A bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to reduce the amount of Federal highway funding available to States that do not enact a law prohibiting an individual from writing, sending, or reading text messages while operating a motor vehicle.

Summary: Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers Act of 2009 or the ALERT Drivers Act - Requires the Secretary of Transportation to withhold 25% of a state's apportionment of certain federal-aid highway program funds for the fiscal year if the state has not enacted or is not enforcing a law that: (1) prohibits, except in an emergency, an operator of a motor vehicle from writing, sending, or reading a text message using a hand-held mobile telephone (excluding a voice-activated device); and (2) requires, upon conviction of a violation of such prohibition, the imposition of certain minimum penalties.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Avoiding Life-Endangering and 
Reckless Texting by Drivers Act of 2009'' or the ``ALERT Drivers Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) cell phones and other electronic devices are not only 
        instrumentalities and channels of interstate commerce, but 
        products of interstate commerce;
            (2) for those reasons, regulation of the use of cellular 
        telephones or other electronic devices to send text messages is 
        covered by the power of Congress to regulate interstate 
        commerce as enumerated in article I, section 8 of the 
        Constitution;
            (3) additionally, the Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. 
        Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (June 23, 1987), that Congress may condition 
        Federal highway funding on State compliance with certain 
        conditions;
            (4) people in the United States are using cellular 
        telephones and other personal electronic devices to send text 
        messages or emails, more commonly known as ``texting'', with 
        increasing frequency;
            (5) according to the New York Times, more than 
        110,000,000,000 text messages were sent in the United States 
        during the month of December 2008 alone, a tenfold increase in 
        just 3 years;
            (6) texting and portable email are valuable to consumers, 
        businesses, and private individuals throughout the United 
        States, but those services also create an extreme risk when 
        used by individuals while operating motor vehicles;
            (7) a 2008 study by Nationwide Insurance found that 20 
        percent of drivers in the United States send text messages 
        while operating motor vehicles;
            (8) according to a study by Car and Driver Magazine, 
        texting while driving is more dangerous than driving while 
        intoxicated;
            (9) a recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation 
        Institute found operators of motor vehicles who sent text 
        messages while driving had a collision risk that was 23 times 
        greater while texting as compared to the risk when the 
        operators were not texting;
            (10) another study by the University of Utah found that 
        college students using a driving simulator were 8 times more 
        likely to have an accident while texting;
            (11) after a serious accident occurred on the Boston public 
        trolley system in May 2009, the trolley operator was found to 
        have been texting at the time of the accident;
            (12) the problem of texting while driving has been 
        recognized across the United States;
            (13) as of the date of enactment of this Act, 14 States and 
        the District of Columbia ban all drivers from texting while 
        operating motor vehicles, and 11 other States have a modified 
        ban on texting while driving;
            (14) the risks created by texting while driving are 
        increasing nationwide as the use of texting increases 
        nationwide;
            (15) it is necessary for Congress to act to protect the 
        safety of all people in the United States on highways and roads 
        in the United States; and
            (16) a Federal law to address the problem of texting while 
        driving is necessary to ensure minimum standards of protection 
        across the United States, in the same manner as the national 
        minimum drinking age provides a uniform standard of protection.

SEC. 3. OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES WHILE TEXTING.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 167. Operation of motor vehicles while texting
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Hand-held mobile telephone.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `hand-held mobile 
                telephone' means a mobile telephone or other portable 
                electronic communication device with which a user 
                engages in a call or writes, sends, or reads a text 
                message using at least 1 hand.
                    ``(B) Exclusion.--The term `hand-held mobile 
                telephone' does not include a voice-activated device.
            ``(2) Motor vehicle.--The term `motor vehicle' means--
                    ``(A) a vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power 
                and manufactured primarily for use on public highways; 
                and
                    ``(B) a railcar or other component of a fixed 
                guideway system that is not subject to regulation by 
                the Federal Railroad Administration.
            ``(3) Text message.--The term `text message' includes a 
        text-based message, instant message, electronic message, and 
        email.
            ``(4) Writing; sending; reading.--The terms `writing', 
        `sending', and `reading', with respect to a text message, mean 
        the manual entry, sending, or retrieval of a text message, 
        respectively, to communicate with any person or device.
    ``(b) Withholding of Apportionments for Noncompliance.--
            ``(1) In general.--On October 1 of the second fiscal year 
        beginning after the date of promulgation of the regulations 
        under subsection (d), and annually thereafter, the Secretary 
        shall withhold 25 percent of the amount required to be 
        apportioned to any State under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and 
        (4) of section 104(b) for the fiscal year if the Secretary 
        determines that the State does not meet the requirement under 
        paragraph (2) as of that date.
            ``(2) Requirement.--A State shall meet the requirement 
        under this paragraph if the State has enacted and is enforcing 
        a law that--
                    ``(A) except in the event of an emergency, 
                prohibits an operator of a moving motor vehicle from 
                writing, sending, or reading a text message using a 
                hand-held mobile telephone; and
                    ``(B) requires, upon conviction of a violation of 
                that prohibition, the imposition of penalties in 
                accordance with the requirements for minimum penalties 
                described in the regulations promulgated under 
                subsection (d).
    ``(c) Recovery of Funds Withheld.--All funds withheld under this 
section from apportionment to a State for 1 or more fiscal years shall 
be available for apportionment to the State immediately upon a 
determination by the Secretary that the State meets the requirement 
under paragraph (2).
    ``(d) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations 
to carry out this section, including requirements for minimum penalties 
for violations of the prohibition under subsection (b)(2)(A) that--
            ``(1) specify a minimum penalty for a first offense; and
            ``(2) stipulate that penalties shall be graduated for 
        repeated offenses.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The analysis for title 23, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to chapter 
1 the following:

``167. Operation of motor vehicles while texting.''.