The Senate already has passed the bill. Since it was changed in the House before the Tuesday vote, it must go back to the Senate for approval of the changes. Sen. Rosemary Brown, a Monroe County Republican who has been working on the issue for at least eight years, said she was optimistic that would happen.
"I think there is a definite interest to move this to the governor's desk," Ms. Brown said. A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro did not immediately provide comment on the House action.
Eileen Miller, the mother of a 21-year-old man killed in a 2010 crash involving a distracted driver, was introduced in the House before Tuesday's debate. The first lawmaker to speak in favor of what has been dubbed "Paul Miller's Law," Rep. Ed Neilson, D-Philadelphia, said 26 states have instituted a ban, including every state that borders Pennsylvania.
He said Ms. Miller told him distracted driving "does not discriminate. The loved one lost could be yours."
One of the changes made to the bill in the House — a requirement that police collect demographic data during traffic stops — was objectionable to some senators in the past. But Ms. Brown said she worked with House members on the changes, and she said the data collection portion is better presented than it was previously.
The 124-77 vote to pass the bill split both parties. Roughly three-quarters of House Republicans voted against it, and they were joined by six Democrats. Those Democrats included Rep. Lindsay Powell of Pittsburgh; Reps. Chris Rabb, G. Roni Green, Tarik Khan, and Rick Krajewski, all of Philadelphia; and Rep. Greg Vitali of Delaware County.
Some of the opposition was tied to a belief that enforcement of such a ban will hit harder on people who don't have the money to buy newer cars with hands-free technology.
"Does this disproportionately set up people who are low-income and don't have the resources to afford hands-free?" asked Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, in an interview before voting against the bill. "Those people are going to get pulled over more often."
Mr. Benninghoff, the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, said the range of activities people carry out behind the wheel — often in view of other drivers — is wide-ranging and includes eating, changing clothes, grooming, and looking at built-in navigation screens.
"I just think we are somewhat hypocritical in passing a law on one act of careless driving," Mr. Benninghoff said. "We are kind of carving out one kind of behavior when people do all kinds of things while they are driving."
He and others said existing laws already cover acts of careless driving.
State Rep. Louis Schmitt, R-Blair, said in an interview he was voting for the bill out of concern for public safety. Drivers on cellphones are a common sight on Pennsylvania roads, he said.
"They have no situational awareness while they are driving a vehicle that weighs tons and tons," Mr. Schmitt said. "These devices are so incredibly distracting."
Rep. Steven Malagari, D-Montgomery, said during the debate the state didn't need people scrolling social media sites, watching movies and looking at emails while driving.
"We need to make sure we take the phones out of people's hands" while they drive, Mr. Malagari said.
The data-collection provision of the bill calls for Pennsylvania State police and local police departments serving more than 5,000 people to collect information during traffic stops on race and ethnicity of the driver, gender and age of the driver, and whether a search was conducted during the traffic stop, among other things. The data would be sent to state police or a designated third party for analysis and creation of an annual report.
Ms. Brown said state police already are collecting data.
The bill also requires that before taking the test for a Pennsylvania junior driver's license, a teenager must be given access to materials that spell out the dangers of distracted driving. It also calls for the test for a driver's license to include at least one question on distracted driving.
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