CHARLESTON — Chatting away on a cell phone or using it to text messages while driving could become misdemeanor crimes in West Virginia under a fresh bill sent out Monday by an interims committee.

The difference is that using a hand-held wireless phone to merely talk would be a secondary offense, and texting is to be a primary one.

That means, under the talk-only violation, a police officer would need to stop a driver for another indiscretion to write a citation, but could pull a motorist over for texting under the amended version authored by Delegate Nancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha.

“If I had everything in the world offered to me, I’d like to make them both a primary offense,” Guthrie said after her bill exited the Select Committee on Infrastructure.

“However, I’m realistic enough to know that this is a start and it makes everybody in this nation say, ‘Well, West Virginia is on board with this notion, too. They’re taking public safety seriously.’”

Delegate Jonathan Miller, R-Berkeley, criticized the value of the cell phone bill, disparaging it as a mere political message.

“If you want to effectively deal with this issue, you would increase the penalties for reckless driving,” he said afterward.

“When they use a cell phone to either talk or text message on, they’re engaging in reckless behavior.”

Miller said such activities should be considered reckless driving and police need more power to deal with such violations to enforce the law.

“That’s the best way to go about it — not passing some bill to make a political statement that says we’re for highway safety, when really we’re not addressing the issue at all.”

Guthrie pointed out that West Virginia has an opportunity to capture some federal dollars under a bill Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has sponsored to benefit states with a crackdown on cell phone usage.

Committee counsel Betty Caplan said the penalties for message texting would be $50 for the first offense, $100 for a second, and $200 for third and subsequent citations.

Using a hand-held phone to talk would fetch a $25 fine for the first occurrence, $50 for the second, and $75 for third and all others.

In neither instance would points be applied to a driver’s license.

Guthrie has fought for the bill three years now, only to see it die the last time around in a Senate committee. Gov. Joe Manchin is on record in support of a crackdown against texting in traffic.

“I don’t see much distinction between distracted cell phone driving or distracted texting driving,” the Kanawha County lawmaker said.

In another vote, the panel agreed to take special license plate creation out of the hands of the Legislature and leave those decisions entirely with the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The change is being sought given the “Christmas tree” effect that has plagued past efforts.

“We start out with a good idea, then it gets loaded up, and becomes a political hot potato and dies,” Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, reflected.

Jenkins had reservations about giving the DMV the sole voice in deciding, but acknowledged, “The political process has its Achilles heel ...”

Delegate Dale Stephens, also D-Cabell, amended the bill so that a group need only assure 250 license sales — half the threshold in the original bill — to gain approval of a special plate.

Another panelist, Delegate Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan, tried to amend the measure so that a “Choose Life” license was approved, but the co-chairman, Delegate Dale Martin, D-Putnam, held this wasn’t germane to the measure, since it isn’t intended to add or delete any organization.

Counsel John Reed advised Cowles that the measure could be amended once it reaches the House Roads and Transportation Committee.