Legislation held up as House members discuss fine money

Karen Bouffard / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing — Michigan’s texting-while-driving ban hit a snag Tuesday in the House when a lawmaker proposed tying its final passage to eliminating fees paid by drivers with too many points on their records.

Two out of three bills in the legislative package — including the ban on texting while driving — sailed through the House before voting was abruptly stopped on the third bill despite enough votes to pass.

Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-South Lyon, suggested money from the texting fines could be used to get rid of the unpopular responsibility penalties adopted in 2003, which bring $65 million annually to the state coffers.

Since the three texting bills are legislatively linked, none of them will take effect unless all three pass and are signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. If the third bill is ultimately passed — which supporters say might happen soon — the ban goes into effect July 1.

“In the end, people understand we really need to make our roads safer,” said Rep. Lee Gonzales, D-Flint, who has championed the ban. “Our leadership is going to have to make the call” about whether the Democratic majority will support Smith’s amendment, Gonzales said.

A texting ban is supported by law enforcement, auto insurance companies and other groups concerned about the dangers of thumbing out messages on phones at the wheel.

Smith’s amendment could be a significant hitch. The House has to concur with the bill in its current form to send it to the governor’s desk. Otherwise, it has to go back to the Senate for approval a second time.

“We would eliminate misdemeanor nuisance fees that were put in place to generate revenue,” Smith said. “These are very steep fees that have a lot of impact on people of lesser means.”

Smith, who hopes to capture the Democratic nomination in November’s gubernatorial race, wants to link passage of the texting bill to passage of bills proposed earlier this year to eliminate driver responsibility fees for non-criminal infractions. Penalties for criminal offenses, like drunken driving, would not be affected.

“Once again, the House likes to make things a lot more complicated than it needs to be,” said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. “I would think a gubernatorial candidate (House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township) would have more inspiration to finish this as quickly and cleanly as possible.

“I don’t suspect the Senate’s going to look kindly on anything coming over that doesn’t involve just the texting issue.”

Bills passed Tuesday make texting while driving a primary offense, meaning police officers can pull a driver over for texting. The House originally OK’d the infraction as secondary offense, meaning officers would need another reason to pull a driver over. Violations would be punishable by fines of up to $100 for a first offense and up to $200 for additional offenses, with no points on the driving record.

The bill that was held up would prohibit the state from making a texting offense part of a permanent driving record.

“We have bipartisan opposition to the driver responsibility laws, and the loss of revenue has been an obstacle to eliminating those,” Smith said.

“Any hit to the general fund means you’ve got to find another place to cut.”

kbouffard@detnews.com (517) 371-3660