Local lawmaker questions cellphone ordinance and wants to stop the bans

It has been 23 days since the city of Idaho Falls has started enforcing the new “no cell phones while driving” ordinance. But a local lawmaker is trying to override any ordinances like this statewide.

State Rep. for District 32 House seat B, Chad Christensen, presented a draft of the bill to the House local government committee on Tuesday. He believes bans on handheld cellphone use are an overreach by city governments and beyond their authority.

Christensen reasons that state law allows the use of a handheld cellphone, even after a proposal to ban it statewide was turned down by the Senate last year. He said that we do not need a law for every behavior.

“This blanket of law is not a solution and punishes those that have been responsible,” said Christensen. “Irresponsible cellphone use or other behavior in a car is inattentive driving, so we already have it covered under state law for all behavior that could be inattentive and dangerous.”

The committee voted to return the bill back to Christensen, in order to revise some of the language because they could see some issues. Some representatives did seem in favor of the draft, after a cleanup. Rep. Vito Barberi said he’d be more than happy to help work with Christensen.

Christensen represents Bonneville, Caribou, Teton, Bear Lake, Oneida and Franklin counties.