- A Vermont senator introduced a bill this week that would ban cellphone use by anyone under the age of 21.
- The bill would set a $1,000 fine and maximum of a year in prison for anyone who violated the law.
- The lawmaker who wrote the bill said he introduced it to make a point and told The Barre Montpelier Times Argus that he had “no delusions that it’s going to pass.”
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A Vermont senator introduced legislation this week that would make it illegal for anyone under 21 to own or use a cellphone.
The bill is just two pages long and cites the dangers posed by cyberbullying, online radicalization, and the risks of texting while driving, and it calls for a punishment of a maximum of a year in prison and a $1,000 fine for anyone who would break the law.
“It is clear that persons under 21 years of age are not developmentally mature enough to safely possess them,” the bill’s text reads.
Sen. John Rodgers, the Democrat who introduced the legislation, told The Barre Montpelier Times Argus that he doesn’t expect it to pass and introduced it to make a point.
"I have no delusions that it's going to pass," he told the paper. "I wouldn't probably vote for it myself."
Rodgers said he wanted to make a point about the Second Amendment and gun ownership. Vermont recently passed a law barring those under 21 from buying a gun unless they had taken a safety course, a measure that Rodgers opposed. He said he also wanted to highlight the dangers posed by the internet.
Read the full text of the bill here.