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2023 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 77
BY REPRESENTATIVE SCHLEGEL
Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Provides for attorney general investigation for publishers and
distributors of material harmful to minors
1 AN ACT
2To enact Chapter 31-B of Title 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, to be
3 comprised of R.S. 51:2121, relative to liability for publishers and distributors of
4 material harmful to minors; to provide for the investigation and pursuit of actions by
5 the attorney general; to provide for civil penalties for failure to perform age
6 verification; to provide for attorney fees and court costs; to provide for exceptions;
7 to provide for definitions; and to provide for related matters.
8Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. Chapter 31-B of Title 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950,
10comprised of R.S. 51:2121, is hereby enacted to read as follows:
11 CHAPTER 31-B. COMMERCIAL PUBLICATION AND
12 DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS
13 ยง2121. Enforcement of age verification by publishers and distributors of material
14 harmful to minors
15 A.(1) Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or
16 distributes material harmful to minors on the internet from a website that contains
17 a substantial portion of such material shall be subject to civil penalties as provided
18 in this Section if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to
19 verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material.
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1 (2) The attorney general may conduct an investigation of the alleged
2 violation and initiate a civil action in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the
3 parish of East Baton Rouge on behalf of the state to assess civil penalties. Prior to
4 asserting a cause of action, the attorney general shall provide the commercial entity
5 with a period of time of not less than thirty days to comply with this Section.
6 B.(1) Any commercial entity that violates this Section may be liable for a
7 civil penalty, to be assessed by the court, of not more than five thousand dollars for
8 each day of violation to be paid to the Department of Justice, in order to fund the
9 investigation of cyber crimes involving the exploitation of children. In addition to
10 the remedies provided in this Section, the attorney general may request and the court
11 may impose an additional civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each
12 violation of this Section against any commercial entity found by the court to have
13 knowingly failed to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age
14 of individuals attempting to access the material. The civil penalty shall be paid to
15 the Department of Justice in order to fund the investigation of cyber crimes involving
16 the exploitation of children.
17 (2) Each violation may be treated as a separate violation or may be combined
18 into one violation at the option of the attorney general.
19 (3) Any commercial entity that violates this Section shall be liable to the
20 attorney general for all costs, expenses, and fees related to investigations and
21 proceedings associated with the violation, including attorney fees.
22 (4) If the court assesses a civil penalty pursuant to this Section, the
23 Department of Justice shall be entitled to legal interest as provided in R.S. 9:3500
24 from the date of imposition of the penalty until paid in full.
25 C.(1) This Section shall not apply to any bona fide news or public interest
26 broadcast, website, video, report, or event and shall not be construed to affect the
27 rights of any news-gathering organization.
28 (2) No internet service provider, or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search
29 engine, or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated the provisions of this
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1 Section solely for providing access or connection to or from a website or other
2 information or content on the internet or a facility, system, or network not under the
3 control of that provider, including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage,
4 access software, or other related capabilities, to the extent such provider is not
5 responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that constitutes
6 material harmful to minors.
7 D. For purposes of this Section:
8 (1) "Commercial entity" means corporations, limited liability companies,
9 partnerships, limited partnerships, sole proprietorships, or other legally recognized
10 entities.
11 (2) "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer,
12 transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means.
13 (3) "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and
14 non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
15 (4) "Material harmful to minors" means any picture, image, graphic image
16 file, film videotape, or other visual depiction that meets all of the following criteria:
17 (a) Taken as a whole and with respect to minors, appeals to the prurient
18 interest in nudity, sex, or excretion.
19 (b) Depicts, describes, or represents, in a patently offensive way with respect
20 to what is suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact,
21 actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or lewd exhibition of the
22 genitals.
23 (c) Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific
24 value as to minors.
25 (5) "Minor" means any person under the age of eighteen years.
26 (6) "News-gathering organization" means any of the following:
27 (a) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news source, printed
28 or on an online or mobile platform, of current news and public interest, while
29 operating as an employee as provided in this Subparagraph, who can provide
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1 documentation of such employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news
2 source.
3 (b) A radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television
4 operator, wire service, or an employee thereof.
5 (7) "Publish" means to communicate or make information available to
6 another person or entity on a publicly available internet website.
7 (8) "Reasonable age verification methods" means verifying that a person
8 seeking to access the material is eighteen years of age or older by using any of the
9 following methods:
10 (a) Providing a digitized identification card as defined in R.S. 51:3211.
11 (b) Requiring the person attempting to access the material to comply with
12 a commercial age verification system that verifies in any of the following ways:
13 (i) Government-issued identification.
14 (ii) Any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private
15 transactional data to verify the age of the person attempting to access the information
16 is at least eighteen years of age or older.
17 (9) "Substantial portion" means more than thirty-three and one-third percent
18 of total material on a website, which meets the definition of "material harmful to
19 minors" as defined by this Section.
20 Section 2. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Pornography Age
21Verification Enforcement Act" or the "PAVE Act".
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 77 Engrossed 2023 Regular Session Schlegel
Abstract: Provides for the attorney general investigation and pursuit of actions for
commercial entities that knowingly and intentionally publish or distribute material
harmful to minors and that fail to perform reasonable age verification.
Proposed law provides that commercial entities that knowingly and intentionally publish or
distribute material harmful to minors shall be subject to civil fines if the entity fails to
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HB NO. 77
perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to
access the material.
Proposed law provides that the attorney general may conduct an investigation and initiate
a civil action in the 19th J.D.C. for civil penalties. Proposed law provides that the attorney
general shall provide the commercial entity with no less than 30 days to comply with
reasonable age verification prior to initiating a civil action.
Proposed law authorizes the court to assess a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 for each
day of violation, and, for entities that knowingly failed to perform reasonable age
verification, an additional civil penalty of $10,000 per violation. The civil penalties shall
be paid to the Department of Justice, in order to fund the investigation of cyber crimes
involving the exploitation of children.
Proposed law provides that commercial entities in violation of proposed law shall be liable
to the attorney general for all costs, expenses, and fees related to the investigations and
proceedings, as well as legal interest as provided in present law (R.S. 9:3500).
Present law (R.S. 9:3500) provides for the rates of legal and conventional interest.
Proposed law provides that bona fide news and public interest entities, internet service
providers, their affiliates and subsidiaries, search engines, and cloud service providers shall
be exempt from proposed law.
Proposed law defines "commercial entity", "distribute", "internet", "material harmful to
minors", "minor", "news-gathering organization", "publish", "reasonable age verification
methods", and "substantial portion".
Proposed law provides that proposed law shall be known and cited as the "Pornography Age
Verification Enforcement Act" or the "PAVE Act".
(Adds R.S. 51:2121)
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on Commerce to the
original bill:
1. Add a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator,
and wire service to the definition of a news-gathering organization.
2. Add a chapter name.
3. Make technical changes.
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