Colorado state Representative Jenny Willford is calling on congressional leadership to strike an amendment in a major federal transportation bill that could jeopardize new state-level safety protections around ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft.

The amendment, added to the BUILD America 250 Act by a California House Republican during the federal bill’s committee hearing in May, would limit when ride-hailing companies can be held responsible for damages caused by their drivers by limiting vicarious liability — when an employer or superior is liable for an employee’s mistakes.

“In plain terms, it would make it far harder and, in the cases that matter most, effectively impossible to hold multibillion-dollar rideshare corporations accountable in court when a passenger or a driver is sexually assaulted on its platform,” a letter to U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, signed by Willford and over 275 other state lawmakers, says. “We hold different views on many things. On this we do not differ: under no circumstances should any corporation be shielded from liability for sexual assault. The scale of the harm is not speculative.”

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Signers of the letter are women lawmakers from 42 states and one territory.

A federal jury ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona passenger who said a driver raped her, and in April, a jury found Uber liable for a sexual assault in North Carolina.

Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, is joined by 28 other Democratic state lawmakers from Colorado in the letter. The proposed amendment would preempt House Bill 26-1424, they contend, a new law sponsored by Willford that sets requirements for driver background checks and driver disqualifications and allows the Public Utilities Commission to impose penalties against the companies. The law explicitly allows a party to sue a company even if they are fined by the PUC. Willford worked for two years to pass the bill and have it signed into law following a case in which a man was charged with unlawful sexual contact against Willford during a Lyft ride in 2024.

Uber and Lyft did not oppose the legislation. Governor Jared Polis signed it into law earlier this month.

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The federal law could also conflict with House Bills 1273 and 1469 in Virginia.

“In Virginia, we did the work. We held the hearings, we listened to survivors, and we passed real protections and the Governor signed them,” Virginia Delegate Jackie Glass said in a statement. “Now, a single amendment, slipped into a highway bill at two in the morning, would override what our states just built … Congress should be raising the bar on safety — not cutting the floor out from under us.”

The letter goes on to say: “State legislatures must retain the ability to identify a problem in their communities and to enact meaningful, responsive policy. That is the constitutional design, and it is a practical one: these harms look different in Denver than in Norfolk, and the people closest to them are best positioned to respond. 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 BUILD America 250 Act is a five-year surface transportation bill funding roads, bridges and other infrastructure. It will next head to the Republican-led House floor.