Ben Wear: Legislative attack on phone-drive laws fizzles,

Maybe you have been distracted with other things, like summer vacation, “Game of Thrones,” the Astros’ big season or the imminent nuclear annihilation of mankind. I know I have.

So you might have lost track of that bill in the special session that aimed to annihilate (liking that word) the phoning-while-driving bans in Austin and about 40 other Texas cities. Remember back in July when the Texas Senate — well, Republicans in the Texas Senate — passed it?

You might be wondering what happened with it. You say you’re too busy installing a makeshift bomb shelter in your backyard to care? Well, let me educate you on what has happened since the bill moved to the House chamber.

Nothing. Well, almost nothing.

And what that means is that, absent another special-session call by Gov. Greg Abbott, Austin’s law (which basically bans all use of a hand-held phone behind the wheel) and its kin almost certainly will remain in place. Now the details. The Senate, with a majority completely on board with Abbott’s “20-for-20” pitch to pass bills pertaining to every item the governor put on the special-session call, wasted little time (legislatively speaking) passing Senate Bill 15, which would pre-empt all local laws on the use of electronic devices while driving.

If that bill, or its twin in the other chamber, House Bill 171, were to become law, the