House committee adopts H-2 substitute for bill defining student wireless device rules, reports bill to House

The House Education and Workforce Committee adopted an H‑2 substitute for House Bill 4141 and voted to report the bill to the full House with a recommendation.

The committee voted 10-0 to adopt the H‑2 substitute and later voted 7 ayes, 1 nay and 2 pass to report House Bill 4141 as substitute H‑2 with recommendation. Vice Chair Representative Linting moved both actions.

The H‑2 substitute, as read into the record by committee staff, bases a school’s device policy on the highest grade level served at the school and clarifies which items qualify as a “wireless communication device.” It exempts medically necessary devices, district-owned devices, district-designated devices used for instructional purposes, devices used for lesson-specific assignments and devices used for special education programming or 504 plans. The substitute also states that the definition of “wireless communication device” does not include a “basic telephone,” which the committee record defines as “a device primarily used for voice calling that cannot install third party applications except those preinstalled and does not support access to the Internet platforms via applications or web browsers.”

Committee staff noted the substitute reflects testimony taken at the committee’s April 30 meeting. Two registrants listed on submitted testimony did not speak at the hearing: Olivia Ponte of the Michigan Department of Education, who is recorded as neutral, and Kyle Zawarki of the ACLU of Michigan, also recorded as neutral.

Votes at a glance: The committee first voted to adopt the H‑2 substitute (motion moved by Vice Chair Linting) with a roll call resulting in 10 yays, 0 nays, 0 passes. Later, the committee voted to report House Bill 4141 as substitute H‑2 with recommendation (motion moved by Vice Chair Linting). The roll call on that motion recorded 7 ayes, 1 nay and 2 pass. Individual recorded votes on the report motion were: McCatt — no; Wilson (recorded as “Pass”) — pass; Burns — pass; Chair DeBorde — yes; Representative Linting — yes; Fox — yes; Saint Germain — yes; Pablo — yes; Weiss — yes; one member on the roll was recorded in the transcript as “*****” and voted yes.

The committee ended the session after excusing absent members and adjourning. The committee record does not specify further implementation details, timetable, or fiscal impacts for the bill.