Bill Text: TX HB1181 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the publication or distribution of sexual material harmful to minors on an Internet website; providing a civil penalty.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 18-8)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-12 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB1181 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1181-Enrolled.html
H.B. No. 1181 |
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relating to the publication or distribution of sexual material | ||
harmful to minors on an Internet website; providing a civil | ||
penalty. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Title 6, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is | ||
amended by adding Chapter 129B to read as follows: | ||
CHAPTER 129B. LIABILITY FOR ALLOWING MINORS TO ACCESS PORNOGRAPHIC | ||
MATERIAL | ||
Sec. 129B.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
(1) "Commercial entity" includes a corporation, | ||
limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole | ||
proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity. | ||
(2) "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, | ||
deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any | ||
means. | ||
(3) "Minor" means an individual younger than 18 years | ||
of age. | ||
(4) "News-gathering organization" includes: | ||
(A) an employee of a newspaper, news publication, | ||
or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of | ||
current news and public interest, who is acting within the course | ||
and scope of that employment and can provide documentation of that | ||
employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source; | ||
and | ||
(B) an employee of a radio broadcast station, | ||
television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire | ||
service who is acting within the course and scope of that employment | ||
and can provide documentation of that employment. | ||
(5) "Publish" means to communicate or make information | ||
available to another person or entity on a publicly available | ||
Internet website. | ||
(6) "Sexual material harmful to minors" includes any | ||
material that: | ||
(A) the average person applying contemporary | ||
community standards would find, taking the material as a whole and | ||
with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander to the | ||
prurient interest; | ||
(B) in a manner patently offensive with respect | ||
to minors, exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of | ||
descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated displays or | ||
depictions of: | ||
(i) a person's pubic hair, anus, or genitals | ||
or the nipple of the female breast; | ||
(ii) touching, caressing, or fondling of | ||
nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or | ||
(iii) sexual intercourse, masturbation, | ||
sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory | ||
functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and | ||
(C) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, | ||
artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. | ||
(7) "Transactional data" means a sequence of | ||
information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer | ||
between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for | ||
the purpose of satisfying a request or event. The term includes | ||
records from mortgage, education, and employment entities. | ||
Sec. 129B.002. PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS. | ||
(a) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes | ||
or distributes material on an Internet website, including a social | ||
media platform, more than one-third of which is sexual material | ||
harmful to minors, shall use reasonable age verification methods as | ||
described by Section 129B.003 to verify that an individual | ||
attempting to access the material is 18 years of age or older. | ||
(b) A commercial entity that performs the age verification | ||
required by Subsection (a) or a third party that performs the age | ||
verification required by Subsection (a) may not retain any | ||
identifying information of the individual. | ||
Sec. 129B.003. REASONABLE AGE VERIFICATION METHODS. (a) | ||
In this section, "digital identification" means information stored | ||
on a digital network that may be accessed by a commercial entity and | ||
that serves as proof of the identity of an individual. | ||
(b) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally | ||
publishes or distributes material on an Internet website or a third | ||
party that performs age verification under this chapter shall | ||
require an individual to: | ||
(1) provide digital identification; or | ||
(2) comply with a commercial age verification system | ||
that verifies age using: | ||
(A) government-issued identification; or | ||
(B) a commercially reasonable method that relies | ||
on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an | ||
individual. | ||
Sec. 129B.004. SEXUAL MATERIALS HEALTH WARNINGS. A | ||
commercial entity required to use reasonable age verification | ||
methods under Section 129B.002(a) shall: | ||
(1) display the following notices on the landing page | ||
of the Internet website on which sexual material harmful to minors | ||
is published or distributed and all advertisements for that | ||
Internet website in 14-point font or larger: | ||
"TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Pornography | ||
is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human | ||
brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases | ||
conditioned responses, and weakens brain function." | ||
"TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Exposure to | ||
this content is associated with low self-esteem and body image, | ||
eating disorders, impaired brain development, and other emotional | ||
and mental illnesses." | ||
"TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Pornography | ||
increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation, and | ||
child pornography."; and | ||
(2) display the following notice at the bottom of | ||
every page of the Internet website in 14-point font or larger: | ||
"U.S. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION | ||
HELPLINE: | ||
1-800-662-HELP (4357) | ||
THIS HELPLINE IS A FREE, CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION SERVICE (IN | ||
ENGLISH OR SPANISH) OPEN 24 HOURS PER DAY, FOR INDIVIDUALS AND | ||
FAMILY MEMBERS FACING MENTAL HEALTH OR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS. | ||
THE SERVICE PROVIDES REFERRAL TO LOCAL TREATMENT FACILITIES, | ||
SUPPORT GROUPS, AND COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS." | ||
Sec. 129B.005. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. (a) This chapter | ||
does not apply to a bona fide news or public interest broadcast, | ||
website video, report, or event and may not be construed to affect | ||
the rights of a news-gathering organization. | ||
(b) An Internet service provider, or its affiliates or | ||
subsidiaries, a search engine, or a cloud service provider may not | ||
be held to have violated this chapter solely for providing access or | ||
connection to or from a website or other information or content on | ||
the Internet or on a facility, system, or network not under that | ||
provider's control, including transmission, downloading, | ||
intermediate storage, access software, or other services to the | ||
extent the provider or search engine is not responsible for the | ||
creation of the content that constitutes sexual material harmful to | ||
minors. | ||
Sec. 129B.006. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION. (a) If the | ||
attorney general believes that an entity is knowingly violating or | ||
has knowingly violated this chapter and the action is in the public | ||
interest, the attorney general may bring an action in a Travis | ||
County district court or the district court in the county in which | ||
the principal place of business of the entity is located in this | ||
state to enjoin the violation, recover a civil penalty, and obtain | ||
other relief the court considers appropriate. | ||
(b) A civil penalty imposed under this section for a | ||
violation of Section 129B.002 or 129B.003 may be in an amount equal | ||
to not more than the total, if applicable, of: | ||
(1) $10,000 per day that the entity operates an | ||
Internet website in violation of the age verification requirements | ||
of this chapter; | ||
(2) $10,000 per instance when the entity retains | ||
identifying information in violation of Section 129B.002(b); and | ||
(3) if, because of the entity's violation of the age | ||
verification requirements of this chapter, one or more minors | ||
accesses sexual material harmful to minors, an additional amount of | ||
not more than $250,000. | ||
(c) The amount of a civil penalty under this section shall | ||
be based on: | ||
(1) the seriousness of the violation, including the | ||
nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation; | ||
(2) the history of previous violations; | ||
(3) the amount necessary to deter a future violation; | ||
(4) the economic effect of a penalty on the entity on | ||
whom the penalty will be imposed; | ||
(5) the entity's knowledge that the act constituted a | ||
violation of this chapter; and | ||
(6) any other matter that justice may require. | ||
(d) The attorney general may recover reasonable and | ||
necessary attorney's fees and costs incurred in an action under | ||
this section. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.B. No. 1181 was passed by the House on May 9, | ||
2023, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 0, 2 present, not | ||
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. | ||
No. 1181 on May 25, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 133, Nays 1, | ||
2 present, not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.B. No. 1181 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
amendments, on May 19, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays | ||
0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: __________________ | ||
Date | ||
__________________ | ||
Governor |