MN Senate Judiciary Committee To Vote On 2 Distracted Driving Bills

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The stage is set for two key votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

One bill says only the hands-free use of a cellphone would be allowed, while another bill would dramatically increase the penalties for distracted driving.

The hands-free bill would allow a motorist to touch the screen to reset the GPS or possibly to accept a call. Republican Senate Majority leader Paul Gazelka says some form of that bill is likely to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"You can still use your phone in the car and you can touch it once, like to answer, and that seemed like a good compromise," Gazelka said. "Think that one is likely to sail through and have large bipartisan support."

A second bill is more controversial -- it would make the penalties for injuring or killing someone while using a cellphone in a distracted manner the equivalent to penalties for a DUI.

That's something that the family of Katie Burkey, a University of Minnesota grad killed by a distracted driver in 2017, would like to see.

"When you are driving, the only thing you should be doing is paying attention to the road. You have one job, and when you can't do that, then you end up taking someone's life. There needs to be some kind of stiffer, stronger consequences for that," said Karen Altman, Katie Burkey's mother.

But Senator Ron Latz says he is not sure about the increased penalty provisions.

Latz, a Democrat from St. Louis Park, said, "How do you determine how impaired someone is while they are on the phone? If they are having a conversation, but they are not texting, they are touching the GPS device once or twice to recenter it."

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to debate and vote on both distracted driving bills Tuesday afternoon.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled extra time for debate and testimony on the bills.

They expect a vote will come sometime Tuesday afternoon or evening.