Sen. Tracey Eide reinforced her message Saturday that using a cellphone while behind the wheel is dangerous -- for drivers of any age -- and that laws prohibiting it need to have a backbone.

She led the Senate on Saturday morning to reject the House's amendment to SB 6345 - regarding the use of cellphones by Washington motorists -- and has asked the representatives to annul their change to her bill.

The original measure sought to ban young drivers from using their cellphone -- handheld or hands-free -- and to make violations of cellphone traffic laws for all ages a primary offense. It passed the Senate 33-15.

Under current law, hand-held cellphone use and texting is banned for all drivers but may only be enforced as a secondary offense, meaning that police must have another reason -- such as speeding -- to stop motorists and fine them $124 for illegal cellphone use.

Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, and other members of the House were not comfortable Wednesday with Sen. Eide's effort to strengthen the law.

They passed an amendment keeping handheld-cellphone use by adults a secondary offense while making it a primary offense for those same drivers to text and for teen motorists to use the devices at all.

The House approved the changed bill 86-12. It was sent back to the Senate for consideration.

"This is an extreme safety issue," said Sen. Eide, D-Federal Way, in reaction to the House's decision Wednesday. "It is a long way from being done."

Spurning the amendment, the Senate threw the bill back to the House on Saturday --making this showdown far from over.

From here the House can: 1) take back the amendment, 2) refuse to do so and again ask the Senate to accept the change or 3) ask for a public conference where members from both sides can try to reach an agreement.