Ever since South Jordan Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore successfully ran legislation last year setting a statewide default policy banning phones during class time, Cox has raised an objection — it didn’t go far enough, he said.

To fix that, Fillmore expanded the policy with a proposal extending it throughout the full school day, including lunch periods, recess and transit time between classes.

“Senate Bill 69 takes that additional and very important step of setting the baseline for cellphone policy in the state to be ‘cellphones are just not allowed during school unless a school district or a charter school proactively allows them,'” Fillmore told the Senate in January, citing better academic performance and behavior in schools with tight phone policies.

Cellphones are rarely used as a tool to call people among students, Fillmore said. With social media and game apps turning more prevalent, the devices are distractions and an obstacle for children to develop good interpersonal skills.

The House voted 46-21 on Wednesday to approve the bill and the Senate gave a final unanimous nod on Thursday. The legislation now goes to Cox’s desk for his consideration, and if it is signed into law as expected, takes effect July 1.

The bill maintains individual schools’ power to adopt their own phone policies rather than the default ban as they see fit, but still, some lawmakers in the House expressed concerns about what the proposal would mean for local control and students’ communication means during emergencies.

For example, in emergencies like school shooting cases, a state-sponsored crisis line is activated, sending live notifications to students to help locate the perpetrator.

Access to that technology is something the original bill allowed, Payson Republican Rep. Doug Welton, the legislation’s floor sponsor, said on Wednesday. That is why the bill doesn’t prescribe locking devices in a certain way.

“I am not in favor of things like (magnetic) pouches that do make it difficult in case of emergency for a student to access (their phones). But I also recognize their local control, but that is an LEA decision as to how they’re used,” Welton said. “There is nothing in the bill that says they have to be locked up, or they have to go into cubbies or anything like that, so they would still have access to their phones.”

The Policy Project, a nonprofit in the state that has backed the cellphone ban effort, commended the full Legislature’s approval of the bill, calling it “a historic step toward more focused and connected learning environments for students.”

“Bell-to-bell policies aren’t about restriction — they’re about creating learning environments built for focus, connection, and success,” Emily Bell McCormick, president of The Policy Project said in a statement. “We see calmer classrooms, stronger engagement, and more meaningful learning when distractions are limited.”