ENROLLED
ACT No. 187
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 153
BY REPRESENTATIVES TIM BURNS, BROWN, CARMODY, CARTER, CHANEY,
COX, FOIL, GAROFALO, GISCLAIR, HARRISON, HAZEL, HENRY,
HOFFMANN, MIKE JOHNSON, LEOPOLD, LORUSSO, ORTEGO, PEARSON,
REYNOLDS, SCHRODER, SEABAUGH, ST. GERMAIN, AND STOKES
1 AN ACT
2 To enact R.S. 14:91.14, relative to offenses affecting the health and morals of minors; to
3 create the crime of unlawful distribution of material harmful to minors through the
4 Internet; to provide elements for and exceptions to the offense; to provide for
5 definitions; to provide for criminal penalties; and to provide for related matters.
6 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
7 Section 1. R.S. 14:91.14 is hereby enacted to read as follows:
8 ยง91.14. Unlawful distribution of material harmful to minors through the Internet
9 A.(1) Any person or entity in Louisiana that publishes material harmful to
10 minors on the Internet shall, prior to permitting access to the material, require any
11 person attempting to access the material to electronically acknowledge and attest that
12 the person seeking to access the material is eighteen years of age or older.
13 (2) The failure to comply with the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this
14 Subsection shall constitute the unlawful distribution of material harmful to minors
15 through the Internet.
16 (3) If a person or entity in Louisiana publishes material harmful to minors
17 on the Internet and complies with the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection,
18 the person or entity shall not be held liable under the provisions of this Section if the
19 person seeking to access the material is under the age of eighteen and falsely
20 acknowledges and attests that he is eighteen years of age or older.
21 (4) No Internet service provider, interactive computer service provider as
22 defined by 47 U.S.C. 230(f), or radio or television broadcast licensee of the Federal
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1 Communications Commission shall be deemed to be a publisher or distributor of
2 material harmful to minors that is provided by another person.
3 (5) This Section shall not apply to any bona fide news or public interest
4 broadcast, website, video, report, or event and shall not be construed to affect the
5 rights of any news-gathering organization.
6 B. For purposes of this Section:
7 (1) "Descriptions or depictions of illicit sex or sexual immorality" includes
8 the depiction, display, description, exhibition, or representation of any of the
9 following:
10 (a) Ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual, simulated, or animated,
11 whether between human beings, animals, or an animal and a human being.
12 (b) Masturbation, excretory functions, or exhibition, actual, simulated, or
13 animated, of the genitals, pubic hair, anus, vulva, or female breast nipples.
14 (c) Sadomasochistic abuse, meaning actual, simulated, or animated,
15 flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments or
16 in a costume which reveals the pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or female breast
17 nipples, or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained,
18 on the part of one so clothed.
19 (d) Actual, simulated, or animated, touching, caressing, or fondling of, or
20 other similar physical contact with, a pubic area, anus, female breast nipple, covered
21 or exposed, whether alone or between human, animals, or a human and an animal,
22 of the same or opposite sex, in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification.
23 (e) Actual, simulated, or animated, stimulation of the human genital organs
24 by any device whether or not the device is designed, manufactured, and marketed for
25 that purpose.
26 (2) "Material harmful to minors" is defined as any digital image, photograph,
27 or video which exploits, is devoted to or principally consists of, descriptions or
28 depictions of illicit sex or sexual immorality for commercial gain, and when the trier
29 of fact determines that each of the following applies:
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1 (a) The material incites or appeals to or is designed to incite or appeal to the
2 prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors.
3 (b) The material is offensive to the average adult applying contemporary
4 community standards with respect to what is suitable for minors.
5 (c) The material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or
6 scientific value for minors.
7 (3) "News-gathering organization" means all of the following:
8 (a) A newspaper, or news publication, printed or electronic, of current news
9 and intelligence of varied, broad, and general public interest, having been published
10 for a minimum of one year and that can provide documentation of membership in a
11 statewide or national press association, as represented by an employee thereof who
12 can provide documentation of his employment with the newspaper, wire service, or
13 news publication.
14 (b) A radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television
15 operator, or wire service as represented by an employee thereof who can provide
16 documentation of his employment.
17 C. Whoever violates the provisions of this Section shall be fined up to ten
18 thousand dollars.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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