Los Angeles Times

At Dymally High School in South Los Angeles, test scores are slightly up, fights are down and teachers can better focus on instruction—and Principal Darvina Bradley credits her campus cellphone ban. This scene is one California lawmakers are hoping to replicate with their approval of statewide school cellphone restrictions. The Phone-Free Schools Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), sailed through the Legislature and requires all public schools to devise a policy by July 1, 2026, to limit or prohibit smartphones during the school day.

California lawmakers intend to shelve legislation that would have required Google to pay news outlets for distributing their content, and in its place announced a new public-private partnership between the state and Google that will fund programs to research artificial intelligence and bolster local journalism.