The city of Pflugerville prepared a proposed texting-while-driving ban for within its city limits and planned on discussing the ordinance at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

However, with uncertain state legislative action looming, Pflugerville is pushing back action until a special session meets at the Capitol.

The state Legislature recently passed House Bill 62, which bans the reading, writing or sending of a text message while driving statewide. Other actions done on a handheld electronic device, such as the use of a GPS system, are permitted, however. This bill was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and officially goes into effect Sept. 1.

At this time, local ordinances in effect remain intact. The city of Austin, for example, has an ordinance that prohibits the use of all handheld devices while operating a bike or motor vehicle. This goes further than the state bill but would still remain enforceable without further action by the state.

Abbott is trying to pave the way for such action by adding a call to the special session for a bill that would not only enforce a statewide texting-while-driving ban but also preempt local ordinances already in place.

At Tuesday night's council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Omar Pena, who initially called for the consideration of such an ordinance, led the way to delay discussion on the matter.

The ordinance will likely be taken back up for discussion following the conclusion of the special session, not to start until July 18 and end before Aug. 18.