Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
94th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2023 SENATE BILL 66 3
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By: Senators Dees, J. Petty 5
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For An Act To Be Entitled 7
AN ACT CONCERNING MA TERIAL HARMFUL TO MI NORS; TO 8
CREATE THE PROTECTIO N OF MINORS FROM DIS TRIBUTION OF 9
HARMFUL MATERIAL ACT ; TO ESTABLISH LIABI LITY FOR THE 10
PUBLICATION OR DISTR IBUTION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO 11
MINORS ON THE INTERN ET; TO IMPOSE DUTIES ON 12
PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTOR S OF MATERIAL HARMFU L TO 13
MINORS; TO REQUIRE R EASONABLE AGE VERIFI CATION; TO 14
PROVIDE FOR INDIVIDU AL RIGHTS OF ACTION; TO ALLOW FOR 15
ATTORNEY'S FEES, COU RT COSTS, AND PUNITI VE DAMAGES; 16
AND FOR OTHER PURPOS ES. 17
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Subtitle 20
TO CREATE THE PROTECTION OF MINORS FROM 21
DISTRIBUTION OF HARMFUL MATERIAL ACT; TO 22
ESTABLISH LIABILITY FOR THE PUBLICATION 23
OR DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO 24
MINORS ON THE INTERNET; AND TO REQUIRE 25
REASONABLE AGE VERIFICATION. 26
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 29
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 4, Chapter 88, is amended to add an 31
additional subchapter to read as follows: 32
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Subchapter 11 — Protection of Minors from Distribution of Harmful Material 34
Act 35
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4-88-1101. Title. 1
This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Protection of 2
Minors from Distribution of Harmful Material Act". 3
4
4-88-1102. Legislative findings and intent. 5
(a) The General Assembly finds that: 6
(1) Pornography is creating a public health crisis and is a 7
corroding influence on minors; 8
(2) Due to advances in technology, the widespread availability 9
of the internet, and limited age verification requirements, minors are 10
exposed to pornography at too early of an age; 11
(3) Pornography contributes to the hyp er-sexualization of 12
minors; and 13
(4) Pornography may: 14
(A) Lead to: 15
(i) Low self-esteem; 16
(ii) Body image disorders; 17
(iii) An increase in problematic sexual activity at 18
younger ages; 19
(iv) Increased desire among minors to engage in 20
risky sexual behavior; and 21
(v) Difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, 22
intimate relationships; 23
(B) Impact brain development and function; 24
(C) Contribute to emotional and medical illnesses; 25
(D) Shape deviant sexual arousal; and 26
(E) Promote problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and 27
addiction. 28
(b) It is the intent of the General Assembly to provide a civil remedy 29
for damages against commercial entities that distribute material harmful to 30
minors. 31
32
4-88-1103. Definitions. 33
As used in this subchapter: 34
(1) "Commercial entity" means a corporation, limited liability 35
company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship, or other 36 SB66
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legally recognized entity; 1
(2) "Digitized identification card" means a data file available 2
on a mobile device that has connectivity to the internet through a state -3
approved application that allows the mobile device to download the data file 4
from the Office of Driver Services that contains all of the data elements 5
visible on the face and back of a license or identification card and displays 6
the current status of the license or identification card, including valid, 7
expired, cancelled, suspended, revoked, active, or inactive; 8
(3) "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, 9
transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means; 10
(4) "Internet" means the international computer network of both 11
federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks; 12
(5) "Material harmful to minors" means: 13
(A) Any material that the average person, applying 14
contemporary community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole 15
and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, or is designed to 16
pander to, prurient interest; 17
(B) Any of the following material that explo its, is 18
devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of actual, simulated, or 19
animated displays or depictions of any of the following, in a manner patently 20
offensive with respect to minors: 21
(i) Nipple of the female breast, pubic hair, anus, 22
vulva, or genitals; 23
(ii) Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, 24
breasts, buttocks, the anus, or genitals; or 25
(iii) Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, 26
bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions 27
of sexual acts, or any other sexual act; or 28
(C) The material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, 29
artistic, political, or scientific value for minors; 30
(6) "Minor" means an individual under eighteen (18) years of 31
age; 32
(7) "News-gathering organization" m eans: 33
(A) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news 34
source, printed or published on an online or mobile platform, of current news 35
and public interest, while operating as an employee of a news -gathering 36 SB66
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organization, who can provide document ation of the employment with the 1
newspaper, news publication, or news source; or 2
(B) An employee of a radio broadcast station, television 3
broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire service while operating 4
as an employee of a news -gathering organization, who can provide 5
documentation of the employment; 6
(8) "Publish" means to communicate or make information available 7
to another person or entity on a publicly available website; 8
(9) "Reasonable age verification" means to confirm that a pers on 9
seeking to access published material that may have a substantial portion of 10
material that may be harmful to minors is at least eighteen (18) years of 11
age; 12
(10) "Substantial portion" means more than twenty -three and one-13
third percent (23.33%) of total material on a website that may be material 14
harmful to minors; and 15
(11)(A) "Transactional data" means a sequence of information 16
that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between an individual, 17
commercial entity, or a third party used for the pu rpose of satisfying a 18
request or event. 19
(B) "Transactional data" includes without limitation 20
records from mortgage, education, and employment entities. 21
22
4-88-1104. Reasonable age verification methods. 23
(a) A commercial entity shall use a reasonable age verification method 24
before allowing access to a website that contains a substantial portion of 25
material that may be harmful to minors. 26
(b) Reasonable age verification methods include: 27
(1) Providing a digitized identification card; and 28
(2) Requiring an individual attempting to access the material to 29
comply with a commercial age verification system that verifies at least one 30
(1) of the following: 31
(A) Government-issued identification; or 32
(B) Any commercially reasonable method that reli es on 33
public or private transactional data to verify that the individual attempting 34
to access the material is at least eighteen (18) years of age or older. 35
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4-88-1105. Liability for publishers and distributors of material 1
harmful to minors. 2
(a)(1) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes 3
or distributes material that may be harmful to minors on the internet from a 4
website that contains a substantial portion of material that may be harmful 5
to minors is liable if the commercial entity fails to perform reasonable age 6
verification to verify the age of the individual attempting to access the 7
material. 8
(2) If a commercial entity or third party performs a reasonable 9
age verification, the commercial entity shall not retain any identifying 10
information of the individual after access to the material has been granted. 11
(b) A commercial entity that violates this subchapter is liable to an 12
individual for damages resulting from a minor accessing the material harmful 13
to minors, including court co sts and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by 14
the court. 15
(c) A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained 16
identifying information of an individual after access to the material has 17
been granted is liable to the individual for damages re sulting from retaining 18
the identifying information, including court costs and reasonable attorney's 19
fees as ordered by the court. 20
(d) This section does not: 21
(1) Apply to a news or public interest broadcast, website video, 22
report, or event; or 23
(2) Affect the rights of a news -gathering organization. 24
(e) An internet service provider, or any of its affiliates or 25
subsidiaries, search engines, or cloud service providers shall not violate 26
this subchapter solely by providing access or connection to or fro m a website 27
or other information or content on the internet or a facility, system, or 28
network that is not under that internet service provider's control, including 29
transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access software, or other 30
service that provides access or connectivity, to the extent the internet 31
service provider is not responsible for the creation of the content or the 32
communication that constitutes material that may be harmful to minors. 33
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