A bill to limit cellphones in school failed on Thursday in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Zero Democrat lawmakers voted in favor of it, even though it was one of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s priorities from her 2025 State of the State address.
State Rep. Mark Tisdel, who sponsored the bill, said that Democrats voted against it due to politics.
“This defeat had nothing to do with the merits of the bill,” said Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills. “We tried working with Democrat lawmakers, made changes to accommodate their concerns, even used language provided by the governor’s office. We had an agreement with the governor and Senate Democrats, but the House Democrats decided to play games and vote no.”
“The bill is dead,” Tisdel said. “Zero Democrats voted for it, so there is zero chance of this getting done before the start of the school year.”
3 out of 4 adults support cellphone ban
A June survey by Pew Research found that 74% of adults support a ban on cellphones in middle and high school class, up from 68% last fall. Only 19% oppose a ban, and 7% are unsure.
“This legislation is wildly popular with parents. You want to play politics with something that three quarters of U.S. adults want? Have at it,” Tisdel said.
Arbit publicly said he supported the bill, but then voted against it
State Rep. Noah Arbit, D-West Bloomfield, said on TV that he supported the bill and wanted it to pass, but then he voted no.
Here is a quote from Arbit on the April 29 episode of “The Pulse” with Roop Raj on Fox 2 Detroit:
“I have to agree with Representative Tisdel; I think his bill, his legislation – I commend him for introducing that legislation – is good legislation. I would like to see it passed in the state House, I would like to see it passed in the state Senate and signed by the governor.”
Weiss voted for the bill in committee but then voted against it on the floor
State Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park, voted in favor of the bill when it wasin committee, but then flipped and voted no on the floor, even though Tisdel made additional changes to accommodate Democrat concerns, and used bill language provide by the governor’s office.
O’Neal worked on the legislation but then voted against it
State Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw, worked on the original legislation with Tisdel. The two visited Traverse City West High School in September 2023 to observe its “Away for the Day” program, but O’Neal voted no.
Tisdel’s bill never got a vote last term when Democrats controlled the House. He re-introduced it in February, and the governor endorsed the idea during her 2025 State of the State address
“Lots of support” in Democrat caucus
A member of the House Democrat leadership team sent Tisdel a text message to tell him that his bill had “lots of support” among Democrat lawmakers prior to the floor vote.
The deal
Tisdel met with the Democrat Sen. Dayna Polehanki and the governor’s office several times to work out a compromise between the House version and a weaker Senate version of the legislation. The deal, according to Tisdel, is that the House would make some changes to his bill before passage, including allowing students to still bring old-style flip phones to school, and creating exceptions for medical reasons or in case of an emergency. The governor’s office even provided language that Tisdel incorporated into the bill.
Tisdel was also open to another possible change that would ban cellphone use during instruction time but still allow students in all grades to use phones between classes. (Tisdel’s original plan allowed high school students to use phones before and after school and between classes to make it easier to coordinate after-school activities.) If that change were to happen, it would have happened in the Senate.
“We had an agreement with the Senate Democrats and the governor,” Tisdel said. “House Democrats said no.”
Whitmer called for bipartisan legislation to limit cellphones in school in her 2025 State of the State address
Gov. Whitmer 2/26/2025:
Now let’s talk about mental and physical health, both of which are linked to academics. Let’s start with phones, which have completely changed our children’s lives. 95% have access to a smartphone and half of them say they’re online “almost constantly.”
Amy from Rochester Hills volunteered recently on a 6th grade field trip. You all remember field trips right? The bus ride was loud and full of excitement about the day ahead. Well on this bus, Amy said, it was silent. All the kids were glued to their phones. Amy’s daughter wishes she was born before social media.
Our educators get it. It’s hard to teach geography or geometry when you’re competing against memes or DMs. Other states red and blue have taken action. So has most of Europe and Canada. I understand the need to be connected to your child. But we can do better.
This year, let’s pass bipartisan legislation to limit the use of phones in class.
We’ve seen encouraging data about how commonsense restrictions on phone use during class lead to more learning and less bullying. Kids listen, they raise their hands, they make more friends. They talk during field trips. Three-quarters say they feel happy or peaceful without their phone. That’s what school should be all about.
TEXT: Gov. Whitmer’s 2025 State of the State address (as prepared)
VIDEO: Gov. Whitmer 2025 State of the State address (discussion of cellphones starts at 51:30 mark)
Cellphones in school bill failed 53-45-12
House Bill 4141 failed with 53 voting in favor, 45 against, and 12 not voting. (There are 110 lawmakers in the House; 56 votes are needed for passage.)
Every yes vote was from a Republican. Only two GOP lawmakers opposed the plan, but three were absent, meaning that at least three Democrat lawmakers needed to vote in favor of the plan for it to pass.
Zero Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
VIDEO: The record roll-call vote (starting at 4:29:35 mark)
Up next: A true bell-to-bell prohibition
Tisdel said that his next step is to work on a stronger version of the bill since Democrats rejected the compromise version.
“We made lots of changes to accommodate what Democrats in the Legislature wanted, and they still voted no. We’re not going to water the bill down to the point of being meaningless. We played nice, we tried to work with them, and they played games,” Tisdel said. “So now, we’re going to go the other direction and make the bill stronger. If Gov. Whitmer wants to list this as an accomplishment on her score card before she leaves office, it’s going to be the gold standard: a true bell-to-bell prohibition.”
“The hallways are louder”
Tisdel said that a few schools in Michigan have already banned cellphones, and that it’s been a popular move.
“Discipline problems dropped significantly, and the hallways are louder because students are talking to each other more instead of getting sucked into their phones,” Tisdel said.
“These are addictive devices. Parents know that kids are spending too much time on their phones, but it’s hard to be the bad guy who takes it away when their kids’ friends all have one. I’m willing to be the bad guy. I’m fine with it if teenagers are mad at me.”
Democrats hang up on governor
Tisdel said that what happened with the cellphones-in-school bill is representative of the current dynamic in Lansing: House Republicans keep trying to work with the governor, but Democrat legislators keep saying NO.
“Gov. Whitmer said in her 2025 State of the State address that she wanted lawmakers to send her bipartisan legislation to limit cellphones in school. We put that up for a vote, and ZERO Democrats voted for it,” Tisdel said.
“The governor promised seven years ago to ‘fix the damn roads.’ Democrats had a trifecta for two of those years and they didn’t get it done. One of the first things House Republicans did after taking control was pass a plan to fund the roads without raising taxes. House Democrats haven’t even proposed a roads plan. The Senate Democrat roads “plan” is nothing but a $3 billion placeholder with no explanation how to pay for it, which is why their budget isn’t balanced,” Tisdel said.
Gov. Whitmer said “The budget is not done until the roads are done, as well.”
“This was a test vote, and Democrat lawmakers proved they won’t even vote for legislation that their own governor wants. Now we all know who the roadblock is going forward,” Tisdel said.
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