Cell phone ban bill tweaked

LIHU‘E — The ban on handheld electronic device use by Kaua‘i drivers was tweaked for clarity by the Kaua‘i County Council on Wednesday, allaying some enforcement concerns raised by a deputy county attorney.

Fulfilling a request for reconsideration from Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing at the behest of the administration, the council unanimously amended the bill’s language, moving an exemption for the use of two-way radios for business purposes into the definition of “mobile electronic device.”

Deputy County Attorney Justin Kohler, who spends most of his time advising the Kaua‘i Police Department after leaving the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney last year, said that after conferral with various agencies, a consensus arose: More guidance was necessary.

While the new language does not change the intent of the bill or impact different users or uses, it will help KPD and the state Judiciary apply the new law more efficiently, he said.

Under the previous language, KPD officers might issue a citation, forcing a driver using a two-way radio for work-related duties to go to court to fight the $50 fine, wasting private- and public-sector resources in an already trying economic time, Kohler said.

Now, officers will be instructed to not write the citation in the first place.

The definition of “mobile electronic device,” which already includes cell phones, text messaging devices, paging devices, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, video games and cameras and excludes audio equipment or navigation equipment installed in a vehicle and video entertainment for passengers, now specifically states that a “two-way radio … used for business purposes shall not be considered to be a ‘mobile electronic device.’”

The exemption references Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 90, which defines a “land mobile radio system” as a “regularly interacting group of base, mobile and associated control and fixed relay stations intended to provide land mobile radio communications service over a single area of operation.”

What that means in practice, council members said, is that drivers can use two-way radios to communicate with their dispatchers, who can in turn pass information along to other drivers. Drivers should not be communicating directly with each other, and handheld cell phone use is barred by the law — even for businesses or commercial drivers.

The bill defines “use or using” to mean “holding a mobile electronic device while operating a motor vehicle.” Hands-free devices like Bluetooth will be allowed by the law, although specific references endorsing similar technologies in the original version of the legislation were removed after bill introducer Derek Kawakami determined it was unclear if it is specifically handheld electronics use or distracted driving in general that creates dangerous conditions on the roads.

Kawakami was not in attendance Wednesday, excused so he could travel to O‘ahu to visit the state Legislature, but his colleagues said he was aware of the late change.

The original approved bill was never transmitted to the mayor for his signature and thus was never scheduled to take effect May 3 as was previously reported. A council official said Wednesday the transmittal is now expected to take place within the next few days.

Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. will then have 10 business days to sign the bill into law or veto it, and the law will take effect three months after his signature is affixed, likely some time in the final days of May.

Executive Assistant Beth Tokioka, in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting to reinforce the administration’s support for both the amended language and the underlying bill, said the mayor would sign the legislation shortly and that the mayor’s office would announce when it is signed so the public will know the exact effective date.