After years of debate, texting-while-driving ban passes the Idaho House

The House has voted 53-17 in favor of SB 1274a, the bill to ban texting while driving. It’s a significant vote - the bill had languished for weeks on the House calendar, and it’s an issue that’s been quashed in the House repeatedly in recent years despite strong support in the Senate and from an array of backers, from teens to law enforcement to the Idaho Farm Bureau to insurers. At committee hearings in both houses, an Idaho family whose daughter was killed in a texting-while-driving crash this year offered emotional testimony in support of the bill, which passed the Senate Feb. 21 on a 29-6 vote. In the House, it was amended to remove an exemption for law enforcement or emergency vehicles; they said the didn’t want or need the exemption. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, told the House, “I just wish I could text you all and tell you to vote for it. 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 came from Reps. Barbieri, Batt, Bayer, Boyle, Crane, Hart, Harwood, Marriott, McMillan, Nonini, Patrick, Perry, Shaefer, Shepherd, Simpson, Sims, and J. Wood. The bill now returns to the Senate for concurrence in the House amendments.