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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho House votes to ban texting while driving

Shauna Sauer addresses the Senate Transportation Committee, accompanied by her husband, Clay, and four surviving children; her 18-year-old daughter Taylor died in January in a texting-while-driving accident. (Betsy Russell)
BOISE - After years of debate, the Idaho House has passed a ban on texting while driving, voting 53-17 in favor of legislation proposed by Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene. The bill, 1274a, now returns to the Senate for concurrence in a House amendment that removed an exemption for law enforcement or emergency vehicles; they said they didn’t want or need the exemption, and Hammond backed the amendment. The Senate passed the original bill Feb. 21 on a 29-6 vote. In January, an 18-year-old Caldwell woman, Taylor Sauer, died in a Idaho freeway crash while texting. Her family offered tearful testimony in favor of the bill in committee hearings in both houses. “I just wish I could text you all and tell you to vote for it,” Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, the bill’s House sponsor, told the House. “But I’m just going to ask you, please support this legislation. We need to send a strong message. … Don’t you just want to shake people and say, ‘Why are you doing this?’ It truly takes away your attention in three critical areas for driving.” The 17 “no” votes included six from North Idaho representatives: Reps. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens; Phil Hart, R-Athol; Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries; Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton; Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene; and Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene. The bill makes texting while driving an infraction. Idaho currently has misdemeanor penalties for inattentive driving, but unlike most states, no specific law banning texting while driving. This year’s bill got strong support in committee hearings, from teens to law enforcement to the AAA to to insurers. Idaho’s Legislature has considered texting bans for each of the last three years, but has never successfully passed one. Two years ago, a ban that had passed the Senate died on the final night of the legislative session in the House, when then-Rep. Raul Labrador, now an Idaho congressman, used a parliamentary maneuver to force a two-thirds vote. The bill failed, with just a 37-30 majority. Last year’s version would have banned texting while driving if it distracted the driver, but not if it didn’t; it failed. As in past years, opponents raised questions about how the ban could be enforced, and suggested it constituted government overreach. Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, told the House, “It’s incredibly irresponsible to text while you’re driving. It puts other people’s lives in danger. And if this bill gives a message to some people that that’s not the right thing to do, I think it’s very much worthwhile.”