Did Alaska Enact the $1 Million Passenger Coverage Uber and Lyft Opposed?
No. The $1 million uninsured and underinsured motorist figure was a proposal in Senate Bill 35. It is not what Alaska law currently requires during a prearranged ride.
Lani Gerken wrote lawmakers after an Uber passenger was hurt in a June 21, 2025 accident in Anchorage. She wanted coverage for a passenger even when someone outside the rideshare car caused the accident. Her October 31, 2025 letter is in the record for Senate Bill 35.
As of the Alaska Legislature’s bill page on November 10, 2026, SB 35’s recorded status was still “(H) RLS,” with a status date of May 16, 2026. That page does not show a House vote, enrollment, or the governor’s signature. The $1 million proposal did not become law on that record.
The accident described in the letter
The passenger’s name is redacted. Gerken wrote that he was riding in an Uber to the airport at 4:20 a.m. on June 21, 2025, when another driver ran a red light at East 15th Avenue and Medfra Street in Anchorage and hit the Uber. The letter says the other driver was drunk, and that the Uber rolled three times and hit a pole. The Uber driver suffered serious injuries, according to the letter.
The passenger had three surgeries and was in the hospital for nine days, and his medical costs were around $350,000, the letter says. It says he was receiving $5,000 for medical costs under Uber’s policy, that the at-fault driver’s insurance will cover $50,000 of medical costs, and that he has a $9,000 deductible on his own medical insurance.
The passenger hired a lawyer, who found there was little underinsured coverage because Uber had waived the UM/UIM requirements, according to the letter. “Uber rejected the UM/UIM coverage with Progressive except if the collision occurred on airport grounds (which in this case it did not),” Gerken wrote. Those figures and the waiver are the letter’s account of this accident. They are not a statewide report of every Uber policy.
What Alaska law requires now
Current law and the SB 35 proposal answer different questions.
Alaska requires at least $1 million in primary liability coverage for death, injury, and property damage during a prearranged ride. That coverage is about harm the rideshare driver is legally responsible for causing. It is not the same thing as uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, which deals with a driver who has no insurance or too little. AS 28.23.050(c).
The rideshare statute points to separate uninsured and underinsured motorist laws. Those laws allow an insured to reject that coverage in writing, in whole or in part. AS 21.96.020(e) and AS 28.20.445(e)(3). Gerken’s letter says Uber had rejected the coverage except for accidents on airport grounds.
The proposed $1 million UM/UIM protection would have changed that structure for a passenger period. It is not the coverage those current sections impose.
What the $1 million proposal was
The Senate passed CSSB 35(L&C) am on April 13, 2026, by 17–3. In that text, the insurance rules for a prearranged ride kept at least $1 million in primary liability. They also required uninsured or underinsured coverage of not less than that $1 million amount, and they said a transportation network company may not waive it.
Uber and Lyft opposed that UM/UIM mandate while it was in the bill.
In a letter in the April 20, 2026 committee record, Uber said it opposed the bill without changes. It objected to $1 million in UM/UIM coverage when a passenger is in the vehicle. Uber pointed to California’s Senate Bill 371, which it said set passenger-period UM/UIM coverage at $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. Uber argued that a $1 million requirement in Alaska would make rides more expensive. That California comparison is Uber’s description in the letter.
Lyft’s opposition was specific to the same mandate. Francisco Avalos, Lyft’s senior public policy manager, told the House Labor and Commerce Committee on May 1, 2026, that the amended bill required $1 million in UM/UIM coverage and took away the option to waive it. He said Lyft estimated the requirement would raise its insurance cost per ride by more than 50 percent. Lyft asked the committee to remove it. Lyft’s May 1, 2026 testimony.
Where SB 35 stood on November 10, 2026
The House Labor and Commerce Committee moved a substitute on May 15, 2026. The next day the House received HCS CSSB 35(L&C) and referred it to Rules. That is the last action on the legislature’s bill page.
The May 16 substitute is not the $1 million UM text Uber and Lyft wrote against. In the passenger period, the substitute still proposed at least $1 million in primary liability. For uninsured or underinsured coverage, the latest text proposed at least $500,000, and it said a transportation network company may not waive that coverage. That $500,000 figure was still a proposal. It is not current Alaska law either.
On November 10, 2026, the Alaska Legislature bill page listed the current status as “(H) RLS” and the status date as May 16, 2026. The page does not record House passage or enactment. Legislative Observer, which tracks that record, listed the same last action and still showed the bill in House Rules. The official bill page does not say the bill failed. It does not show a later revival or a new statute.
Sources
- Lani Gerken, letter to Alaska legislators, “Rideshare Insurance Issue,” October 31, 2025
- Uber, SB 35 letter, listed April 20, 2026
- Lyft, SB 35 testimony, May 1, 2026
- Alaska Legislature, SB 35, status checked November 10, 2026; CSSB 35(L&C) am (Senate-passed text); HCS CSSB 35(L&C), May 16, 2026
- Legislative Observer, SB 35 record
- AS 28.23.050, AS 21.96.020, AS 28.20.445 (Justia)
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