Two bills, currently being debated by Indiana State lawmakers could change access students have to cell phones at school and social media accounts.

Senate Bill 78, authored by Sen. Jeff Raatz and Sen. Greg Goode, states that students will no longer be able to have phones at all during school or stored away for the entire school day. This would advise students to keep phones at home or in lockers from bell to bell and deny teachers from using
their phones as well, and would require teachers to be provided a wireless, mobile communication device by their school employer. If this bill becomes
law it would mean schools would have to rewrite their policies to completely remove cell phones from schools.

“Implementation of the cell phone ban has varied across Indiana schools. That’s one reason that Rep. Jake Teshka, a North Liberty Republican, authored the new House proposal for tighter restrictions on phones. Republican Sens. Jeff Raatz and Greg Goode filed a similar bill in the Senate,” said Aleksandra Appleton in a Chalkbeat article.

The original House Bill with similar language did not advance, but as of press date, the Senate Bill was still alive.

A second Senate Bill, SB 199, also authored by Sen. Raatz and Sen. Linda Rogers, is also taking aim at minors and their access to social media.

The bill proposes restrictions on minors having access to social media and puts more emphasis on parents supervising their children’s accounts. In the bill, social media companies would be required to provide parents and guardians with access to a minor’s account upon request. There is still debate on what the age would be for restrictions to take effect.

Neither of these bills is guaranteed to become law yet, as lawmakers are still debating the bills.