Sen. Nancy Detert predicts 2013 will be the year her no-texting-while-driving bill (SB 52) passes on its fourth try.
The bill bans drivers from sending or receiving messages while operating a vehicle. Drivers could still read navigational devices, weather alerts or other safety-related information. Texting while driving would be punishable by a $30 fine.
“It sounds like it’s simple, and it should have been a five-minute bill, but instead it’s the four-year bill,” said Detert, R-Venice. “The House didn’t like it, we passed it out of the Senate, I think, twice, and it was never heard in a committee in the House. But this year is going to be our year. We have a good House sponsor. We have a good speaker of the House, a good Senate president, so the no-texting-while-driving bill, I hope, will pass this year.”
The House version (HB 13) is sponsored by Reps. Doug Holder, R-Venice, and Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota. The measure faces three committees of reference in each chamber. Detert, chair of the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee, said it’s her top legislative priority.
