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6/15/2026
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RI legislators join women colleagues nationwide to oppose amendment to shield rideshare companies from liability for sexual assault
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STATE HOUSE — Rhode Island legislators joined over 285 women state legislators from 44 states and territories today to demand that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson strike an amendment that would shield Uber, Lyft and other delivery platforms from liability for harm committed on their platforms, including sexual assault.
Reps. Edith H. Ajello (D-Dist. 1, Providence), Jennifer Boylan (D-Dist. 66, Barington, East Providence), Terri Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown), Rebecca Kislak (D-Dist. 4, Providence), Michelle McGaw (D-Dist. 71, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton) and Teresa A. Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) and Sens. Alana M. DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham), Dawn Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown), Meghan Kallman (D-Dist. 15, Pawtucket, Providence), Pamela J. Lauria (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), Tiara T. Mack (D-Dist. 6, Providence), Ana B. Quezada (D-Dist. 2, Providence) and Linda L. Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) signed on to a letter urging Speaker Johnson to remove Amendment 041 from the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870).
“Survivors deserve their day in court. States deserve the authority to protect their residents. And no corporation, however large, should be permitted to write itself out of responsibility for the gravest harms committed on the platform it controls,” their letter states.
The legislators’ letter lands as 128 members of Congress, led by the Democratic Women’s Caucus, delivered a parallel demand this week — a coordinated federal and state push against a provision that would shield rideshare companies from liability for harm on their platforms, including sexual assault.
A 2025 New York Times investigation found roughly 400,000 reports of sexual assault or misconduct tied to Uber trips from 2017 to 2022 — about one every eight minutes. Juries in Arizona and North Carolina have found Uber liable in driver sexual-assault cases this year, and thousands of survivor claims are consolidated in federal court. The amendment’s retroactive reach would extend its shield even to harm that occurred before enactment.
The lawmakers note that the amendment would override rideshare safety laws enacted this year in Virginia and Colorado, and by Congress just four years ago on a bipartisan basis, to guarantee survivors their day in court.
“It is telling and deeply troubling that when Uber and Lyft could not prevail in state legislatures, city councils or in the courtroom, they turned to Congress to change the rules for everyone at once,” the letter states.
See attachment for full letter.
For more information, contact:
Tristan Grau, Publicist
State House Room B20
Providence, RI 02903
401.222.4935
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