Texting and Driving Ban Heads to House Floor

Texting and driving is closer to being an illegal thing in Florida, thanks to Rep. Doug Holder's CSHB 13 bill, which cleared its final hurdle in the Florida House and will now head to the floor for final votes. The votes are expected to happen sometime next week after the...

By Chris Joseph

April 3, 2013

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Texting and driving is closer to being an illegal thing in Florida, thanks to Rep. Doug Holder's CSHB 13 bill, which cleared its final hurdle in the Florida House and will now head to the floor for final votes.

The votes are expected to happen sometime next week after the bill got the go-head via a vote by the House Economic Affairs Committee.

Attempts for the motion had been blocked by House Speaker Dean Cannon in the past. But since his term ended and he's no longer there to swat away text-ban motions like Dikembe Mutombo, the door is now open for Florida to become the nation's 40th state to prohibit all drivers from texting.

Legislation to ban texting and driving has been filed every year since 2008, but this is the first time it's gotten to the House floor.

The FL DNT TXT+DRIVE COALITION, which is a group of law enforcement officials, local governments, businesses, trade associations, advocacy networks, and the PTA, has been pushing for Holder's legislation to get through.

The measure proposes a law that would make texting while driving a secondary offense, which boils down to a person getting a ticket for it only if he was pulled over for some other road violation.

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