Capitol Report Talks Back: Tragic limo accident spurs regulatory bill

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

When teenager Molly Bloom lost her leg after being dragged under a limousine on her prom night, Rep. Gwyn Green had flashbacks to her own son's horrific car wreck.
Now the Golden Democrat and other lawmakers are pushing for tougher regulation of limousine, taxi and other commercial drivers, including criminal background checks.
The man driving the stretch Hummer that ran over the then-17-year- old East High School student last May as she stepped into the limo was charged with careless driving. Stanley D. Sample, a registered
sex offender, also was accused of violating his probation by having contact with someone under age 18 when he chauffeured the teens that night.
Green said the accident was even more of a tragedy because "the person who was driving was driving, in my opinion, in a careless and reckless way."
"I think we really have to institute some way to protect the public from people who drive so cavalierly," said Green, whose son suffered a broken neck at age 20 when a drunken driver slammed into his car.
"I think it's just absolutely imperative to have those background checks for DUI, drug offenses and sexual offenses," she said.
Green's House Bill 1019 would require the state Public Utilities Commission to write new regulations for the limo industry, and she plans an amendment to impose similar rules for the taxi industry.
She also is co-sponsoring House Bill 1065, introduced by Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, that would require the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to conduct state and federal criminal history checks of drivers of taxis, limousines, charter and scenic buses, fire crew transports and buses carrying children.
Limo industry officials, who said many firms already conduct background checks and random drug- testing of drivers, say they support statewide legislation that's fairly enforced across all commercial carriers. The city of Denver and Denver International Airport, for example, require criminal checks before licensing limo and taxi drivers, but other counties do not.
"It's important for the public to know that they are safe," said Adam Paul, president of the Limousine Association of Colorado. "The consumer deserves that."
Mike Geissler, treasurer and past president of the trade group, agreed.
"We do individual checks on all our drivers and pre-employment drug-testing and random testing," he said. "I'm not going to put people behind the wheel who have a drug problem or criminal background."