Representative Defay proposes limits on classroom screen time, AI safeguards and new student-protection measures

Representative Ariel Defay spoke to the Davis County Conservatives forum about several education bills she is sponsoring or supporting, focusing on limiting classroom screen time, establishing AI guardrails, and tightening protections against child sexual-abuse materials and deceptive AI images.

Defay described HB273 (the "Balance Act") as a package requiring school districts to adopt a technology policy that ensures classroom tech is "safe, legal and effective," to create AI policies that keep a human "in the loop," and to adopt a grade-level framework that markedly reduces or eliminates screen time in kindergarten through third grade. She said her proposal would stop one-to-one devices in elementary schools and require parental opt-in for devices to go home in junior high, with an opt-out model in high school.

On AI and online harms, Defay said committee work has produced bills to tighten penalties and close loopholes: she described an updated CSAM bill to align state penalties with federal standards and a separate bill that would require platforms to include provenance metadata and consent for intimate deepfakes, and would create a private right of action for victims.

Other forum speakers, including Jen Garner and Becky Hope, discussed related education and governance bills: concerns about McKinney-Vento definitions of homelessness and how that affects district funding and services, HB170 on school board referendum amendments, and HB256, which would make school board elections partisan. Garner asked for more transparency about how district funding and definitions translate into services for students.

Defay urged parents to contact local school boards and legislators if they have questions about implementation; she said the state would use funding levers (computer funding) to encourage district compliance with model policies. The proposals were described in general terms at the forum; bill texts, committee reports and fiscal notes should be consulted for legal specifics and implementation timelines.