A new Vermont bill would make it illegal for anyone under 21 to use a cell phone, punishable by up to a year in prison
- A Vermont state senator introduced a bill this week that would ban cell phone 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.
- However, 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 state senator introduced legislation this week that would make it illegal for anyone under 21 to own or use a cell phone.
The bill is just two pages long - citing the dangers posed by cyberbullying, online radicalization, and the risks of texting while driving, 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.
But State Senator John Rodgers, the Democrat who introduced the legislation, told The Barre Montpelier Times Argus that he doesn't expect it to pass, and merely introduced it to make a point.
"I have no delusions that it's going to pass. I wouldn't probably vote for it myself," he told the paper.
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.
