Softer Cell-phone bill passes Senate
A significantly softened bill that once banned talking on cell phones while driving unless the motorist used a hands-free device received its final approval from the Colorado Senate Tuesday, but only after its sponsor said
House Bill 1094 was one of several dozen different bills OK’d by the House or the Senate on the next-to-last day of the 2009 legislative session. Senators and representatives will gather again this afternoon to debate other measures, including a bill that would allow workers who are locked out by their business during a labor stoppage to collect unemployment benefits.
Senators amended the talking-while-driving ban Monday to make it a ban on anyone texting while operating a vehicle in motion.
The new version of HB 1094 also bans drivers under 18 from talking on a phone, whether or not they are using a hands-free device.
Sponsoring Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, unenthusiastically backed the changes Monday, saying that he didn’t think he had the votes to pass the bill through the Senate otherwise.
On Tuesday, before the bill received final approval by a 19-15 vote, he answered a question on the definition of texting by saying he hope that clause just comes out of the bill, replaced by the original intent in Boulder Democratic Rep. Claire Levy’s measure.
“I’m hoping that the House can reject the amendment and we can have a good discussion,” Bacon said.
If the House rejects the changes, it can send the bill to a conference committee that will decide whether to keep the House or Senate version or come up with a new version altogether. That is likely to happen later today.
The Senate also gave final approval Tuesday to a number of other business-related measures that will need House concurrence before being sent to Gov. Bill Ritter. Those, whose changes were much smaller than HB 1094’s and more likely to get House approval, were:
• House Bill 1346, sponsored by House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, which makes changes in state law to allow local governments to take advantage of low-interest loans on public-works projects in the federal stimulus package.
• House Bill 1010, sponsored by Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, which sets up an incentive program funded by gifts, grants and donations to attract filmmakers to Colorado.
• House Bill 1105, sponsored by Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, which offers tax credits to businesses involved in the research and development or manufacturing of new technologies, products or processes.