Sami's Law

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation known as Sami's Law and to applaud the dedication and efforts of the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), who worked tirelessly on this legislation.

As amended, Sami's Law prohibits the unauthorized sale of transportation network company ride-hailing signage, authorizes enforcement policies, and requires the Government Accountability Office to study incidents of physical and sexual assault of passengers and drivers of TNC vehicles, taxicabs, and other for-hire vehicles.

Sami's Law will protect passengers and drivers of TNCs and for-hire vehicles and will ensure data is collected on TNC-related assault and abuse.

Madam Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding and for his leadership, and I thank my friend on the other side of the aisle for his support.

Madam Speaker, in late March 2019, University of South Carolina senior Samantha Josephson--``Sami'' to friends and family--left a late- night outing with her friends alone because she had to work in the morning. The extraordinarily talented student, who had just earned a full scholarship to Drexel University law school, ordered an Uber.

In a congested part of Columbia known as Five Points, a predator, pretending to be her Uber driver, took her in his car and brutally murdered her. Less than 24 hours later, Sami was found dead in a field.

The murderer, Nathaniel Rowland, was caught. In a heart-wrenching trial in July 2021, Rowland was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Presiding Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman noted the ``horrific and most brutal nature'' of Sami's murder and said: ``It is the most severe murder that has occurred that I have been a witness to, as far as presiding in court or participating in as a lawyer.''

Almost immediately, however, after her death, and notwithstanding their excruciating agony over the loss of their precious daughter, Sami's parents, Seymour and Marci, began pushing for comprehensive new protection policies at Uber and Lyft and legislation to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that no one else is ever killed, raped, or assaulted by a rideshare driver.

They created the #WHATSMYNAME Foundation in honor of their daughter to educate the world on rideshare safety. ``Samantha may be gone,'' they wrote, ``but our goal for the rest of our time on Earth is to share her story and make a lasting change.''

Seymour and Marci have, and are, making a lasting change. Their advocacy has saved lives and made so many more of us situationally aware of the dangers of using Uber and Lyft.

For more than 3 years, almost 4 now, especially given the pain due to the unimaginable loss of their daughter, Seymour and Marci have been heroic, tenacious, and selfless. They have inspired modest reforms by Uber and Lyft but are the first to say that so much more needs to be done.

Marci and Seymour have made frequent trips to the Capitol to meet lawmakers and staff from both sides of the aisle, including Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy, as well as Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves, and subcommittee Chair Norton and Ranking Member Davis.

Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, when she met with them, was so greatly moved, moved to tears, when they told their horrible story about what happened to their daughter.

I am grateful that Chairman Pallone has waived the bill through the Energy and Commerce Committee today to ensure its consideration.

I am grateful to the Speaker for her strong commitment to this cause, and there was that empathy. You felt it when you were in the room. They said, ``What can we do? We have to do as much as humanly possible,'' so I thank them.

I offer my special thanks to Tom Suozzi for his tremendous support and for being the lead Democratic cosponsor all these years on this legislation.

Robert Edmonson, with the Speaker, and Ryan Long, with Kevin McCarthy, and other staff members have done stellar work trying to push this and additional reforms forward because, hopefully, we are not done.

The need for Sami's Law is absolutely compelling, I tell my colleagues. I ask all of us: Do any of us really believe that ridesharing, particularly late at night, particularly around college campuses, especially for women, is safe when you are in an Uber or Lyft? It is a big, open question.

Two reports released by Uber found that, over a 4-year period from 2017 to 2020, there were 9,805 allegations of serious sexual assault by Uber drivers in the United States, and 39 people were killed in physical assaults during or soon after an Uber ride.

Lyft's own safety record revealed 4,158 allegations of sexual assault in a 3-year period from 2017 to 2019.

In September, NPR reported that ``Lyft is facing 17 new lawsuits brought by users of its service from around the country, who claim the company failed to protect passengers and drivers from physical and sexual assault.''

``The new lawsuits come 3 years after 14 women filed a lawsuit against Lyft, claiming that, after being sexually assaulted or raped by drivers, Lyft failed to take action even when it was aware of drivers who were accused of assault and purposefully ignored victims' reports.'' Not a stellar record.

Just last week, Eziya Bowden, a 17-year-old woman from North Carolina, jumped out of a moving Lyft vehicle and ended up in the emergency room out of fear that her driver, who made several disturbing comments, was trying to drug her. She was only a few miles away from her home.

Sami's Law under consideration by the House today is an important first--I say ``first''--step to enhance safety for both passengers and drivers and to mitigate future violence.

Sami's Law makes unlawful the unauthorized selling or offering for sale of ridesharing signage, making it more difficult for imposters like Sami's murderer to pose as rideshare drivers.

Let me just point out that when Tom Suozzi testified before the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Chairman DeFazio, when we talked about this factor, that you can go to Amazon or Walmart and get a sign that says you are an Uber driver, he went online as we were talking and said: There it is. I can buy an Uber sign.

You would think the companies would want to control the signage. This legislation will make it illegal to sell it in those outlets and anywhere else unless approved by the companies.

Sami's Law also requires the GAO to investigate and provide an independent, comprehensive report to Congress on the incidence of assault and abuse of both passengers and drivers, and to do it annually, and requires that the GAO examine the nature and specifics of background checks conducted by companies and the varying standards set by States regarding background checks.

We want to know: What do they do when they find out who their drivers are? We have asked the hard questions. The answers have not been all that good.

It also assesses safety steps thus far taken by rideshare vehicles, taxis, and other vehicles for hire.

I am disappointed to say that opposition from Uber and Lyft has resulted in dropping other lifesaving provisions that were in the original bill that was passed by the House in the last Congress with Tom Suozzi and I leading on that, as well.

One required Uber and Lyft and other transportation network companies to implement a simple digital method of verifying that the passenger and driver have been specifically matched by the TNC prior to the ride beginning, so that match is made right before you take off. Yes, that is who the driver should be, and the person in back has ordered that Uber. It also gives a record going forward if any kind of assault does, indeed, occur.

The opposition to this digital security feature is mind-boggling to me. Uber has the technology and even a program in place, but they offer it only as an opt-in program, a program so well hidden that few riders even know about it.

Our legislation passed in July 2020 said that transportation companies may offer a passenger an option out, an opt-out. If you want to be out of it, get out of it, but the default would be you are in it, and it is all for your protection.

It is like safety belts. There was a time when that was controversial. Now, we all put them on. The buzzer goes off, or the bell or the ring, if you don't have that on.

A second provision that we lost was Sami's council, which would simply empower a working group to continually make upgrades as to how better to utilize all of this.

Let me just say, finally, Marci and Seymour at the sentencing or before that at the trial--they inspire us--they also spoke. I will read only a few of the words that they said. I remember watching it on television, and it just broke my heart.

Here is what Marci said. ``I close my eyes, and I feel what she endured at his hands 120 times''--he stabbed her, remember--``over and over and over, fighting for her life, locked in his car. I used to have dreams for her. Now, all I have are nightmares--120 times. The final moments, her bare feet kicking and fighting for her life. I visualize the blood flowing from her body, her joyful body, 120 times. For what? The $35 a college student has in her bank account?

``The excruciating pain he put her through is unimaginable. . . . In one second, our lives changed . . . Her death sliced through my heart.''

In his statement, Seymour questioned how this could have happened at all, challenging us to prevent it in the future. Again, they have spent so much time, dedicating their lives so nobody else ever has to go through this.

He said, at the trial: ``I have repeated nightmares and visions of him, the monster, stabbing her. I have visions of her foot on the back window. I have visions of her screaming and fighting. I have visions of her taking her last breath.

``I stand here . . . in bewilderment, asking how in the world did we get here? That night of her kidnapping and murder, she called me about using my credit card because supposedly hers didn't work with Uber or Lyft.

``I look at my wife, and she is not even close to being the same. I have lost a huge piece of her, along with Samantha. Every day, I look at her and only wish I could do something to take that pain away.''

So, I ask my colleagues that, in Sami's name, today, we act to protect rideshare passengers and their drivers, and we take an important first step to safeguard others from the unspeakable pain that Seymour and Marci Josephson now endure.

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, H.R. 1082 will improve the safety of prospective rideshare passengers by prohibiting the unauthorized sale of ride-hailing signage.

This legislation will also help protect all of our constituents as GAO analyzes the occurrence of assaults against both passengers and drivers of for-hire vehicles.

Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Smith of New Jersey for his tireless efforts and urge support of this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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