(The Center Square) – A deeply divided state House on Monday gave final approval to a bill to require school districts to prohibit student cell phone use during the school day, with exceptions.
The issue divided lawmakers within parties. Lawmakers who are parents said it had been discussed in their homes. The sponsor of the bill, Democratic Rep. Mandy Steele of Allegheny County, said in an interview before the voting session that school cell phone use was contributing to a “massive public health crisis” in which “kids’ brains aren’t developing normally.”
The vote to approve was 126-75, splitting both parties.
Twenty Democrats joined 55 Republicans in voting against the bill. Among the Democratic “no” votes was Rep. Maureen Madden of Monroe County, who said that until schools can be made safe, she wanted children to have cell phones so they could call for help or “simply to say goodbye.”
The vote came on the first session day for both the House and Senate in nearly four weeks, and with only 29 days remaining until the June 30 state budget deadline. Lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro are facing a budget deficit estimated at more than $5 billion. A big unresolved issue is whether to regulate and tax so-called “skill games” – a move Shapiro has projected could pull in $2 billion in new revenue.
Republican Sen. Gene Yaw of Lycoming County, who has introduced legislation on the issue and has a skill game-making facility in his district, said the years-long discussion of skill games in Harrisburg has turned into a political game.
“There is no thought as to how it benefits the people of Pennsylvania,” Yaw said. “It’s sad.”
Shapiro, a Democrat, and Senate Republican Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County have said little in public about where discussions stand. Shapiro’s budget proposal math was based on the games being legalized at a 52% tax rate.
John Getz, state adjutant for the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, called the 52% number “outrageous.” Many clubs, he said, depend heavily on the unregulated games for revenue.
“So the question is, will some clubs shut down if they are taxed heavily? And the answer is ‘yes,'” Getz said.
Meanwhile, the cell phone bill passed by the House on Monday will now go to the Senate for consideration. That chamber already has passed a cell phone “school ban” bill – sponsored by Republican Sen. Devlin Robinson of Allegheny County – but the bill’s language was much different than the wording now contained in the Steele bill.
Robinson’s bill is awaiting action by the House Appropriations Committee.
The Steele bill calls for school districts to adopt policies to restrict students’ possession of cell phones during the school day, but it does not require taking possession of students’ phones during the day. Among other things, exceptions are carved out for students with medical conditions or individualized education programs, or those who are English learners using the phone for language help.
A “one size fits all bill” that tramps on local control is how the bill was described by Republican Rep. Natalie Mihalek of Allegheny County, who concluded her comments by referring to her own children and the debate in her own house. Her message to them, she said, was, “Mom voted ‘no.'”
A school teacher for 30 years, Democratic Rep. Nikki Rivera of Lancaster County said the bill “keeps me up at night.” She criticized the number of exceptions and said she didn’t like the fact that high school students were lumped in with all the rest.
Nonetheless, she voted in favor of it.
Republican Rep. Russ Diamond of Lebanon County was adamant in addressing his colleagues and Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton.
“These devices have no place – no place, Madame Speaker – in a formal education process.”
