Illinois House Bill HB5163

Illinois 2023-2024 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/8/24
• Refer: 2/9/24

Caption

DATABASE RESOURCES FOR STUDENT

Impact

Should this legislation pass, it would introduce significant compliance requirements for service providers to school entities. Providers of digital resources would be obligated to demonstrate that their offerings meet the specified safety standards. Failure to comply would result in the withholding of payments and could be deemed a breach of contract. This introduces new administrative responsibilities for educational institutions to ensure that their contracted services are compliant with HB5163.

Summary

House Bill 5163, titled the Database Resources for Students Act, aims to regulate the provision of digital or online library database resources for students in grades K-12. The bill mandates that any such resources offered by school districts, state agencies, public libraries, or universities must have stringent safety policies and technology protection measures in place. These measures must specifically prevent access to child pornography, obscene materials, and any content depicting child sexual exploitation. The bill underscores the importance of maintaining a safe digital learning environment for students.

Contention

The bill does not exempt any employees of the educational institutions from prosecution if they willfully violate laws regarding obscenity and child pornography. This stipulation could create concerns among educators about their legal liabilities, particularly regarding oversight of digital platforms used within classrooms. Furthermore, the applicability of this legislation to charter schools indicates a broad enforcement across various educational frameworks, which may spark debates on the balance between regulation and administrative burden for educational institutions.