Texas lawmakers are moving ahead with making their rules the rules of the road for mobile phone use.

State senators on Wednesday by a 20-11 vote passed a bill that would strip cities of their authority to enact mobile phone bans while driving, essentially leaving the state’s upcoming texting ban as the only limit on phone use in Texas. The bill moves to the Texas House.

The statewide texting ban goes into effect Sept. 1, while all city rules on phone use would be null and void under Senate Bill 15. State laws already restrict minors from using a handheld device and use of a wireless device in a school zone.

The bill approved Wednesday was sought by Gov. Greg Abbott as part of his special session agenda. The bill by Sen. Don Huffines, R-Greenville, preempts local rules such as those in Sugar Land, Bellaire and 43 other cities that prohibit all phone use behind the wheel. Another 50 cities have some form of a phone or texting ban for drivers.

Those various rules make for a patchwork of local laws across metro areas where someone could face two or three different sets of rules on their daily drive, Huffines said.

“What I am asking is, we have clear and concise laws for the driving public,” Huffines said. “We don’t need rules of the road that are different.”

Critics of the bill, notably Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, said the effect of removing city phone bans would be to make Texas streets less safe. Zaffirini called Huffines’ bill a “giant step backward.”

Zaffirini, who supports a total handheld ban statewide, proposed toughening the new texting ban to cover all phone use, offered as an amendment to Huffines’ bill.

“We should adopt (a bill) that is stronger, not weaker, and more enforceable, not less,” Zaffirini said.

Texas' bill bans texting while driving for all motorists, but has a number of exceptions. People still will be allowed to use their phones to control their stereo or use a mapping program.