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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Ridesharing Works for Austin stated on April 26, 2016 in a voter mailer noted by a reader: If Austin voters reject Proposition 1, a \"completely new City-run\" criminal background check \"process will cost millions in processing fees, additional staff, and bureaucracy\" with taxpayers getting \"the bill.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") * City Budget * City Government * Transportation * Taxes * Texas * Ridesharing Works for Austin By W. Gardner Selby April 30, 2016 # Facts missing behind claim that fingerprint checks of Austin drivers will cost city millions Austin taxpayers are in for millions of dollars in regulatory costs if voters decide not to change what the city requires in background checks of drivers for ride-hailing services, a pro-proposition group says. Ridesharing Works for Austin says in a mailer to voters: \"A completely new City-run\" criminal background check \"process will cost millions in processing fees, additional staff, and bureaucracy.\" The mailer, which came to our attention from a reader, is headlined: \"Keep Taxpayers From Having to Pay.\" Proposition 1, which landed on the May 7, 2016, ballot after a petition drive led by Ridesharing Works for Austin, centers on whether to require fingerprinting of drivers for popular services, like Uber and Lyft, that enable customers to summon a ride using a mobile app. Vote \"yes\" and company-provided name-based national criminal background checks would continue -- without a fingerprinting element. Vote \"no\" and driver fingerprints would be gathered and run through the FBI. Rejecting the proposal, the mailer suggests, gives \"the City a blank check to fund a takeover\" of background checks \"and sends taxpayers the bill.\" So, hide your pocketbook? Not so fast, we found. Council member: Taxpayers not on barrel Before we saw the mailer, an Austin City Council member disputed the notion that taxpayers will be charged for fingerprinting drivers. An April 19, 2016, Austin American-Statesman news story quoted Ann Kitchen, sponsor of the ordinance the proposition would repeal, saying the council agreed to levy a 1 percent fee on the ride-hailing companies’ gross local revenue to go to a city fund to \"assist and incent drivers to become compliant\" with the new rules. Then again, according to an April 22, 2016, commentary by Ben Wear, the American-Statesman’s transportation writer, that’s to be charged only if companies fail to take certain steps to get drivers fingerprinted as quickly as possible. The incentive fee was created to help allay ride-hailing drivers’ concerns about the costs of the fingerprint check — expected to be nearly $40 per driver, city spokeswoman Alicia Dean told us by email. Dean added: \"This is what it costs for checks we do for other driver background checks for other vehicles for hire.\" We asked if the city or council had decided to cover the costs. Dean replied: \"No.\" There’s also a separate 1 percent fee, to be in place if the proposition passes or not, \"to cover the city’s administrative costs and infrastructure needs,\" the Statesman reported. Upshot: Ride-hail companies could be paying up to 2 percent of gross local revenue to the city though another April 2016 American-Statesman news story says ride-hail companies aren’t expected to owe any general fees until at least the end of 2016. The same story quoted a former council member, Chris Riley, saying that when the council approved its first ride-hail regulations in August 2014, the intent was that any such fees cover city administrative costs. Of course, all this not-so declamation comes from city-connected officials. We were curious how Ridesharing Works for Austin arrived at its millions-of- dollars’ conclusion. To our query, spokesman Travis Considine pointed out by email that prospective-driver fingerprints are to be run through the FBI, according to the ordinance adopted by the council in December 2015. Specifically, the ordinance authorizes the city or an approved \"third party\" to submit each driver-applicant’s fingerprints to the Texas Department of Public Safety for a search of state criminal records and to forward the fingerprints to the FBI for the national check. \"The results of the FBI check will be returned to the DPS,\" the ordinance says, \"which will disseminate the results of state and national criminal history checks to the City.\" Next, the ordinance says, the department shall use each result to determine if the applicant is prohibited from driving for a Transportation Network Company, as in ride-hail service. Not that the city expects all of this in a hurry. During a phase-in, the ordinance says, the city’s Transportation Department is to implement procedures to help drivers obtain fingerprints and background checks with each company expected to have 99 percent of its drivers checked by February 2017 or be subject to financial penalties. Considine suggested city reviews of each completed check will entail massive upticks in staff and spending to process thousands of reports coming back from the DPS. The services currently conduct name-based checks on their own. Uber lobbyist: 50,000 background checks will burden city Considine also put us in touch with Adam Goldman, an Austin lobbyist for Uber, who said by phone the few city workers who currently review applications for chauffeur licenses can’t possibly be expected to handle the surge in applications likely to come from ride-hail drivers seeking to fulfill the city’s requirements. If voters say \"no\" to the proposition, Goldman said, city staff stand to see fingerprint-fueled checks submitted for 50,000 drivers -- a figure he said reflects the number of Austin-area residents who have driven at least once for Uber. Hold that count. An Uber spokeswoman, Jaime Moore, previously told us it has 15,000 Austin-area drivers though that total fluctuates. Moore, informed of Goldman’s 50,000 figure, replied by email that nearly 50,000 Austin-area people went through the Uber screening process in the last year -- though many of them didn’t make it through. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 23, 2024 in a speech in Las Vegas “Kamala cast the tiebreaking vote to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to go after your tip income.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • August 28, 2024 Still, Moore suggested we put stock in the \"50,000\" because Goldman didn’t consider Austin-area Lyft drivers. So, Moore said, \"we would expect the number\" of individuals whose background checks would require the city’s final review \"to be much higher than 50,000.\" Goldman didn’t offer a calculation to back up the predicted \"millions\" in city costs. But Considine, asked for an equation behind the group’s claim, suggested multiplying 50,000 times the possible $40 charge per background check, which plays out to $2 million. Alternatively, we noted, if you go with the low-end count of 10,000 drivers, you get $400,000 in possible costs. We asked Considine if it’s fair to consider either total a city cost in that the city, far as we can tell, hasn’t said it’s funding the checks. He didn’t reply. It also occurred to us there might be fewer ride-hail drivers if the proposition fails; some might resist fingerprinting. Considine agreed, saying by phone: \"That is what happened in Houston. Uber in Houston is different than Austin; the wait times are longer, the surge pricing,\" pricing at peak travel times, \"is higher.\" Houston official: No spike in taxpayer-funded costs It made sense to us to consider Houston’s experience. The Bayou City has required fingerprint-driven background checks of ride-hail drivers since November 2014, also demanding drug tests, physicals and vehicle inspections. So we reached out to the city’s Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department to ask if administrative costs spiked. By phone, spokeswoman Lara Cottingham said the city experienced an \"enormous spike\" in applicants after Uber agreed to comply with the city’s security requirements. However, she said, the department didn’t add staff for its final reviews; as before Uber arrived in Houston, a single employee looks over 200 to 300 driver background checks a day. If a background check shows any offense disqualifying a person for a license, the application is denied, Cottingham said, but the city also sets up a hearing for the driver to seek reconsideration, in accord with state law, she said. \"There’s been no real change other than she’s a lot busier than before,\" Cottingham said. Cottingham said driver-applicants are allowed to get fingerprinted by a designated private vendor or may visit the DPS in Austin to be fingerprinted. Generally, Cottingham said, fees paid by Uber, the amount of which she said the company doesn’t consider public information, more than cover city costs. Austin official: Staff can \'flex\' Next, we asked Austin’s Transportation Department if the pro-proposition group’s cost claim comports with its expectations. We sought elaboration about flexing up; Dean replied that the department has 12 employees including about eight \"administrative personnel\" who could process such applications plus at least five professional staff who \"could be flexed to review reports.\" Gordon Derr, an assistant director in the department, earlier said by email: \"Possibly, the number of staff may need to increase to handle large numbers of applications, but the activities overseeing vehicles-for-hire are funded by the enterprise fund for the city.\" That’s not tax revenue, we recognized. By email, a department spokeswoman, Cheyenne Krause, said the ride-hail fees authorized by the council would go into the department’s enterprise fund which to date brings together parking revenue and fees paid by ground transportation service companies and drivers, funding department staff and administration. Derr earlier said: \"Possibly, the number of staff may need to increase to handle large numbers of applications, but the activities overseeing vehicles- for-hire are funded by the enterprise fund for the city,\" which applies to programs generally funded from fees, not taxes. \"Costs would not be paid from the general fund,\" which supports tax-backed activities, \"therefore the costs would not be billed to the taxpayers,\" Derr said, adding: \"It has yet to be determined who would be responsible for paying for background checks.\" Derr said the city has \"engaged\" a DPS contractor, Morphotrust, to take fingerprints from prospective drivers. Once prints are taken, he wrote, \"Morphotrust works through DPS to process the background checks through DPS for the state background check and the FBI for federal background checks.\" Next, Derr said, the DPS sends results to the city where staff review them. Generally, Krause later told us by email, staff don’t know \"what will be required and cannot speculate as to the number of background checks that the City will review or the resources that will be required to review the checks. Any potential costs to the City are purely speculative.\" Our ruling The Ridesharing Works group said that if voters reject Proposition 1, a \"completely new city-run\" criminal background check \"process will cost millions in processing fees, additional staff and bureaucracy\" with taxpayers getting \"the bill.\" This claim isn’t backed up by Houston’s avowed experience or available facts about Austin’s approach. What happens next does seem a bit unsettled. For instance, it\'s up in the air who’s going to pay for each background check reviewed by the city. We also found no authoritative cost estimate for the city’s oversight. Additional staff might be needed, we learned, yet the relevant department also advises it can lean on existing staff. However, we neither fielded nor found evidence the city’s contemplated reviews of background checks will cost millions. Significantly too, taxpayers aren\'t poised to get the bill; city costs are to be covered from a fee-backed fund, not tax revenue. We rate this statement False. **FALSE** – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources News stories, Austin American-Statesman, \"Austin has failed to collect administrative fee from Lyft and Uber,\" posted online April 18, 2016; \"Would taxpayers pay for fingerprinting drivers? Officials say no,\" posted online April 19, 2016 Emails, Travis Considine, communications director, Ridesharing Works for Austin, April 27-28, 2016 Telephone interview, Adam Goldman, lobbyist for Uber in Austin, April 27, 201 Email (excerpted), Jaime Moore, communications and public affairs manager, Uber, Austin, April 28, 2016 Truth-O-Meter article, \"Ellen Troxclair lacks facts for claim about chances of sex assault by an Austin taxi driver,\" PolitiFact Texas, April 15, 2016 Emails, Cheyenne Krause, senior public information specialist, City of Austin Transportation Department, April 27-28, 2016 Document, response to PolitiFact Texas from Gordon Derr, assistant director, City of Austin Transportation Department (received by email from Cheyenne Krause, senior public information specialist, City of Austin Transportation Department, April 27, 2016) Email, Alicia Dean, senior public information specialist, City of Austin, Communications & Public Information Office, April 28, 2016 Telephone interviews, Lara Cottingham, deputy assistant director, City of Houston, Administration & Regulatory Affairs Department, April 26 and 29, 2016 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by W. Gardner Selby ![](\\" ![](\\" Ken Paxton stated on October 25, 2018 in a TV ad: Says Ken Paxton \"shut down the world’s largest human trafficking marketplace.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • November 1, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on October 22, 2018 in a rally for Republican candidates in Houston: Says Beto O’Rourke \"voted to shield MS-13 gang members from deportation.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • October 25, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Beto O\'Rourke stated on October 16, 2018 in a debate televised from San Antonio: Says \"only one other senator from either party over the last 25 years\" has \"a worse record on bipartisanship\" than Ted Cruz. ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By W. Gardner Selby • October 18, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Alexander Strenger stated on October 1, 2018 in response cited in an interactive voter guide: Says 60 percent of Austin’s \"waterways are found to be contaminated with fecal matter and deemed unsafe to swim.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • October 16, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Beto O\'Rourke stated on September 29, 2018 in an Austin rally: Says that in Texas, \"you can be too gay to adopt\" a foster child \"who needs a loving home.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • October 4, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ted Cruz stated on September 21, 2018 in a debate at Southern Methodist University: Says Beto O’Rourke described police as \"modern-day Jim Crow.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • September 25, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Beto O\'Rourke stated on September 21, 2018 in a debate at Southern Methodist University: Says he \"did not try to leave the scene of the accident\" that led to his arrest for driving while intoxicated. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • September 25, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Texans Are stated on September 12, 2018 in a TV ad: Says Beto O’Rourke voted \"against body armor for Texas sheriffs patrolling the border.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By W. Gardner Selby • September 13, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ken Paxton stated on August 26, 2018 in an interview on Fox & Friends: Says Texas has \"had over 600,000 crimes committed by illegals since 2011. Over 1,200 homicides.\" ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • September 7, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Abbott stated on August 30, 2018 in a TV ad: Says Texas \"high school graduation rates are at all-time highs.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By W. Gardner Selby • September 7, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ted Cruz stated on September 4, 2018 in a video: Says Beto O’Rourke said he’s grateful that people are burning or desecrating the American flag. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By W. Gardner Selby • September 5, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ted Cruz stated on August 28, 2018 in an online video ad: Says Beto O’Rourke \"voted against\" Hurricane Harvey \"tax relief.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • August 29, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" M.J. Hegar stated on August 21, 2018 in an interview on Spectrum Cable\'s \"Capital Tonight\": Says U.S. Rep. John Carter \"hasn’t held a town hall in five years.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • August 29, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Beto O\'Rourke stated on July 26, 2018 in an ad in the Houston Defender: Says \"black Americans have 10 times less wealth than white Americans.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By W. Gardner Selby • August 23, 2018 ![](\\" ![](\\" Silvestre Reyes stated on May 22, 2012 in a TV ad: Says Beto O’Rourke \"has a criminal record that includes DWI and burglary arrests.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By W. Gardner Selby • August 22, 2018 ### Facts missing behind claim that fingerprint checks of Austin drivers will cost city millions * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 9, 2024 in a post: Video shows Tim Walz “falsely claims that being gay in Nebraska is ‘illegal’\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Grace Abels • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 10, 2024 in social media posts: Vice President Kamala Harris wore NOVA H1 audio earrings in the Sept. 10, 2024, presidential debate. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on September 10, 2024 in a debate: “As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Sara Swann • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 9, 2024 in an X post: \"Dallas County Texas (tells) election workers to (illegally) lie on registration & use a church address to register homeless people to vote!” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 7, 2024 in a post: CNN reported that the Apalachee High School shooting suspect was motivated by a “lack of trans acceptance.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sara Swann • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 2, 2024 in an Instagram post: Image shows “Michelle Obama’s necklace from DNC speech” said “Mike.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on September 10, 2024 in at a Sept. 10 presidential debate: \"In Springfield (Ohio), they\'re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they\'re eating the cats. They\'re eating, they\'re eating the pets of the people that live there.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 6, 2024 in in social media posts: Haitian immigrants are eating pets and wildlife in Springfield, Ohio. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 9, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 2, 2024 in social media posts: The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is on the way to Aurora, Colorado, to confront a Venezuelan gang. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Loreben Tuquero • September 9, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on July 20, 2024 in remarks at a fundraiser in Provincetown, Mass.: Donald Trump “took away protections against discrimination for LGBTQ patients under the Affordable Care Act.” ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Grace Abels • September 9, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. 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If Austin voters reject Proposition 1 a new Cityrun criminal background check process will cost millions with taxpayers getting the bill