New regulations will require taxicab drivers in Lawrence to go through criminal background checks, and for their vehicles to carry greater amounts of insurance.

But regulations unanimously approved by the Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday won’t put taxicab companies and new ride-sharing companies such as Uber on equal footing.

Commissioners at their weekly meeting were told that a new state law greatly limits the city’s authority to directly regulate ride-sharing companies like Uber.

“At some point there will have to be a discussion about how taking a ride with somebody with Uber is different than taking a ride with somebody in a Lawrence taxicab company,” said Commissioner Matthew Herbert.

The new regulations approved by commissioners will require owners of taxicab companies to undergo background checks administered by city officials. Owners of taxicab companies then will be required to conduct their own background checks on all drivers they employ. Owners of the company will be required to submit the results of the background checks to City Hall to keep on file for licensing purposes. Cab companies would not be allowed to employ drivers who have been convicted of a felony, a crime against a person, driving under the influence or or several other offenses in the past five years.

Other requirements in the code include:

• Cab companies must have insurance policies with coverage limits of at least $300,000 per occurrence for all vehicles that can carry six or fewer passengers, and $500,000 for vehicles carrying more than six passengers. That’s up from coverage levels that ranged from $25,000 to $50,000.

• Cab companies must properly accommodate riders with disabilities who are physically able to use a cab. That means companies cannot charge disabled riders a greater fare and cannot refuse to stow mobility devices or other similar pieces of equipment.

• Each cab must be equipped with a placard that has a City Hall phone number where complaints can be registered.

Cab company operators did not object to the new regulations Tuesday.

“I still don’t think it is fair for us to pay the type of insurance premiums that we’ll pay and for Uber to not pay for those same policies,” said Bryan Sorenson, owner of Ground Transportation Services. “But we don’t really know where this Uber deal is going to go.”

State officials have passed regulations regarding Uber that include provisions related to insurance and background checks, but taxicab companies have argued the regulations aren’t as strict as what their industry faces.

Uber briefly operated in the city in April, but then shut down the service when a debate ensued at the Statehouse over how the company should be regulated in Kansas. Since the state passed a scaled-down version of regulations, however, the company again is listing Lawrence as a city it serves.

In other news, commissioners:

• Approved a final $50,000 payment to Lawrence-based Gene Fritzel Construction for construction of the recreation center at Rock Chalk Park. The $50,000 payment is the last of the $10.5 million construction contract to build Sports Pavilion Lawrence. The city had withheld the amount, as is standard practice, to ensure that “punch list” items were completed on the building. Staff members said all such minor punch list items had been completed and recommended payment.

Commissioners approved the payment on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Mike Amyx and Leslie Soden voting against the payment. Herbert and Commissioner Stuart Boley both voted for the payment but only because the city had a legal contract obligating it to make the final payment. The Rock Chalk Park project had been controversial, in part, because it involved about $12 million worth of infrastructure work that did not go through the city’s normal bidding process. The recreation center project, however, did go through the city’s normal bidding process.