Text-messaging ban passes Calif. Senate

The architect of California’s ban on drivers’ use of hand-held cell phones has made good on his promise to encore with a state ban on text messaging while operating a motor vehicle.

Sen. Joe Simitian, D.-Palo Alto, saw his SB 28 pass the California state Senate by a 25-14 margin, almost entirely without Republican support.

Update: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the text-messaging driving ban into law on Sept. 24, 2008.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, indicated previously that he’d be supportive of taking action to prevent drivers from tapping out messages on cell phones and other portable devices. The bill had been in danger of not being enacted promptly because of California’s budget standoff.

The (new law) prohibits driving “while using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication.” The law “would impose a base fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense.”

“Texting while driving is so obviously unsafe that it’s hard to believe anyone would attempt it, yet everyday observation suggests there are an awful lot of folks who do,” Simitian told the Los Angeles Times after the text-messaging bill was routed to the governor’s desk.

Simitian’s ban on the use of cell phones by drivers unless they use hands-free devices went into effect July 1. He’d indicted he would push for the text messaging ban after the success of the hands-free bill, seeking not to spook legislators.

California’s Highway Patrol reportedly wrote 7,182 cell phone citations statewide during July. Teen drivers, who not allowed to use cell phones or text message, received fewer than 50 tickets.

Missouri: Cell phone laws, legislation

Current prohibitions:
None.

Pending legislation:
HB 1429: Would prohibit drivers’ use of cell phones without a hands-free device. (”Not on a calendar.”)

SB 887: Would prohibit drivers’ use of cell phones without a hands-free device.

Legislation notes:
Hands-free bill sponsors Sen. Tom Dempsey and Rep. Joe Smith are both Republicans from St. Charles County. Smith said many people can dial without looking, but that “basically we need a better system with dialing.”

A Town and Country, Mo., alderman failed to find support for a city ordinance against driving and cell phoning. City lawmakers refused to take up the plan in August 2008, saying the issue needs to be addressed at the state level.

Alderman John Hoffmann told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “With a number of cell phone companies giving campaign contributions through straw parties and directly this isn’t about to hit the Missouri Legislature anytime soon for a vote.”

The local police commission urged the aldermen to instead push the state and county for a ban on cell phone use by drivers.