Protect Virginia's Rideshare Drivers — Pass the 2026-2027 Driver Pay Bill
Governor of Virginia, Governor-Elect of Virginia, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Virginia Senate Majority Leader, Chairs and Vice Chairs of the House Labor and Commerce Committee, Chairs and Vice Chairs of the House Transportation Committee,
Virginia drivers have already proven that organizing works.
In 2025 and 2026, rideshare drivers from across the Commonwealth organized, testified, met with lawmakers, and built public support for legislation requiring greater transparency from Uber and Lyft. Those efforts helped win new transparency protections for drivers and riders.
But transparency alone does not pay the bills.
Drivers still face:
- Pay cuts without warning
- Long unpaid miles and waiting time
- Rising fuel, maintenance, and insurance costs
- Arbitrary deactivations
- Lack of meaningful workplace protections
Today, many drivers do not know whether a trip is profitable until after expenses are deducted. Some drivers report earning less than minimum wage after accounting for vehicle costs.
The next step is clear: transparency must be followed by fair pay.
By signing this petition, you are supporting legislation that ensures rideshare drivers receive a fair share of the fares they generate and can continue providing safe, reliable transportation in communities across Virginia.
Sponsored by
To:
Governor of Virginia, Governor-Elect of Virginia, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Virginia Senate Majority Leader, Chairs and Vice Chairs of the House Labor and Commerce Committee, Chairs and Vice Chairs of the House Transportation Committee,
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned rideshare drivers, Virginia residents, riders, and organizational allies, urge Virginia leaders to support and pass a strong Minimum Pay Bill for rideshare drivers in the 2026 General Assembly.
Virginia is not starting from scratch.
In 2024, HB 924 passed both chambers and would have required transportation network companies to disclose their deactivation process and give drivers weekly fare and earnings summaries, including the percentage of each fare that went to the driver. It was vetoed.
In 2025, SB 1348 and HB 2756 passed the General Assembly with similar transparency and due-process protections. They were vetoed again.
After years of driver organizing, testimony, public pressure, and legislative work, Virginia has now taken an important step forward: the transparency and driver protection bills have passed. That victory matters. Drivers and riders deserve to know how fares are calculated, how much companies take, and what protections exist when a driver is deactivated.
But transparency alone does not guarantee fair pay.
A driver can receive a fare breakdown and still be paid too little to cover gas, insurance, maintenance, vehicle depreciation, rent, food, and family expenses. A driver can know exactly how much Uber or Lyft took from a fare and still have no legal protection against poverty wages. Disclosure is necessary, but it is not enough.
The unfinished fight is minimum pay.
In 2025, HB 2609 and SB 1167 proposed a clear minimum-pay framework for rideshare trips. Those bills would have established a real pay standard for drivers, but they were forwarded to the next year instead of being passed into law.
That means Virginia lawmakers still have a choice to make.
Will Virginia allow Uber and Lyft to continue shifting costs onto drivers while controlling the fares, the algorithm, the rules, and the terms of work? Or will Virginia build on its transparency victory by guaranteeing that rideshare drivers are actually paid enough to make the work sustainable?
Low pay does not only affect drivers. It affects families, riders, public safety, and the broader labor market. When drivers are underpaid, they are pushed to work longer hours, defer vehicle maintenance, accept unsafe trips, and sacrifice time with their families just to survive. The burden falls especially hard on immigrant, Black, Brown, disabled, and limited-English-proficient drivers, who make up a major part of Virginia’s rideshare workforce.
Meanwhile, other cities, states, and countries, including British Columbia in Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Australia, have adopted minimum pay floors, transparent fare breakdowns, or stronger due-process protections for platform workers. Internationally, the International Labour Organization is moving toward a new Convention and Recommendation on decent work in the platform economy, and the United Nations Global Digital Compact establishes shared principles for rights-based digital governance and algorithmic transparency. These developments make clear that fair pay, transparency, and due process for platform workers are becoming global norms, not experimental ideas.
For these reasons, we call on Virginia leaders to take decisive action in 2027:
Support and pass a strong 2026 Minimum Pay Bill establishing a real pay floor above drivers’ operating costs.
Ensure rideshare drivers are compensated for mileage, time, pickup distance, waiting time, vehicle expenses, insurance, maintenance, and other costs required to do the job.
Reject corporate-drafted deregulation that weakens wages, transparency, or due-process rights for workers.
Protect drivers from retaliation for organizing, speaking out, or demanding fair treatment.
Affirm that rideshare drivers are essential workers whose labor supports Virginia families, communities, airports, hospitals, students, seniors, disabled riders, nightlife workers, and the broader economy.
Virginia has already taken an important step by passing transparency and driver protection legislation. Now lawmakers must make that transparency meaningful by guaranteeing fair pay.
Protecting drivers means protecting all workers. We urge Virginia leaders to finish the work started by HB 2609 and SB 1167 and make 2026 the year Virginia finally guarantees fair compensation for rideshare drivers.