SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A newly proposed bill in the Utah legislature looks to prohibit cellphone use during school hours, or from “bell-to-bell.”
That’s according to the language of the bill ahead of a planned press event on Wednesday, where lawmakers and the Governor are expected to unveil the new proposal.
According to the bill’s proposed text, except for some defined circumstances, “a student may not use a cellphone, smart watch, or emerging technology at a school during school hours,” the bill reads.
School hours are defined as “the time from the beginning of the school day, as designated by the school’s bell schedule, until the end of the school day, as designated by the school’s bell schedule, including all instructional time, lunch periods, recess, and transition times between classes,” it states.
Is it really a ban?
“It’s a ban in the sense that (phones) are not allowed to be used during school hours with certain exceptions,” said Rep. Doug Welton (R- Payson), the bill’s House sponsor told ABC 4. “It’s not a ban in the sense that students can have their phones on them. They just can’t use them at school.”
The law goes further than last year’s Senate Bill 178, which only prohibits phones in classrooms but allows each school district in Utah to establish its own policies for when they may prohibit them further. Both last year’s bill and this year’s new restrictions largely keep the same exceptions for when kids may use phones.
- To respond to an imminent threat to the health or safety of an individual
- To respond to a school-wide emergency
- To use the SafeUT Crisis Line
- For a student’s IEP or Section 504 accommodation plan
- To address a medical necessity
- New proposal allows local school districts to create other exceptions
Last year’s proposal sailed through the legislature; however, some parents had concerns about safety during the school day, or in the event of a school shooting, for example. Lawmakers tried to address those concerns with the carve-outs for when cellphones can be used.
Others voiced opposition, saying that it wasn’t the government’s job to tell kids whether they could use their phones at school.
Governor Cox has also voiced support for this stricter policy, writing on X in late August, “Getting the classroom ban was a nice step forward, but it was a huge mistake not to pass a full day (bell-to-bell) ban in Utah. Every piece of evidence shows that we must pass a full-day ban or risk damaging our kids more and falling behind states like Texas and Florida.”
ABC News reports that as of 2025, 20 states (including D.C.’s public schools and the Virgin Islands) have completely banned wireless communication devices — including personal phones or tablets — for the entire instructional day, but with exceptions. 17 states have not banned cellphones, and the remaining 16 reportedly let the local school districts decide.