The Senate has voted 30-4 in favor of HB 729a, the House-passed version of the texting-while-driving ban, as amended in the Senate. "What we've done is a middle-of-the-road approach," said Sen. John McGee, R-Caldwell, the Senate transportation chairman. The bill still needs House concurrence in the Senate amendments. Meanwhile, HB 699, a measure requiring school districts to post their expenditures on the Internet, was killed 18-16 in the Senate, but then Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, moved to reconsider and changed his vote from "no" to "yes." Hill said the bill wasn't an important one to him, but it was to others - including House members. The Senate then voted 19-15 to reconsider HB 699, and debated it again. Hill then debated in favor of it - though he'd debated against it previously.

This time, the vote came in at a 17-17 tie - and Lt. Gov. Brad Little voted yes to pass the bill.

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