NORTH BEND – A law that can fine drivers up to $300 if they are involved in an incident while engaged in a distracting activity has been sent back to the committee from which it came less than a month after it was passed by the North Bend City Council.

At their Jan. 8 meeting, council members voted 2-1 to refer the controversial inattentive driving ordinance back to the Public Safety Committee, which is headed by the councilman who spearheaded the law, Ed Carlson.

Although the law – originally passed at the Dec. 18 City Council meeting – is still in effect, its future is uncertain as it faces a council with two new members and renewed debate spurred by public comment.

Councilman Mark Sollitto, who argued against the ordinance when it was being discussed by the council Dec. 18, initiated the move to reconsider the law. Although Sollitto voted for the ordinance in December, he did it so he could bring it back before the council at a later date, a power granted by the parliamentary rules of the council.

Carlson said he is frustrated by that move, adding that there was plenty of debate about the ordinance before the vote in December.

“I don’t see how anyone can make a case for reconsideration,” he said.

Carlson believes Sollitto misused the parliamentary rule, which was created to prevent one-issue council members from rehashing old ordinances.

“We need to decide what kind of council we are going to be,” he said. “Are we going to thwart the will of a prior council, or are we going to move forward?”

The Public Safety Committee will review the ordinance, and Carlson said he would be willing to change some of the wording to save it.

Public comment on the ordinance has varied. North Bend resident Gardiner Vinnedge said he would like to see statistics on distracting activities while driving a car before and after the passage of the ordinance.

“That way, we can look back a year from now and say, ‘Gee, we cut that in half,'” he said.

City Attorney Mike Kenyon said the council usually respects past decisions and does not reintroduce laws on which prior councils have voted.

But due to the new make-up of the council – it has two new members, Jack Webber and Bill Wittress – and public comments made since the vote, further discussion seemed appropriate.

“Anyone who was at the Dec. 18 meeting could recognize this issue was right on the edge,” Kenyon said.

Webber, speaking at his first meeting as a council member, said he has followed the debate closely.

“I have been doing a lot of research the past couple weeks [on the issue],” he said.

Wittress has yet to be sworn in because he couldn’t attend the Jan. 8 meeting.

Sollitto also said the input of North Bend law enforcement was a crucial element missing from previous discussions about the ordinance. Sgt. Grant Stewart of the King County Sheriff’s Office North Bend Substation said he wished the new law was more specific.

“The more vague you make an ordinance, the harder it is to enforce,” he said.

One of his concerns is the fine, which under the ordinance is up to $300. Stewart said this leaves a gray area for the officer who has to set the fine.

He also said there are no exceptions in the law for public-safety vehicles, and he wondered if those vehicles, which often use hand-held communication devices and on-board computers, would be exempt from the new ordinance.

Because of those ambiguities, Stewart said the law may not withstand a court challenge.

“I’m for anything that increases safety, but there are some issues that need to be discussed,” he said. “I would rather have no inattentive driving ordinance then one that is not going to work.”