Bill Text: NJ S3183 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires family member to compensate minor working as vlogger in certain circumstances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Labor Committee [S3183 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3183-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOHN J. BURZICHELLI
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
SYNOPSIS
Requires family member to compensate minor working as vlogger in certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning compensation for minors of family vloggers and amending and supplementing P.L.1940, c.153.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1940, c.153 (C.34:2-21.1) is amended to read as follows:
1. (a) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2022, c.63.)
(b) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2022, c.63.)
(c) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2022, c.63.)
(d) "School district" means any geographical area having authority over the public schools within that area.
(e) "Agriculture" includes farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities defined as agricultural commodities in subsection (g) of section 15 of the Agricultural Marketing Act, 46 Stat. 11 (12 U.S.C. s. 141 et seq.), as amended), the planting, transplanting and care of trees and shrubs and plants, the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market, provided that such practices shall be performed in connection with the handling of agricultural or horticultural commodities the major portion of which have been produced upon the premises of an owning or leasing employer.
(f) "Newspaper carrier" means any minor between 12 and 18 years of age who engages in the occupation of delivering, soliciting, selling and collecting for, newspapers outside of school hours on residential routes.
(g) "Restaurant" means any establishment or business primarily engaged in the preparation and serving of meals or refreshments, both food and drink, and shall include but not be limited to the following: dining establishments, catering establishments, industrial caterers, and drive-in restaurants.
(h) "Theatrical production" means and includes stage, motion picture and television performances and rehearsals therefor.
(i) "Seasonal amusement" means any exclusively recreational or amusement establishment or business which does not operate more than seven months in any calendar year or which has received during any consecutive six months of the preceding calendar year average receipts equal to or less than 33 1/3% percent of its average receipts for the other six months of that year. "Seasonal amusement" includes but is not limited to amusement rides and amusement device ticket sales, and operations of games. However, "seasonal amusement" does not include retail, eating or drinking concessions, camps, beach and swimming facilities, movie theatres, theatrical productions, athletic events, professional entertainment, pool and billiard parlors, circuses and outdoor shows, sport activities or centers, country club athletic facilities, bowling alleys, race tracks and like facilities which are not part of a diversified amusement enterprise.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Caregiver" means a person over 18 years of age who is the biological parent, adoptive parent, foster parent, resource family parent, step-parent, parent-in-law or legal guardian, having a "parent-child relationship" with a child as defined by law, or having sole or joint legal or physical custody, care, guardianship, or visitation with a child, or who became the parent of the child pursuant to a valid written agreement between the parent and a gestational carrier.
"Family member" a person related by blood or marriage, including civil unions and domestic partnerships, or whose close relationship with each other is considered equivalent to a family relationship by the individuals.
"Online platform" means any public-facing website, web application, or digital application, including a mobile application. "Online platform" includes a social network, advertising network, mobile operating system, search engine, email service, or Internet access service.
"Vlog" means video content shared on an online platform in exchange for compensation.
"Vlogger" means a person who creates video content that features the minor in exchange for compensation, that is performed in the State, and includes any proprietorship, partnership, company, or other corporate entity assuming the name or identity of a particular caregiver or family for the purposes of that content creation. "Vlogger" does not include any person under the age of 16 who produces that person's own vlogs.
(cf: P.L.2022, c.63, s.1)
2. Section 2 of P.L.1940, c.153 (C.34:2-21.2) is amended to read as follows:
2. [No] a. Except as provided in subsection b. of this section, no minor under 16 years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with any gainful occupation at any time; provided, that minors between 14 and 16 years of age may be employed, permitted or suffered to work outside school hours and during school vacations but not in or for a factory or in any occupation otherwise prohibited by law or by order or regulation made in pursuance of law; and provided, further, that minors under 16 years of age may engage in professional employment in theatrical productions upon the obtaining of a permit therefor and may engage outside school hours and during school vacations in agricultural pursuits or in street trades and as newspaperboys as defined in this act, in accordance with the provisions of section 15 of this act. Minors may also engage in employment in domestic service performed outside of school hours or during school vacations, in a residence other than the minor's own home. Nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to the work of a minor engaged in domestic service or agricultural pursuits performed outside of school hours or during school vacations in connection with the minor's own home and directly for his parents or legal guardian.
Except as to the employment of a minor for whom a theatrical employment permit has been issued, no minor under 16 years of age not a resident of this State shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in any occupation or service whatsoever at any time during which the law of the state of his residence required his attendance at school, or at any time during the hours when the public schools in the district in which employment in such occupation or services may be available are in session.
b. A minor shall be considered to be engaged in work as a vlogger as that term is defined by section 1 of P.L.1940, c.153 (C.34:2-21.1) or in the work of producing a vlog and shall be subject to the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and whose caregiver or family member is subject to the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall be exempt from the requirements of this section and section 3 of P.L.1940, c.153 (C.34:2-21.3).
(cf: P.L.2022, c.63, s.2)
3. (New section) a. A minor under the age of 16 is considered engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog when the following criteria are met at any time during the previous 12-month period:
(1) at least 30 percent of the vlogger's compensated video content produced within a 30-day period includes the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor. Content percentage is measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor visually appears or is the subject of an oral narrative in a video segment, as compared to the total length of the segment; and
(2) the number of views received per video segment on any online platform meets the online platform's threshold for the generation of compensation or the vlogger receives actual compensation for video content equal to or greater than $0.10 per view.
b. With the exception of this section and section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) do not apply to a minor engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog.
c. All vloggers whose content features a minor under the age of 16 engaged in the work of producing a vlog shall maintain the following records and shall provide them to the minor on an ongoing basis:
(1) the name and documentary proof of the age of the minor engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog;
(2) the number of vlogs that generated compensation as described in subsection a. of this section during the reporting period;
(3) the total number of minutes of the vlogs that the vlogger received compensation for during the reporting period;
(4) the total number of minutes each minor was featured in vlogs during the reporting period;
(5) the total compensation generated from vlogs featuring a minor during the reporting period; and
(6) the amount deposited into the trust account for the benefit of the minor engaged in the work of producing a vlog, as required by section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
d. If a vlogger whose vlog content features minors under the age of 16 engaged in work as a vlogger fails to maintain the records as provided in subsection c. of this section, the minor may commence a civil action to enforce the provisions of this section.
4. (New section) a. A minor satisfying the criteria described in subsection a. of by section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall be compensated by the vlogger. The vlogger shall set aside gross earnings on the video content including the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor in a trust account to be preserved for the benefit of the minor upon reaching the age of majority, according to the following distribution:
(1) where only one minor meets the content threshold described in section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the percentage of total gross earnings on any video segment including the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor that is equal to or greater than half of the content percentage that includes the minor as described in section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); or
(2) where more than one minor meets the content threshold described in section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and a video segment includes more than one of those minors, the percentage described in paragraph (1) of subsection a. of this section for all minors in any segment shall be equally divided between the minors, regardless of differences in percentage of content provided by the individual minors.
b. A trust account required under this section shall provide, at a minimum, the following:
(1) that the funds in the account shall be available only to the minor engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog;
(2) that the account shall be held by a bank, fiduciary, or trust business, as those terms are defined in the Banking Act of 1948, P.L.1948, c.67 (C.17:9A-1 et seq.);
(3) that the funds in the account shall become available to the minor engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog upon the minor attaining the age of 18 years or until the minor is declared emancipated; and
(4) that the account meets the requirements of the "New Jersey Uniform Transfers to Minors Act," R.S.46:38A-1 et seq.
c. If a vlogger knowingly or recklessly violates this section, a minor satisfying the criteria described in subsection a. of section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), may commence an action to enforce the provisions of this section regarding the trust account. The court may award, to a minor who prevails in any action brought in accordance with this section, the following damages:
(1) actual damages;
(2) punitive damages; and
(3) the costs of the action, including attorney's fees and litigation costs.
d. This section shall not affect a right or remedy available under any other law of the State.
e. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to have any effect on a party that is not the vlogger and is not the minor engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog.
5. The commissioner shall, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt and promulgate rules and regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of P.L. . c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
6. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment, except that the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development shall take any anticipatory administrative action as shall be necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires family members and caregivers who operate vlogs on social media platforms for compensation and use their children or minors in their care in the vlog to compensate the children or minors. Under the bill, "vlog" means content shared on an online platform in exchange for compensation.
Specifically, the bill provides that a minor under the age of 16 is considered engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog when the following criteria are met at any time during the previous 12-month period:
(1) at least 30 percent of the vlogger's compensated video content produced within a 30-day period includes the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor. Content percentage is measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor visually appears or is the subject of an oral narrative in a video segment, as compared to the total length of the segment; and
(2) the number of views received per video segment on any online platform meets the online platform's threshold for the generation of compensation or the vlogger receives actual compensation for video content equal to or greater than $0.10 per view.
The bill also provides that the vlogger is required to set aside gross earnings on the video content including the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor in a trust account to be preserved for the benefit of the minor upon reaching the age of majority, according to the following distribution:
(1) where only one minor meets the content threshold described in the bill, the percentage of total gross earnings on any video segment including the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor that is equal to or greater than half of the content percentage that includes the minor as described in the bill; or
(2) where more than one minor meets the content threshold described in the bill, and a video segment includes more than one of those minors, the percentage described in paragraph (1) above for all minors in any segment must be equally divided between the minors, regardless of differences in percentage of content provided by the individual minors.
The bill exempts the work of minors engaged in work as a vlogger and of producing a vlog under the circumstances of the bill from State working hour and certain other labor requirements that would otherwise apply to working minors.
The bill is modeled after Illinois legislation which was enacted as Public Act 103-0556 on August 11, 2023.
