STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 52nd Legislature (2009)

SENATE BILL 998	By:	Eason McIntyre

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to motor vehicles; restricting use of personal communication device; defining term; allowing for exemptions; establishing penalties; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 15-102.1a of Title 47, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A.  No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon a public road or highway of this state while using a personal communication device to talk, place or receive a call, or send or read a text-based message.
B.  For the purpose of this section, "personal communication device" means a cellular, analog, wireless, mobile or digital telephone capable of sending or receiving telephone calls or text-based messages without an access line for service.
C.  The provisions of this section shall not apply to the following:
1.  Any law enforcement officer, firefighter, or operator of an authorized emergency vehicle while engaged in the actual performance of official duties;
2.  An operator of a moving motor vehicle using a wireless
telecommunications device to:
a.	report illegal activity,
b.	summon medical or other emergency help,
c.	prevent injury to a person or property,
d.	relay information between a transit or for-hire operator and that operator's dispatcher, in which the device is permanently affixed to the vehicle,
e.	navigate using a global positioning system; or
3.  A physician or other health care provider using a wireless telecommunications device to communicate with a hospital, health clinic or the office of the physician, or to otherwise provide for the health care of an individual or medical emergency through a text-based communication.
D.  1.  The first violation of the provisions of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).
2.  Each subsequent violation shall be punishable by a fine of not more than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00).
E.  Any violation of this section shall constitute a moving violation.  A law enforcement officer shall enforce the provisions of this section only as a secondary action when the officer detains a driver for an alleged violation of another provision of this section.
SECTION 2.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2009.

52-1-154	MRB	1/15/2009 2:59:43 PM