BOSTON — Drivers for ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft will undergo what state officials call the most comprehensive background checks in the U.S. under agreements announced Monday by Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.

The screenings will begin Jan. 6, with both companies guaranteeing that every driver on the road will have passed a thorough state criminal background check by April 3, according to the separately negotiated deals.

The timetable, officials said, is about a year ahead of the schedule contemplated under a law approved this year by the Democrat-controlled Legislature and signed by the Republican governor. That law also set new insurance standards and pricing guidelines for the companies.

The new Massachusetts protocols establish a “national standard” for screening those who drive for the ride-hailing firms, Baker said. He said consumers will be able to “have confidence that the driver has undergone a thorough background check that includes both criminal and driving records.”

The criminal background checks, to be conducted by a newly created division of the Department of Public Utilities, will include verification that the driver is not a registered sex offender. The companies will be required to perform two checks of driving records annually.

The law does not mandate that drivers be fingerprinted. Boston cabbies, who are fingerprinted under city rules, sharply criticized the omission of a fingerprinting requirement for the app-based services.

There have been a handful of criminal allegations made against drivers for ride-hailing companies in Massachusetts in recent months. In September, a driver was charged with raping a Boston-area woman who had asked for a ride to her home; the driver pleaded not guilty.