An Ohio House committee has stripped a provision from Gov. Mike DeWine's transportation budget that targets distracted driving. And that's not all.
The House committee removed part of the budget that included stiffer penalties for drivers caught while using or holding any wireless device while driving. Curt Steiner represents a coalition of 35 organizations that have been pushing for those changes. He says many lawmakers are telling him they’d support it as a stand-alone bill.
“There’s a lot of support for the legislation but some just don’t feel comfortable with it being in the budget bill right now," Steiner says.
A previous stand-alone bill that was similar had languished in the last General Assembly. In addition to removing the distracted driving provision, the committee also restored some proposed funding cuts to public transit and eliminated a proposal to raise vehicle fees.
