Statewide student cellphone ban attempt fails to win enough Michigan House votes
A second attempt to invoke a statewide ban on cellphone use by students in classrooms has failed in the Michigan legislature.
House Bill 4141 was defeated Thursday on a vote of 53 yes, 45 no, 12 not voting. The results were largely along party lines, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats voting down the measure. Given the current membership of 110 lawmakers, 56 votes were needed for passage and moving on to the state Senate.
Given the practicalities of the legislative calendar, there will be no statewide changes before classes start for the 2025-26 school year.
Cellphone rules regarding student use have so far been handled on a local, case-by-case basis. Republican state Rep. Mark Tisdel introduced a bill calling for restrictions during a previous legislative session, but it didn't get far. With this effort, he timed House Bill 4141's introduction around Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's 2025 State of the State address, in which she called for "commonsense restrictions on phone use during class."
The goal of House Bill 4141 was to spell out when a student could have access to cellphones and other personal wireless devices at Michigan's K-12 public schools and academies. Elementary and middle school students would not be permitted to use one during the school day at all. The high school students could have access in between classes, in addition to just before and just after the school day, if they are still on campus.
Exceptions would be granted for medically-necessary devices, school-issued laptops, specific tasks assigned by teachers and under emergency situations "as described in an emergency operations plan," the final version of the bill states.
Despite a series of amendments, the final version did not get support from House Democrats.
Tisdel said his response will be to come back with a stricter list of restrictions.
"We're not going to water the bill down to the point of being meaningless," Tisdel said in response to the vote. "So now, we're going to go the other direction and make the bill stronger."