{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407905", "<span class =\"kicker\">Asbury Park Press article on passage of Smith bill</span>'House passes 'Sami's Law,' ride-share safety bill named for slain NJ college student'", "2020-07-31", "2020", "2020-07", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "By Michael L. Diamond, APP Staff Writer -  \r\nA bill named after Samantha Josephson, a college student from Robbinsville who was murdered by someone pretending to beher Uber driver, is a step closer to law.\r\nThe U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that in part would force ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft to deploy technology that would match passengers with drivers before the ride begins.\r\n\"It's bittersweet,\" Seymour Josephson, Samantha's father, said. \"We'd much rather have Samantha sitting with us here on the couch, but to create a law so nobody else gets hurt is a good thing.\"\r\n\r\n\r\nThe bill was authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. and was metwith praise forboth sides of the aisle duringa deeply polarized time.\r\nJosephson, 21,a student at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, was killed in March 2019 after she ordered an Uber ride and, authorities said, mistakenly got intoa cardriven byNathaniel Rowland.\r\nMORE:Samantha Josephson hometown mourns 'quirky, kindhearted' girl\r\nOP-ED:Sami's Law would protect ride-share passengers from assault\r\nHer body was found in Clarendon County, South Carolina,andRowland, thena 24-year-old from that area, was charged with her murder and kidnapping. The bill awaits approval in the U.S. Senate.  \r\n\r\nAmong the provisions:\r\n \r\n    Ride-sharing companies would need to roll out technology that would match passengers with their drivers' vehicles. A drivercouldn't begin the trip until the passenger and driver verify each others identities.\r\n    It sets up a 15-member advisory council that reports to the Secretary of Transportation with safety guidance.\r\n    It makes it illegal to sell ride-share signage.\r\n    It requires the government to study the prevalence of assault and abuse of passengers and drivers.\r\n    It requires the government to examine ride-sharing companies background checks.\r\n \r\nJosephson left behind hundreds of friends and family members, who gathered in her Mercer County hometown last year to remember a woman who at once was \"kooky and laughable\" andhad earned a scholarship to attend law school atDrexel University.\r\nOn an early March morning, weeks before she was supposed to graduate,she called an Uber and got into a dark-colored Chevrolet Impala outside a bar in the Five Points District,anightlife hot spotnear the University of South Carolina.\r\nTurkey hunters eventually discovered her bodyin a rural area near a dirt road. Police later determinedshe had been stabbed to death.\r\nThis article ran on Page A-2 of the July 31, 2020 print edition of the Asbury Park Press, and can be found online at:\r\nhttps://www.app.com/story/news/crime/2020/07/29/samis-law-ride-share-safety-samantha-josephson/5540468002/", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=407905"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9245618712157011, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}