate complaint. A driver with a clean record on day one could accumulate arrests, restraining orders or new convictions years into driving for Uber or Lyft, and neither company was required to catch that change. The six month recheck requirement, once it takes effect in January 2027, closes that gap by treating a rideshare driver more like an employee subject to periodic screening than a one time contractor.

The requirement also targets a specific fraud pattern that surfaced in Willford’s own case. Drivers in some markets rent, borrow or buy access to another person’s verified account, which lets someone who failed or never took a background check pick up passengers under a stranger’s approved profile. House Bill 1424 makes operating on someone else’s account a standalone violation that can trigger removal, separate from any criminal charge tied to a specific incident.

The Insurance and Liability Exposure

Colorado’s law arrives as courts, not just legislatures, are reshaping how much financial exposure rideshare companies carry. Beyond the $8.5 million Uber verdict, both companies face consolidated multidistrict litigation over sexual assault claims, with plaintiffs arguing the companies knew about repeat offenders and failed to remove them quickly enough. Willford said she agreed to drop the automatic liability provision from House Bill 1424 in part, as those court rulings were already moving the law in that direction without a statute forcing the issue.

That court exposure is also the backdrop for the federal fight over the BUILD America Act amendment. If Congress adopts language shielding rideshare companies from liability in assault and crash cases, it would not just block future state laws like Colorado’s; it could also limit the kind of lawsuits that have already produced multimillion dollar verdicts against Uber and Lyft this year.

What Riders and Drivers Should Do

Riders who experience or witness misconduct should report it directly through the Uber or Lyft app immediately after the ride ends; the seven business day clock now starts from the moment a company receives that report. Colorado residents can also file a complaint with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission if a company fails to act within the required window. Drivers should expect background check reminders to become more frequent as the January 2027 deadline approaches, and should confirm their account has not been shared or accessed by anyone else. The new law makes that a specific violation grounds for removal from the platform.

Sources:

• The Colorado Sun: New Colorado rideshare safety provisions take effect
• KKTV: New Colorado rideshare safety law changes rules for Uber, Lyft
• The New York Times: Uber sexual assault investigation