An Uber executive pleaded with California lawmakers on Tuesday to stop cities from seeking detailed geolocation information about rental scooters and bikes and ride-hailing trips.

Uttara Sivaram, head of privacy and security policy at Uber Technologies Co., told a joint legislative committee hearing in Sacramento that a growing "government appetite" for data to analyze travel patterns has become "an alarming trend," even after California enacted sweeping privacy restrictions on businesses this year.

"Cities are neglecting the inherently sensitive nature of location data, and it's consumers who pay the price," Sivaram told members of the Senate judiciary and transportation committees. "Today we are asking the Legislature to reassert the importance of this law to protecting consumer privacy in the context of transportation and mobility data. This area of public policy has not gotten enough attention during a time when consequential decisions about data protection and privacy are being made."

Sivaram's complaints come at a time when Uber and other companies are butting heads with government agencies seeking to regulate so-called shared-mobility companies and to determine the impact thousands of new rental bikes, electric scooters and ride-hailing vehicles are having on their sidewalks and streets.

The city of Los Angeles last year suspended Uber's permit to rent bikes and scooters after the company refused to disclose real-time data on riders' trips to regulators. A hearing officer earlier this month upheld the city's decision.

Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, told lawmakers Tuesday that the city needs that information for spot checks to determine whether Uber and other companies are complying with rules, such as caps on the number of rentals in certain neighborhoods.

"It allows us to make sure the companies are being honest with the data they're providing us," Reynolds said.

The city restricts who can see the data and how it is stored, she added.

The state Air Resources Board also recently announced that it will seek trip data from Uber and Lyft as part of a statutorily mandated program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the companies' ride-hailing services. And the Public Utilities Commission is considering rule changes that would not automatically label those companies' annual reports to regulators as confidential.

Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, noted the irony of Uber's complaints given past criticism of how the company has handled customers' data. Uber in 2018 agreed to pay $148 million to settle claims that it intentionally concealed a major data breach that exposed the personal information of 57 million people.

"I find it really interesting and appreciate your concern about the public sector," Jackson told Sivaram. "Perhaps this is a turn of events for Uber, which has not necessarily been the best steward and the most responsible collector of information."

Legislation that would have limited the data that local governments can collect from rental scooter and e-bike companies stalled in the state Senate last year amid opposition from the state's biggest cities.