House OKs Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban

A statewide ban on texting while driving preliminarily passed the Texas House on Wednesday, advancing a plan that four years ago fell victim to a gubernatorial veto – and could face a similar fate this time.

Sponsored by Rep. Tom Craddick, the bill allows police to pull over motorists they suspect are using a wireless device to read, write or send a text message while driving, unless the vehicle is stopped. Offenders would be fined up to $99 for a first offense and a maximum $200 for subsequent ones.

The measure passed 102 to 40, after hours of sometimes heated debate.

“Texans who text increase their crash risk by eight times,” said Craddick, a Midland Republican who is a former House Speaker and sponsored similar bans in two past sessions. Lawmakers approved it in 2011, but then-Gov. Rick Perry issued a veto, calling it a “government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.”

Perry’s successor, fellow Republican Greg Abbott, has said “it’s premature” to say whether he’ll veto a ban this time.