The House Transportation Committee has sent HB 141 to the House's amending order for changes, but sponsor Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said the proposed committee amendments wouldn't change the bill's basic concept: That drivers distracted by electronic devices can be pulled over and cited, but people texting and driving who aren't distracted are OK. "A person has to be distracted," Hagedorn said. "The person's driving behavior has to be changed by use of the electronic device."

Hagedorn said it's problematic to get records proving a driver has been texting, because cell phone providers only keep those records for a short time, and because if a driver passes into and out of areas with reception, the text may send at some time other than when the driver triggered it. "We have to find another way to get there," Hagedorn said. Last session, though a texting-while-driving ban won majority support in both houses, it was killed by a parliamentary maneuver in the session's final hours.