Bill Text: TX HB1181 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
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-Comm_Sub.html
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-Comm_Sub.html
88R22189 JES-D | |||
By: Shaheen | H.B. No. 1181 | ||
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1181: | |||
By: Leach | C.S.H.B. No. 1181 |
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relating to restricting access to sexual material harmful to minors | ||
on an Internet website. | ||
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 display or depiction | ||
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 after access has been | ||
granted to the material. | ||
(c) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally | ||
publishes or distributes material on an Internet website that is | ||
found to have violated this section is liable to the parent or | ||
guardian of the minor for damages resulting from a minor's access to | ||
the material, including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees | ||
as ordered by the court. | ||
(d) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally | ||
publishes or distributes material on an Internet website, or a | ||
third party that performs the age verification required by | ||
Subsection (a) that is found to have knowingly retained identifying | ||
information of an individual after access has been granted to the | ||
individual is liable to the individual for damages resulting from | ||
retaining the identifying information, including court costs and | ||
reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court. | ||
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. 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. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |