Ban on phoning while driving is official

OLYMPIA — Hang up or pay up: Using your hands to talk on the phone or tap out a text message while behind the wheel will be illegal next year.

Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the measures into law Friday, flanked by children who suffered serious injuries after being hit by drivers.

Under the new laws, drivers who read and compose text messages or talk on a cellphone without a hands-free device could face a $101 ticket. The text-messaging ban takes effect Jan. 1; the cellphone law will be enforced starting in July 2008.

Drivers are exempt in some situations, including emergencies, and neither offense will be enough to get a driver pulled over by the police.

In other action, Gregoire signed into law a measure that allows labor unions to spend nonmembers' bargaining fees on political causes without first getting their permission.

The governor also signed a package of child-welfare reforms, which she said will help keep foster children safe. Among the new laws are measures that:

• Require the Department of Social and Health Services to conduct background checks and determine services needed for caregivers before returning children to their birth parents.

The measure is called Sirita's Law for Sirita Sotelo, a 4-year-old Lake Stevens girl who was beaten to death in 2005 after she was taken out of foster care and placed with her father and stepmother.

• Call for detailed court documentation, including parents' substance abuse, mental health and injuries to a child when the state recommends that a child be returned home after being removed.

That law is called the Rafael Gomez Act, named for the 2-year-old Ephrata boy who died after being returned to his birth mother in 2003.