Pa. House Rejects Senate's Changes to Teen Driver Bill

by KYW's Tony Romeo

The Pennsylvania House has voted to reject Senate changes that weakened a bill designed to place more restrictions on teen drivers.

The House overwhelmingly supports the tougher junior driver bill and the debate on Thursday boiled down to those who felt the Senate bill was too weak and those, like Bucks County Republican Kathy Watson, who felt it was better than nothing:

"We would make a difference in the lives of many young people, and we would potentially save lives."

But Democrat Joe Markosek, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said while sometimes a compromise is necessary, not so in this case:

"I'm not a novice at this, but this isn't close to half a loaf or even a third of a loaf."

The House action sets the stage for a likely House-Senate conference committee to craft a compromise measure but a spokesman for the majority-leader of the GOP-controlled Senate says there has been no discussion about a response to the House action.