While Hillsborough County officials continue to blast ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft for what they allege are flimsy background check policies, they could always do what the city of Houston is doing next week — require mandatory drug testing, fingerprinting and background checks for drivers.

Those screenings will cost the company $62 per driver — a bridge too far, apparently, for the San Francisco-based service, which is threatening to stop operations in the Houston area if it has to have their drivers half to take the time and effort to pay for a variety of tests (more on that later).

No doubt Kyle Cockream, director of the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission (PTC), might want to mandate a similar policy, but there doesn't seem to be the political will in the county to go to such lengths.

Currently Lyft and Uber are operating illegally in Hillsborough County, and the Tampa Bay Times reported earlier this week that PTC's regulators have been going undercover to bust Lyft and Uber drivers, and have cited about 50 drivers so far.

Meanwhile, PTC's Cockream is decidedly unimpressed with the verdict handed down yesterday from Giuliani Partners. The global security consultant feels that Uber's background check policy "is much more thorough than that of many companies conducting background checks in this industry," according to its chairman and CEO, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani. 

"Uber’s BGC [background check policy] may be better than other 'third party' entities doing 'that kind' of BGC, but simple common sense would dictate that their BGC is not better than a Level 2 [fingerprint] check," Cockream wrote to CL in an email on Friday. "And here is where the common sense comes into play. If Uber BGC is better than the Level 2 (which is what is commonly utilized in the for-hire industry) BGC, then perhaps someone should call the FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service, US Military Intelligence, state & local law enforcement, I could go on for days, and advise them that they need to change their BGC’s."  

Cockream says that because Giuliani Partners was paid to review Uber's background check policy, its review should be suspect from the jump. "The reality is that Uber is paying a for-profit company for their opinion, and I’m confident that it was a substantial amount of money. If I had Uber’s money I would have hired Mr. Giuliani’s firm to evaluate the PTC’s BGC, and I’m confident I would have received fantastic comments and glowing reviews."

Last week WFLA-News Channel 8 reported  that background checks of taxicab drivers are open record in Florida, but Lyft and Uber are not required to provide the same information to the public because both are private companies. "They are not a regulatory/government agency, therefore they are not subject to Public Records Laws," Cockream laments.

Back to the issue in Houston, Lyft spokesperson Chelsea Wilson tells CL that Lyft drivers would be subjected to a set of onerous regulations that will make it exceedingly difficult for them, especially those who work in other jobs. They include paying for and undergoing a background check, paying for a medical examination and drug test, and then submitting and paying for a complete fingerprint check (a cost of $41.45) and paying for a warrant check, which can only be done Monday thru Friday).

"It’s really difficult for people to then go to an office that’s only open Monday thru Friday, " Wilson says. "We're not saying we don't believe in background checks, or we don't want regulations. We're just saying we currently have a have a process that is very rigorous, very comprehensive..and doesn't place any burdens on drivers, so part-time drivers can still participate."

And Wilson said that Lyft has come to agreements with a number of cities across the country recently such as Washington D.C., Cincinnati and Austin, Texas, and hopes to do so in many more regions, including Tampa.

This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2014.