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Texting bills stall in MI Senate

By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-881399.mp3

LANSING, MI –

A bill that would make it a crime to send text messages while driving seems to have been shelved in the state Senate.

AUDIO:
The Senate bill to make texting while driving illegal appeared to have a lot of push behind it until this week. It is a bipartisan measure that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are passionate about. But with the passion came vehement disagreement about whether a police officer should be able to pull someone over for texting alone.

Democratic state Senator Buzz Thomas says some G-O-P members are also put-off by the idea of regulating common sense.

"That it was a question of, well if we start there, do we start regulating the eating of French fries, do we start regulating the putting on of makeup in the vehicles," he says.

But Thomas says there are many lawmakers who still want the measure to pass, and he plans to keep pushing for it until he leaves office at the end of the year. The House has already approved a similar bill.

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