SALT LAKE CITY – Two state lawmakers introduced a bill Monday that would give school districts more power to restrict cellphone use.

Senator Lincoln Fillmore (R-South Jordan) and Representative Douglas Welton (R-Payson) of Utah are proposing this K-12 legislation for the 2025 General Assembly. Fillmore joined KSL at Night to discuss what this bill entails.

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This law is intended to improve the mental, social and academic health of students, Fillmore said.

He told KSL at Night co-hosts Rusty Cannon and Taylor Morgan that there is currently no information in state law regarding cell phone restrictions in schools.

“But I would like to change the requirement because currently there is no requirement,” he said.

Both Rep. Welton, a current teacher, and Fillmore, a former teacher, are aware of the negative impact cell phones have on the learning environment, mental health and teachers’ ability to “teach effectively,” Fillmore said.

He says the negative impacts are increasing, which inspired him to take action.

“From a legislative perspective, I want to preserve the ability for local schools, local school boards and local districts to be able to work with their parents, their teachers and their students to find the right policy.”

Fillmore says the policy would not ban cellphone use across the state. Rather, school districts would be encouraged to work with their community to make decisions about cellphone use.

“It doesn’t bother me that local school districts may make different decisions,” he said. “There is room in this bill for a local school district to say, ‘Never mind, we completely disagree, we will allow unrestricted cell phone use in this school.'”

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Fillmore said overall feedback on the bill has been positive. He recounted a story he was told by the principal of Granger High School in the Granite School District. At Granger High School, students are required to put their cell phones in a bag from bell to bell every day.

“It’s been nine days now. The principal reported that teachers were coming to him and saying, ‘Wow, we’re making so much faster progress with our curriculum,'” Fillmore recalls.

He said the principal had heard of noisy lunch breaks where students talked to each other instead of staring at their cell phones.

There is one major concern that parents have expressed to Fillmore: concern about how they will access their children in an emergency.

“I taught at the turn of the century, and that was not an issue,” Fillmore said. “You can work that out with your local school district.”