I just got caught up a bit with some news out of the Texas Legislature.

It is considering a bill that would impose a statewide ban on the use of cellphones by drivers operating a motor vehicle.

How about approving this bill and sending it to the governor’s desk? And how about this governor, Greg Abbott, doing what his predecessor failed to do, which is sign it into law?

Former Gov. Rick Perry received a cellphone use while driving bill in 2011. He vetoed the bill, calling it a government intrusion. Let me count the ways that such a supposed “reason” doesn’t make sense, given all the ways that government “intrudes” into people’s lives with certain rules.

Speeding? Drinking while driving? Mandatory seat belts?

Don’t those laws “intrude” on Texans’ private lives? Oh, sure. They protect public safety. Well, so does a ban on cellphone use.

Even the Amarillo Globe-News has endorsed this bill, which is a bit of a surprise given the newspaper’s tendency to lean against so-called “government intrusion.” I’m glad to see the newspaper continuing the fight we used to wage against this kind idiocy by motorists back when I was working there.

I also ought to point out that a statewide ban — with signs posted at every border — would alert every motorists entering Texas that the ban covers even those vast expanses of rural highways that do not pass through incorporated cities and towns.

Amarillo has a cellphone ban for motorists to obey. So do many other cities. Not all of them have such ordinances on the books. A statewide ban gives consistency across the state and puts motorists on notice that they’d better be using a hands-free device while talking on someone as they sit behind a moving motor vehicle.

Pass the bill, legislators. Sign it into law, Gov. Abbott.