OLYMPIA — State lawmakers have hung up on a call from Snohomish High School seniors seeking assurances they can keep cellphones on campus.
In a move that stunned backers, the House of Representatives rejected the student-backed measure that would told school districts they can’t ban cellphones on school grounds.
The Senate passed the measure without dissent last month.
"It was a crock," Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, said Thursday of the 56-40 vote scuttling the law late Wednesday night.
"It was the last vote of the night. I think people were tired and ornery, and the Republicans decided to ambush a bill for fun. Some Democrats got swept up in it, and sadly the kids got a slap in the face."
"That wasn’t the issue at all," responded Rep. Dan Kristiansen, R-Monroe, who opposed the bill. "The bottom line is that it’s a local issue. We have elected school board members, and they know best what rules their campuses need."
Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, agreed.
"The students did a wonderful job," Pearson said of the Snohomish seniors. "It was a very well-intentioned law, but we have school boards to regulate cellphone use."
Students proposed the law and state Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, sponsored it. She watched the House debate and phoned students with the outcome.
"They were very disappointed," she said. "But we’ll be back next year, and we’ll make it better."
Student Mary Douglas, 18, pledged a return to Olympia, where she was one of several seniors who testified at hearings and lobbied lawmakers.
"It’s kind of upsetting, because we worked so hard on it," she said via cellphone from Fort Worth, Texas, where she is visiting her father. "But I’m going to go back down next session and try to pass it again. Even though I won’t be in high school anymore, there will still be kids in high school."
The House vote didn’t surprise her.
"We kind of experienced some resistance in the House," unlike in the Senate where it passed 49-0, she said. "I was still leery about what would go on" in the House.
Seniors pieced together the proposal as a government class project. State law used to prohibit cellphones and pagers on campus because of concerns that a few students used them for drug deals and gang activity.
In 1997, lawmakers eased restrictions and let school districts set the rules. Public interest in ensuring that students have access to cellphones has soared in recent years as they’ve become viewed as essential during emergencies. For example, Columbine High School students used them during the shootings on campus in 1999.
Students argued That the phones offer security, while agreeing that education officials retained power to take them away if abused.
During the House debate, some lawmakers worried about misuse of technology such as allowing students to photograph each other in a locker room and post the pictures online — ironically the subject of a recent episode of the popular CBS television series "Joan of Arcadia."
"I couldn’t believe what I was hearing," McAuliffe said. "Their fears were unfounded."
The senator found a silver lining for the students.
"It was a good lesson and a hard lesson," she said. "They went through the whole legislative session with this bill. They probably thought it would pass. And they learned the Legislature doesn’t always pass things that easily."
Herald Writer Victor Balta contributed to this story.
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