Kansas City, Mo. ? Mayor Kay Barnes has proposed a revision to city ordinance that would close a loophole that allowed registered sex offender Issac L. Lubom to drive a taxi.

Lubom, last week, was charged with molesting a 15-year-old girl to whom he had given a taxicab ride in January. He began driving for Yellow Cab in November, after a background check during the application process did not show Lubom’s guilty plea for a sexual assault in 1997.

That felony would have precluded Lubom from obtaining a license. But the sexual assault guilty plea was expunged from his record after he completed probation. Therefore, he was not considered to have a felony conviction.

Currently, taxicab driver applicants must disclose felony convictions but not felony guilty pleas.

Under the proposed revisions to the ordinance, applicants would have to declare whether they have ever pleaded guilty to a felony, whether it has been cleared from their record or not.

Also, the new ordinance would require applicants to provide copies of their criminal records to the city.

In addition, the proposed changes would expand the criminal sexual offenses that make drivers ineligible for a city-issued taxicab certificate. Sexual misconduct and sexual abuse would be added to a list that already includes child molestation.

The revised ordinance still would not require the city or police to check lists of registered sex offenders before the city approves a certificate. Applicants must obtain a certificate before operating a taxicab in the city.

The proposed ordinance, which other council members have agreed to co-sponsor, has been assigned to the Finance and Audit Committee. Committee chairman Evert Asjes said Thursday he had not yet read the proposed changes.

“Everybody’s in agreement with the sex offender deal that we have to do something to close that loophole,” said Asjes, who thinks checking the sex offender lists might also have merit.

Metropolitan Transportation Services Inc., which includes Yellow Cab, supports the reforms, said President Bill George.

“We want to make sure this cannot happen again,” said George, who helped write earlier ordinance revisions that strengthened taxicab driver eligibility rules.