Gov. Jared Polis on Friday vetoed House Bill 1291, a bill that would have put more teeth in regulating rideshare companies.

Sponsors heavily criticized the veto, saying his claims that he cares about victims fell short and that he didn’t engage with the sponsors on the bill until three days before the end of the session. 

House Bill 1291 was intended to beef up consumer protections for those who use ride share companies, such as Lyft and Uber. The bill would have required rideshare companies to conduct criminal background checks on drivers at least once every six months and review drivers who have had complaints filed against them by riders. If the company determined that the allegation is “more than likely to have occurred,” it would have had to deactivate the driver’s profile.

The bill included a number of other provisions, including requiring rideshare companies to respond to subpoenas and search warrants within 48 hours, allowing drivers to opt in to audio and video recordings of rides, and prohibiting drivers from sharing with or renting accounts to individuals not registered with the app.

Uber threatened to leave Colorado if the bill became law, and Polis addressed that in his veto letter.

The bill “would impose unworkable regulations on Transportation Network Companies and potentially jeopardize their continued operation in Colorado. I want to make sure that Uber, Lyft, and others will be able to continue to operate in Colorado, but are far more accountable for the safety of riders and drivers. These services go beyond convenience by providing essential means of travel for many Coloradans and improve public safety primarily by reducing driving under the influence.”

It’s been more than a decade since Colorado began regulating rideshare companies under the Public Utilities Commission, but “it is reasonable to revisit our regulatory structure and ensure agencies have appropriate authority to safeguard health and safety,” Polis wrote in his veto letter.

But HB 1291 went beyond “a narrowly tailored public safety focus and includes a number of concerning provisions – including unclear language on audio-video recording, a prohibition on arbitration that we believe conflicts with the Federal Arbitration Act, and inoperable timelines to produce new regulatory rules. Together, these changes would jeopardize these services in Colorado to an untenable degree, and could very well lead to companies that Coloradans rely on exiting the market, raising prices, or reducing the number of drivers.”

The governor took interest in the bill’s language on audio-visual recordings, calling even its last-minute changes in the Senate “unworkable,” both for the PUC and the rideshare companies. He said he believes the bill would have made recordings mandatory, and that would conflict with state privacy laws. 

Polis did write that the status quo was insufficient, and that enhanced criminal background checks and preventing impersonators were common-sense steps. Both were contained in the bill. He directed the Department of Regulatory Agencies to work with the PUC “to conduct additional outreach to ensure consumers are aware of the PUC’s regulatory role and how to file complaints.”

The veto drew some of the strongest criticism he’s faced from the bill’s Democratic sponsors.

One of the sponsors of HB 1291, Rep. Jenny Willford, D-Northglenn, said she was sexually assaulted in February 2024 by a man who “borrowed” a Lyft platform from another driver. Her rape kit was caught up in the backlog at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Her alleged attacker was charged this month with unlawful sexual contact. 

HB25-1291 was crafted in direct response to over 15,000 reported incidents of violence and assault involving rideshare services, the sponsors said in a statement Friday. The bill, which passed the House with overwhelming support (59-6), “addressed known gaps in rideshare safety — from repeated sexual assaults to driver impersonation and inadequate background checks. The legislation aimed to make sure Colorado was no longer one of the many states where survivors are left in the dark, unsupported, and unheard,” the sponsors wrote.

But they also criticized the governor for not caring about survivors. The governor says he cares about survivors, “but actions speak louder than words,” said Willford, Reps. Meg Froelich, D-Greenwood Village and Sens. Faith Winter, D-Westminster and Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge. “When he had the opportunity to act, he chose to side with convenience and profits of billion-dollar corporations instead of the survivors who shared their horrific experiences over and over again.”

The bill “used proven and reasonable safety measures that were long overdue and would have significantly reduced the number of future sex assaults,” the statement continued.

As to his veto letter, the sponsors wrote that Polis “cited red herrings and industry talking points and ignored Colorado constituents, including children, whose sexual assaults were facilitated by rideshare companies. There is nothing in the Governor’s stated reasons that either were not already addressed in the amended bill or that couldn’t have been resolved had he chosen to engage months earlier.”

“If the Governor or his staff had chosen to engage earlier than the Monday before Sine Die, we could have addressed these issues,” the sponsors noted. “We made good-faith amendments throughout the process, including at the Governor’s request. What we needed was a partner — not a veto pen.”

The sponsors said the veto was “not just a a political decision — it’s a message. Survivors, advocates, and lawmakers across the state worked tirelessly to bring transparency, accountability, and justice to an industry that has operated without meaningful guardrails for far too long. Those efforts were dismissed in one stroke, with an empty promise of future regulatory review. Coloradans deserve safety now.” 

“We reject the false premise that safety and access to rideshare services are mutually exclusive,” the sponsors added. “This was a David and Goliath battle — and while David didn’t win today, this fight is far from over. We will be back. And we will keep fighting until every rider and driver is safe.”