{"id":22240,"date":"2017-06-07T02:13:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T02:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=22240"},"modified":"2017-06-07T02:13:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T02:13:28","slug":"no-text-bill-becomes-law-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=22240","title":{"rendered":"No-text bill becomes law &#8212; finally!"},"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><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/TextandDrive_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-22241\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/TextandDrive_jpg_800x1000_q100-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/TextandDrive_jpg_800x1000_q100-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/TextandDrive_jpg_800x1000_q100-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/TextandDrive_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been quick to criticize Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for this or that pronouncement or action.<\/p>\n<p>I now want to praise him for signing a bill that should have become a state law long ago. Gov. Abbott has put his signature on a bill that bans texting while driving a motor vehicle; it now becomes against state law to perform a foolish and potentially<em> deadly<\/em> activity.<\/p>\n<p>Well done, Gov. Abbott.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2017\/06\/06\/abbott-signs-texting-while-driving-ban\/\">https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2017\/06\/06\/abbott-signs-texting-while-driving-ban\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the bill&#8217;s prime sponsors, state Rep. (and former Texas House Speaker) Tom Craddick said the governor has saved lives by signing this bill into law. Craddick, a Midland Republican, has been a champion for this cause over the course of several legislative sessions.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Abbott&#8217;s immediate predecessor as governor, fellow Republican Rick Perry, vetoed a similar bill in 2011, claiming &#8212; <em>ridiculously<\/em>, in my view &#8212; the bill constituted a &#8220;governmental effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.&#8221; Sure thing, Gov. Perry. Then let&#8217;s not prohibit drinking while driving, or let&#8217;s allow motorists to drive without being strapped in with safety restraints. Isn&#8217;t that a form of &#8220;micromanagement,&#8221; too?<\/p>\n<p>The new law, which takes effect in September, gives continuity across our vast state. It supersedes local ordinances and gives motorists ample warning when they enter the state that they&#8217;d better put their texting devices away &#8230; <em>or else!<\/em><\/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>I&#8217;ve been quick to criticize Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for this or that pronouncement or action. I now want to praise him for signing a bill that should have become a state law long ago. Gov. Abbott has put his signature on a bill that bans texting while driving a motor vehicle; it now becomes &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=22240\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No-text bill becomes law &#8212; finally!<\/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":[18],"tags":[2006,3951,4653,4741,4842],"class_list":["post-22240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-news","tag-greg-abbott","tag-rick-perry","tag-texas-legislature","tag-texting-while-driving","tag-tom-craddick"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22240","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=22240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22242,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22240\/revisions\/22242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}