“Just mash it,” Rep. Susan Valdes told the four Freedom High School school students who huddled over her laptop.
On the count of three, they joined their fingers in tapping a button.
“All right kids,” Valdes said, high fiving them. “We got a bill.”
On Friday, Valdes, R-Tampa, filed House Bill 667 — a bill would require all e-bike drivers and riders under the age of 18 to wear helmets — with its writers: a group of Freedom High School students who lost a classmate last year to an e-bike accident.
Maggie Takamatsu, a senior, said after her classmate died she heard about a similar incident from someone she was dogsitting for. Then she saw a friend post about another incident of a teenager not wearing a helmet who died in an e-bike-related accident.
“This is an incident that just keeps happening and it’s not stopping,” she said. “And so I felt that what better could we do than to attack something that is such a major issue in our community?”
She pitched the idea to a group of classmates in student government who also had felt the loss of their peer.
Through the Hillsborough County School District’s “Ought To Be A Law” program, whichstarted in 2004, high school students are able to pitch ideas to state legislators who help them draft bills that enter the legislative session.
So far this year, this bill and another from Riverview High School that would require the state to provide paid parental leave for adoptive parents have been picked up by state representatives.
The program, Valdes, said, gives her hope.
“Everything is so polarizing and so difficult, but I wanted (the students) to see a different side of things,” she said. “You have to build relationships. You have to make sure that when you don’t see things eye to eye, that you find a way to have those connections, that conversation, and have people see what you’re passionate about, and how you can get things done.”
Philip Ernst, a junior, said the process was eye-opening, if not nerve-wracking when they first pitched their idea in October and stayed connected through a group chat with Valdes.
“It’s so easy to give your opinion or speak up about something in front of your peers, because we do every day in class,” he said. “But it was so cool to give our opinions in front of important people.”
The bill must now go to committee chairs. If people have questions — including industry leaders that often push back — Valdes said they will now face the students.
Valdes said it was important for student voices to be involved in shaping legislation.
“Kids’ voices are not paid attention to, because they’re kids,” she said. “They know a lot. … The challenges that they have weren’t challenges that I even fathomed of having as a kid. This world is changing so rapidly and just knowing how thoughtful they are, how kind they are, it gives me hope.”
Divya Kumar is a reporter covering education as a member of the Tampa Bay Times Education Hub. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here. Reach her at dkumar@tampabay.com.