AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry vetoed legislation Friday that would have banned texting while driving because he views it as “a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.”

State law already prohibits drivers under age 18 from texting or using a cellphone while driving.

“I believe there is a distinction between the overreach of (the texting ban bill) and the government's legitimate role in establishing laws for teenage drivers who are more easily distracted and laws providing further protection to children in school zones,” Perry said in his veto message.

Perry vetoed 24 bills — a large drop from the 83 bills he vetoed in 2001, his first legislative session as governor. That day later became known as the “Father's Day Massacre.”

The governor signed the state budget, although it is incomplete because lawmakers still are working to balance it.

Former House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, authored the texting while driving ban bill, HB 242, that Perry vetoed.

“I was sorry that it was vetoed, but I'm sure he had reasons,” Craddick said.

“It's another tool for law enforcement to save lives of people on the highways of Texas and the streets of Texas,” he added.

In his veto message, Perry agreed that “texting while driving is reckless and irresponsible.” But the governor said he prefers information and education campaigns to dissuade drivers of all ages from texting while driving.

The governor's vetoes included a Bexar County-area transportation bill authored by Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, and sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio.

HB 2327 would have allowed public transit buses in four counties, including Bexar, to drive on highway shoulder lanes if the traffic had slowed to 35 mph or less.

Perry vetoed a similar bill two years ago.

“He's wrong in vetoing it. This helps to reduce traffic congestion as it relates to passengers on buses get through the city to work and to appointments,” Jones McClendon said. “We need to facilitate quicker transit routes.”

Perry blocked the bill two years ago over concerns that buses driving on shoulders could block emergency lanes. He cited the same concerns this time, despite new provisions that required bus drivers to get additional training and would allow the Texas Department of Transportation to end the program at any time.

Wentworth called the governor's veto disappointing and short-sighted.

“This is a bill that would not affect 250 counties in Texas,” Wentworth said. “It would affect only Bexar, Travis, Tarrant and El Paso counties. It's a pilot project to try to reduce congestion and increase mobility of those people that are on buses.”

Perry signed into law the groundwater ownership bill, SB 332, that clarifies that landowners own the groundwater below their land as real property. Plus, he allowed several bills to become law without his signature, including HB 1788 by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, that reinstates the ability of hobbyists to capture amphibians and reptiles on roads and rights-of-way. That activity was permissible until the Legislature banned it in 2007.

Perry also vetoed spending items that were contingent on bills that didn't pass or related to separate legislation that he vetoed.

Other vetoes included a campaign finance issue that would have allowed any candidate or public official to correct an error without penalty within 14 days after the Texas Ethics Commission received a sworn complaint. The author of HB 1616 asked Perry to veto it after realizing the proposal would undermine the commission's enforcement authority.

The governor also vetoed HB 2972, which would have limited voters' ability to vote on tax increases.

House Bill 335 also became a veto casualty. The bill would require state agencies to submit a report relating to the implementation and requirements of federal health care reform laws.

He also vetoed SB 40 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, that would have made several changes to the enabling statute of the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, a state-chartered nonprofit corporation that serves as the guarantor for subsidized student loans originated under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. FFELP was terminated last year by the federal government.

Perry complained that “Senate Bill 40 gave TGSLC much broader authority to enter into revenue-generating activities, but does so at a time when TGSLC loan portfolio will shrink, limiting the resources available for new ventures and exposing TGSLC's operating fund to additional risk.”

Staff Writers Peggy Fikac and Vianna Davila contributed to this report.