Legislator championing phone ban “saddened” by report,

Midland Republican wants to bar typing, surfing at the wheel.

State Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, the author of a bill that seeks to ban the use of hand-held phones while driving to type, read or surf the Internet, said Friday he was “saddened” to learn that the driver of the pickup involved in Wednesday’s fatal crash in Uvalde County may have been texting while driving.

“I am saddened by the loss of life and appalled to learn that this crash could have been prevented if the driver of the truck had been paying attention to the road, not texting on his phone,” Craddick said. “No message or email is important enough to risk injury or death while driving on our Texas roadways.”

The news that texting could have caused the crash comes as the Legislature once again considers bills that put into state law a ban on some uses of hand-held phones while driving. The Legislature has seen such bills in every session since 2009, and passed a version in 2011 that was vetoed by then-Gov. Rick Perry.

House Bill 62, from Craddick, passed the House March 16 on a 114-32 vote and is pending in the Senate, where it has not yet been referred to a committee. But an identical bill from state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo (who has carried texting bans in each of the last five sessions), was approved by the Senate State Affairs Committee on March 14 on a 6-3 vote.

The Craddick and Zaffirini bills would not ban talking on a hand-held phone while driving, although that is illegal in many cities, including Austin.

The hang-up for both bills, as it was in 2015, is a coalition of the Senate’s most conservative members known as the Freedom Caucus. That group, led by state Sen. Konni Burton, R-Fort Worth, made up all or most of 13 members in the 31-member Senate who last session opposed bringing up Zaffirini’s bill for debate and a vote.

A bill, under Senate rules, must have 19 votes to come up for action. Zaffirini in 2015 was one vote short of that threshold and it appears it faces similar resistance this time. Zaffirini, and thus Craddick, face the same challenge this time around.

Wednesday’s tragedy, should officials confirm texting-while-driving’s role in the collision and resulting deaths of 13 people, figures to be a powerful argument for advocates of the texting ban.