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According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a record number of drivers were given cell phone tickets in Chicago last year. The Windy City’s strict cellphone law went into effect in 2006 and last year’s data shows that Chicago police issued 23,292 tickets for using a cell phone while driving. This is nearly a 73 percent increase from 2006.

Since the ban, the city has become more aggressive with cracking down on individuals violating the law. Additionally, the tickets are hard to fight and the fines have gone up from $50 to $500. With this new data, here are some facts about cell phone laws in other regions of the U.S.:

New York

The cell phone laws in the Big Apple are similar to Chicago. In New York, drivers are prohibited from using cell phones for texting, playing games, and sending data while operating a moving vehicle, reported Driving Laws. Violations are punishable by a $150 fine. The law is similar for talking on the phone while driving, although hands-free devices are allowed, except that this violation carries a $100 fine.

California

California has banned talking on a cell phone and texting behind the wheel since 2008, but allows hands-free devices according to MSNBC. The state attempted to increase the fines from the current $20 to $50 for texting and talking on the phone behind the wheel, but the governor vetoed this measure and the fine has not increased. However, local cities and counties can implement their own fines, so this amount can be higher in some areas of the state.

Colorado

Unlike many other strict states, Colorado’s cell phone laws are more relaxed. According to the Colorado Legislative Council Staff, any driver under 18 is banned from using a cell phone while driving, this includes both calls and texting. Adult drivers are also banned from texting, data use, and playing games behind the wheel but are allowed to make regular voice calls. For both age groups, the first violation is $50 and subsequent violations are a $100 fine.

Washington

In 2010, Washington toughened up its cell phone driving laws, reported King 5 News. It’s now a primary offense to be caught with a cell phone to your ear or to be texting while operating a vehicle. Drivers must use hands-free devices for voice calls or risk getting a $124 ticket, though dialing a phone is not considered texting. The governor signed the new bill into law and cited the reasoning as a public safety issue.

Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111111/us_ac/10409847_report_chicago_police_issued_23292_cell_phone_tickets_in2010

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ATLANTA (AP) ? A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a key part of Alabama’s law that requires schools to check the immigration status of students, temporarily weakening what was considered the toughest immigration law in the nation.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also blocked a part of the law that allows authorities to charge immigrants who do not carry documents proving their legal status. The three-judge panel let stand a provision that allows police to detain immigrants that are suspected of being in the country illegally.

A final decision on the law won’t be made for months to allow time for more arguments.

Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center called the decision a “partial victory.”

“I think that certainly it’s a better situation today for the people of Alabama today than it was yesterday,” said Omar Jadwat, an attorney for the ACLU, which challenged the law along with the Obama administration. “Obviously we remain concerned about the remainder of the provisions, and we remain confident that we will eventually get the whole scheme blocked.”

Since a federal judge upheld much of the law in late September, many frightened Hispanics have been driven away from Alabama, fearing they could be arrested or targeted by police. Construction workers, landscapers and field hands have stopped showing up for work, and large numbers of Hispanic students have been absent from public schools.

To cope with the labor shortage, Alabama agriculture commissioner John McMillan at one point suggested farmers should consider hiring inmates in the state’s work-release program.

It’s not clear exactly how many Hispanics have fled the state. Earlier this week, many skipped work to protest the law, shuttering or scaling back operations at chicken plants, Mexican restaurants and other businesses.

Immigration has become a hot-button issue in Alabama over the past decade as the Hispanic population has grown by 145 percent to about 185,600 people, most of them of Mexican origin. The Hispanic population represents about 4 percent of the state’s 4.7 million people, but some counties in north Alabama have large Spanish-speaking communities and schools where most of the students are Hispanic.

Requiring school officials to check the immigration status of students in public schools helped make the Alabama law stricter than similar measures enacted in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. Federal judges in those states have blocked all or parts of those laws.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer earlier this year asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the legal fight over her state’s tough immigration law.

The Justice Department called the Alabama law a “sweeping new state regime” and urged the appeals court to forbid states from creating a patchwork of immigration policies. The agency also said the law could strain diplomatic relations with Latin American countries, who have warned the law could impact millions of workers, tourists and students in the U.S.

The law, it said, turns illegal immigrants into a “unique class who cannot lawfully obtain housing, enforce a contract, or send their children to school without fear that enrollment will be used as a tool to seek to detain and remove them and their family members.”

“Other states and their citizens are poorly served by the Alabama policy, which seeks to drive aliens from Alabama rather than achieve cooperation with the federal government to resolve a national problem,” the attorneys have said in court documents.

Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said Friday before the ruling that a team of attorneys is in Alabama trying to determine whether the law was leading to civil rights violations. The school requirement was an area of particular worry, and the federal government is trying to determine how many absentees and withdrawals might be linked to the law, Perez said.

“We’re hearing a number of reports about increases in bullying that we’re studying,” he said after a meeting with leaders and advocates for the Hispanic community.

Alabama Republicans have long sought to clamp down on illegal immigration and passed the law earlier this year after gaining control of the Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed the measure, saying it was crucial to protect the jobs of legal residents amid the tough economy and high unemployment.

Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard said the state was forced to act because the federal government ignored its responsibility to enforce immigration law.

“In Alabama we believe in obedience to law because it promotes fairness and protects the rights of everybody,” said Hubbard, a Republican. “That’s why instead of just talking about it, we took action to ensure nobody is allowed to cheat the system and ignore our laws.”

___

Follow Bluestein at http://www.twitter.com/bluestein. Associated Press reporters Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-14-Alabama%20Immigration%20Law/id-265b7eb297494143b35ca9b29bbad617

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September 13, 2011

The WRA is among multiple business organizations that have responded to Monday?s passage of Seattle?s paid sick leave ordinance by the City Council.? While the business community strongly supports workers staying home when they are ill, there is a collective concern regarding how the new mandate will impact businesses and employees.

?Businesses throughout the city tried to work with the proponents and councilmembers to draft language we could make workable in restaurants. Unfortunately, much of what we put on the table was rejected,? said Josh McDonald with the Seattle Restaurant Alliance. ?The restaurant industry continues to struggle in this economy; this ordinance could make it even harder on them. We just don?t know.?
Of specific concern is the tiering of businesses within the new law. Small businesses will be required to provide only three days leave, but larger business will be mandated to provide up to nine. ?If this is really about public health, why are we giving more leave to some workers, and less to others? Why not have all businesses be required to provide the same number of sick days to their employees?? said McDonald.

The Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Restaurant Alliance, the Northwest Grocery Association, and other local chambers and businesses attempted to modify the ordinance so they could provide sick leave in an affordable, workable way.
Holly Chisa, representing the Northwest Grocery Association, is concerned with the new law?s effect on employers currently providing a sick leave benefit to their employees. ?Grocery stores already provide comprehensive sick leave to our employees, and health care coverage to see the doctor. This new ordinance will require additional benefits on top of what is already offered to our workers through the union contract. It?s going to hit grocers twice, even though they were already providing leave to their workers.?

?In the rush to legislate, we have lost an opportunity to craft workable legislation that is fair to all and protects public health,? said George Allen, senior vice president of government relations for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. ?Instead, we have a bureaucratic and costly mandate that is confusing to employers and employers. Plus, we know that when we mandate something, other benefits are taken away. There?s no credit for what employers are already doing to ensure the health of their employees and the public.?
Even as the Seattle City Council passed the ordinance today, businesses are committed to working with the Council to implement the new requirements and make changes as needed. All agreed, ?We?re pleased to see that the Council did make some changes to the law to make it more manageable for businesses, but there is still work to do. We appreciate the inclusion of the review economic study so we can revisit this issue. Clearly there will need to be changes made to the law in the future as business learn what works and what doesn?t under the new mandate.?
The new law takes effect in 2012, but businesses are already working to determine next steps.

?Joint statement from coalition

Source: http://www.wrahome.com/news/wra-responds-to-passage-seattles-paid-sick-leave-measure/

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