(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has — again — passed a bill that would penalize motorists who handle a smart phone while driving. Republican Senator Mark Lofgren, of Muscatine, says it hopefully will reign in distracted drivers. “We’ve all witnessed it as we’ve traveled highways and interstates back and forth to the capitol,” Lofgren said. “Twenty-five years ago the problem was not as prevalent, but today it is prevalent and it continues to get worse.” The bill has passed the senate in previous years and the vote on it today (Tuesday) was 47-to-one. There are some exemptions in the bill for people like bus drivers and people driving farm machinery.

Senator Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, voted for the bill, but argued people driving tractors and combines shouldn’t be handling a smart phone, too. “That’s great as long as it’s not my family driving up the secondary highway,” Bisignano said, “because that’s where the tragedy strikes.”

The bill passed on a 47-to-one vote and goes to the House, where it has stalled over the past several years. However, back in January Governor Reynolds used part of her annual address to lawmakers to call on legislators to send the bill to her desk this year.