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Texing while driving ban moves forward to Florida Senate

You might need to put down the phone soon while driving in Florida. Wednesday the Florida State Senate is scheduled to discuss a bill that would make texting while driving a primary offense, which would get you pulled over. Current law in the state says drivers can be cited for texting if they are already pulled over for something else. The bill being debated in the State Senate says, if enacted, there would be a warning period before any citations are issued. The legislation says there would be an awareness campaign first, then from October 1st through December 31st, law enforcement officers would just issues warnings to drivers, with tickets being issued at the start of 2020. The first offense would cost you $30 and the second doubles to $60. The bill says the potential new law would not apply to emergency officials on duty and for people using a navigation system.

A similar bill was passed overwhelmingly in the State House Tuesday. The vote was 104-9 vote and was then sent over to the State Senate. During debate, Democratic State Representative, Tracie Davis from Jacksonville, remembered her sister who died in 2011 because of a distracted driver.

“I’m not trying to convince anyone as to how to vote on this bill today, but I know I only have one sister and one brother due to a distracted driver” Representative Davis said.

The bill would go in to effect on July 1st.

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