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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Draper Republican legislator and Salt Lake City airport officials want more extensive background checks of taxi drivers who serve the airport.
Taxi drivers already must undergo state background check.
But the bill by Rep. Greg Hughes would authorize the airport to run FBI background checks for drivers of taxis, shuttles, vans and limousines.
The FBI checks are more extensive and tap into nationwide criminal databases beyond just Utah information.
They cost more, too, and that additional cost could be passed along to the drivers, who pay $75 for a Salt Lake City license and state background check each year.
"I think we live in a different time," Hughes said. "We need to be as careful as we can."
Hughes wants his bill narrow enough that workers at small airports would not have to deal with the checks. It would be restricted to drivers carrying passengers to and from major airports in first-class counties -- those with 700,000 people or more. That would limit the checks to Salt Lake City International Airport.
The airport wants to further scrutinize the taxi and shuttle drivers because they can pull up to the curb closest to terminals. Other drivers are not allowed to get that close.
Doing extensive background checks on them mirrors the checks required for other airport employees who have special access, said Russell Pack, acting airport executive director.
"It's a security issue where they can pull right to the curb where most other vehicles can't," Pack said. "We have a federal statute in place that allows us to check backgrounds for all our employees, which is what I went through. Without my badge, I couldn't work here. It's sort of a similar thing."
Bruce Jackson, a co-owner of City Cab, said that his drivers already have a rigorous application process with yearly background checks.
"How much more do they need?" Jackson said. "You could work at the FBI almost quicker than you could become a cab driver."
Hughes said he and city representatives came up with the bill jointly.
"It's not often that a Republican conservative from Draper is carrying the water for Salt Lake City," he said. "We're not going to let some past conflict or current agitations get in the way of good public policy."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
