The House has killed HB 141a, the not-quite ban on texting while driving, on a 21-48 vote. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, told the House in his closing debate, "This is not a perfect bill, I will grant you that." He said, "Texting never killed anyone. That person taking their eyes off the road while they were doing that is what killed somebody."

But objections came from all sides - from those who want to ban texting while driving, and those who don't. Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, said the bill wouldn't cover a driver who's distracted by eating a hamburger while driving, because a hamburger isn't an electronic device. Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said, "To me the language in this is just absolutely too ambiguous to justify what we're trying to accomplish. I am totally opposed to texting while driving. But that isn't what the bill says." He said, "You can talk on your cell phone, see out of your windshield, see out of your side windows, see what's going on around you. If you're texting, you're probably looking down, have both hands off the wheel and with your thumbs going. ... Let's solve this texting problem."

Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, said, "I just think this bill is not ripe, it needs some more work." Click below to see the full vote roll call.

Here's how House members voted on HB 141a:

Voting in favor:  Reps. Andrus, Bateman, Bell, Black, Burgoyne, Chew, DeMordaunt, Eskridge, Hagedorn, Hart, Henderson, King, Lacey, Nesset, Ringo, Smith(24), Stevenson, Thompson, Trail, Wills, and Wood(27).

Voting against: Reps. Anderson, Barbieri, Barrett, Bayer, Bedke, Bilbao, Block, Bolz, Boyle, Buckner-Webb, Chadderdon, Collins, Crane, Cronin, Ellsworth, Gibbs(Wheeler), Guthrie, Hartgen, Harwood, Higgins, Jaquet, Killen, Loertscher, Luker, Marriott, McGeachin, McMillan, Moyle, Nielsen, Nonini, Palmer, Patrick, Pence, Perry, Raybould, Roberts, Rusche, Schaefer, Shepherd, Shirley, Simpson, Sims, Smith(30), Takasugi(Batt), Thayn, VanderWoude, Wood(35), Denney.