{"id":144,"date":"2013-05-28T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/28\/state-chokes-on-texting-ban"},"modified":"2013-05-28T13:35:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T13:35:00","slug":"state-chokes-on-texting-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=144","title":{"rendered":"State chokes on texting ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Well, at least the Texas Legislature saved itself from having to confront an expected veto from Gov. Rick Perry \u2026<\/p>\n<p>The object of the veto would have been a statewide ban on texting while driving. The Legislature didn\u2019t even put the measure to a vote of the Senate, where the bill died a quiet death. It did get through the House of Representatives, with the Panhandle\u2019s Republican House delegation voting in favor of the bill. Good for them.<\/p>\n<p>Perry\u2019s antagonism rests with what he calls government \u201cintrusion.\u201d It\u2019s a popular phrase among conservatives, although one could argue \u2013 and I have done so \u2013 that the right wing is rather selective on which laws intrude too deeply into people\u2019s personal lives. He vetoed a similar bill in 2011. <\/p>\n<p>Statewide texting bans aren\u2019t new. Other states have enacted them and have been able to enforce them. Texas, though, seems unwilling to go that far \u2013 which of course is the state\u2019s prerogative.<\/p>\n<p>But as it has been noted, cities have the option of passing such laws. Amarillo has done so. The absence of a statewide ban does not override the city\u2019s ordinance banning the activity.<\/p>\n<p>However, it\u2019s a huge state outside the city limits and motorists will continue to have license to perform foolish acts behind the wheel of their motor vehicles. Remember that such foolishness doesn\u2019t just put their lives in danger, it also threatens the rest of us on the road.<\/p>\n<p>Nice going, lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, at least the Texas Legislature saved itself from having to confront an expected veto from Gov. Rick Perry \u2026 The object of the veto would have been a statewide ban on texting while driving. The Legislature didn\u2019t even put the measure to a vote of the Senate, where the bill died a quiet death. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=144\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">State chokes on texting ban<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}