MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill on Thursday to protect children from cyberbullying in honor of a 10-year-old boy who committed suicide last year.
Fifth grader Jamari Terrell Williams took his own life after he was bullied online last October. Rep. John Knight, a Democrat from Montgomery, sponsored the bill to add cyberbullying and harassment off school grounds to the current law protecting students from bullying at school.
Bipartisan House members expressed support for the bill because of similar situations of cyberbullying and student suicides in their own districts.
Williams’ mother Monique Davis was present in the statehouse for the bill’s passage. The bill had 88 co-sponsors in the 105-member House and now moves to the Senate.