The Alaska House Labor & Commerce Committee took up House Bill 57 for its third hearing on Wednesday at the Capitol.
According to bill sponsor Rep. Zack Fields, the bill proposes to improve the learning environment in Alaskan schools by mandating the Department of Education & Early Development to create new policies and mandates that school districts create and adopt a policy that suit the needs of their community.
The committee took public testimony Wednesday on the bill. Jim Minnery, the president of the Alaska Family Council, was the sole member of the public to comment.
“I’m calling in with enthusiastic support of HB57,” Minnery said. “I want to personally thank Representative Fields for bringing this issue forward. In the research that we’ve done, kids learn better without the distractions of smartphones. Kids feel better when they do school phone-free.”
Minnery added that the idea that cell phones might be a plus in an active shooter situation may not necessarily be correct.
“Phones can actually make us less safe in the crisis, because using phones can distract people from the actions they need to make they need to be taking in the moment, such as running and hiding and listening to directions,” Minnery said.
According to Representative Fields’ sponsor statement for the bill, as of October 2024, at least twenty-nine states have introduced legislation addressing cell phone use in schools, eight of which have passed legislation restricting their use.
In written public comment on the bill, Marcos Lopez, the Western Legislative Director for non-profit ExcelInEd in Action, stated, “Research has increasingly sounded the alarm on the negative effects that excess screen time and ready access to social media platforms are having on adolescents.”
The bill will also be heard in the House Finance Committee.
