The Iowa Senate has — again — passed a bill that would penalize motorists who handle smart phones while driving. Republican Senator Mark Lofgren of Muscatine says it hopefully will reign in distracted drivers.
The bill has passed the senate in previous years and the vote on it Tuesday was 47-to-one. Senator Dan Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, says after eight years of trying, the bill’s time has come.
There are some exemptions in the bill for people like bus drivers and people driving farm machinery. Senator Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, voted for the bill, but argued people driving tractors and combines shouldn’t be handling a smart phone, too.
Senator William Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, says it’s time to get this bill across the finish line.
The bill now goes to the House, where it has stalled over the past several years. However, in January Governor Reynolds used part of her annual address to lawmakers to call on legislators to send the bill to her desk this year.
