SACRAMENTO—HopSkipDrive, a rideshare service that provides safe and reliable transportation for children and families, announced its support of Proposition 22 today, joining 100,000 app-based drivers and social justice, public safety, business groups and community organizations. 

“Families that depend on HopSkipDrive experience daunting challenges finding transportation and childcare,” said Joanna McFarland, co-founder and CEO of HopSkipDrive. “Without Prop 22, our ability to continue providing these services is at risk. We serve students with special needs, students experiencing homelessness, and students in the foster care system, all of whom struggle to access traditional transportation to and from school. We strongly support Prop 22 to keep the successful model that allows us to serve families most in need.”

Partnering with nearly 200 schools, school districts, and county child welfare agencies throughout California, HopSkipDrive’s platform provides alternative transportation solutions for children. HopSkipDrive’s CareDrivers are independent contractors who work for just a few hours a week, providing tailored transportation services that fill the gaps left by school buses and public transportation. 

“Prop 22 is a win-win because it lets CareDrivers maintain the flexibility they need, while also offering protections such as a 120% minimum wage earnings guarantee and benefits like health care. CareDrivers need and want flexibility, often caring for their own family members and driving for HopSkipDrive when it fits into their schedule, ” said McFarland.

CareDrivers on the HopSkipDrive platform, the majority of whom are women of color, typically provide trips during specific hours depending on families’ needs, averaging around 3 hours per week per driver. The overwhelming majority of CareDrivers simply cannot work as employees because they only work a few hours each week. Without Prop 22, HopSkipDrive would likely have to shut down services in California. 

“I drive with HopSkipDrive because it gives me a chance to help take care of kids in need while also supplementing my income,” said Michaeline Mendoza, a HopSkipDrive CareDriver who drives for HopSkipDrive in the morning on the way to work. “I love having the flexibility to be able to drive, and I know families across the state appreciate our service. I support Prop 22 because it will allow me to keep taking care of kids and helping families like mine, on our terms.”

“HopSkipDrive provides an invaluable service for our family,” said Dr. Carmen Majied, a parent who uses HopSkipDrive to safely and reliably transport her children to school and sports. “If Prop 22 doesn’t pass and HopSkipDrive has to shut down services in California, it would be devastating as a parent because we would lose safe, reliable, and affordable access to transportation that our family needs.”

Flawed and poorly written regulations and coordinated lawsuits from Sacramento politicians are threatening to make it illegal for app-based rideshare and delivery drivers to work as independent contractors. Prop 22 would protect drivers’ ability to work as independent contractors while also providing a minimum earnings guarantee and benefits like health care. 

About Proposition 22

More than 71 percent of app-based drivers want to remain independent contractors, despite efforts by politicians to force them to become or find work as employees. Additionally, a new study from UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting & Development found that Proposition 22 will lead to earnings well above minimum wage—averaging between $25 and $28 dollars per hour—for hundreds of thousands of California app-based drivers.

Proposition 22 would maintain driver flexibility, by protecting the ability of California’s one million app-based drivers to choose to work as independent contractors while providing new earning guarantees and benefits. These include:

• Prop 22 improves the quality of app-based work by requiring app-based platforms to provide drivers:
  • Guaranteed minimum earnings (120 percent of California minimum wage) including compensation toward expenses
  • Funding for new health benefits for drivers who work at least 15 hours a week
  • Occupational accident insurance to cover injuries and illnesses on the job
  • Protection against discrimination and sexual harassment

• Prop 22 implements strong new public safety protections:
  • Recurring background checks of drivers
  • Mandatory new safety courses for drivers
  • Zero tolerance for alcohol and drug offenses
  • Making it a crime to impersonate a driver