LANSING – Legislation to ban text messaging while driving remains hung up in the Legislature over a dispute on how to use the fees generated from the new ticket.
The Senate stripped out House language Tuesday in SB 468 that would have earmarked new fines from the texting ban into the general fund to offset reductions in driver responsibility fees. It then sent that bill back to the House.
Already completed are the main bills in the package, HB 4370 and HB 4394 , but the House cannot yet send them to governor because all three bills are tie-barred.
The Senate sent the bill back to the House on a 26-10 vote with 12 Republicans joining 14 Democrats to pass the bill. Ten Republicans voted no and two Democrats were absent.
Rep. Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing), assistant majority leader, said he did not know when the House would act on the legislation, but that lawmakers on that side of the Capitol saw the possibility of addressing the safety issue of text messaging while driving as well as revenue to replace driver responsibility fees. Late Tuesday, it appeared the House could add the bill to its Wednesday agenda.
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