Maryland 2022 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB1286 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	hb1286
6	6
7	7	HOUSE BILL 1286
8	8	C2, E4 2lr1709
9	9	CF 2lr1710
10	10	By: Delegate Hornberger
11	11	Introduced and read first time: February 11, 2022
12	12	Assigned to: Health and Government Operations
13	13
14	14	A BILL ENTITLED
15	15
16	16	AN ACT concerning 1
17	17
18	18	Social Networks – Next Generation 9–1–1 and Public Service Announcements 2
19	19
20	20	FOR the purpose of requiring certain social networks to dedicate a certain percentage of 3
21	21	advertisements on their platforms to certain public service announcements; 4
22	22	requiring certain social networks to pay a certain 9–1–1 social network fee; requiring 5
23	23	the Comptroller to perform certain duties relating to the collection of the 9–1–1 social 6
24	24	network fee; and generally relating to social networks and 9–1–1 emergency 7
25	25	telephone systems. 8
26	26
27	27	BY adding to 9
28	28	Article – Business Regulation 10
29	29	Section 19–107 11
30	30	Annotated Code of Maryland 12
31	31	(2015 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 13
32	32
33	33	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 14
34	34	Article – Public Safety 15
35	35	Section 1–301(a) 16
36	36	Annotated Code of Maryland 17
37	37	(2018 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 18
38	38
39	39	BY adding to 19
40	40	Article – Public Safety 20
41	41	Section 1–301(v–1) and 1–313.1 21
42	42	Annotated Code of Maryland 22
43	43	(2018 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 23
44	44
45	45	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 24
46	46	Article – Public Safety 25
47	47	Section 1–313.1 26
48	48	Annotated Code of Maryland 27 2 HOUSE BILL 1286
49	49
50	50
51	51	(2018 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 1
52	52
53	53	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 2
54	54	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 3
55	55
56	56	Article – Business Regulation 4
57	57
58	58	19–107. 5
59	59
60	60	(A) IN THIS SECTION , “SOCIAL NETWORK ” MEANS A PUBLIC –FACING 6
61	61	WEBSITE OR DIGITAL A PPLICATION THAT IS P RIMARILY ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS 7
62	62	OF ENABLING PEER –TO–PEER COMMUNICATION B Y DIRECT MESSAGING B ETWEEN 8
63	63	TWO VISITORS OR USER S. 9
64	64
65	65	(B) IF A SOCIAL NETWORK H AS 500,000 OR MORE UNIQUE MONTH LY STATE 10
66	66	VISITORS OR USERS FO R A MAJORITY OF MONT HS DURING THE IMMEDI ATELY 11
67	67	PRECEDING 12 MONTHS, THE SOCIAL NETWORK S HALL DEDICATE AT LEA ST 2% OF 12
68	68	ALL ADVERTISEMENTS O N ITS PLATFORM TO PU BLIC SERVICE ANNOUNC EMENTS 13
69	69	WITH CONTENT RELEVAN T TO RESIDENTS OF THE STATE. 14
70	70
71	71	(C) FOR PURPOSES OF DETER MINING UNIQUE MONTHL Y STATE VISITORS 15
72	72	UNDER THIS SECTION , A VISITOR OR USER WH O ACCESSES MORE THAN ONE WEBSITE 16
73	73	OR DIGITAL APPLICATI ON WITH A SINGLE ACC OUNT SHALL BE CONSID ERED ONE 17
74	74	UNIQUE VISITOR WITH RESPECT TO THE GROUP O F WEBSITES OR DIGITA L 18
75	75	APPLICATIONS IF EACH OF THE WEBSITES OR D IGITAL APPLICATIONS : 19
76	76
77	77	(1) ARE OWNED BY THE SAM E ENTITY; AND 20
78	78
79	79	(2) SHARE THE SAME ACCOU NT INFORMATION OF TH E VISITOR OR 21
80	80	USER BETWEEN THE GRO UP OF WEBSITES OR DI GITAL APPLICATIONS. 22
81	81
82	82	Article – Public Safety 23
83	83
84	84	1–301. 24
85	85
86	86	(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 25
87	87
88	88	(V–1) “SOCIAL NETWORK ” MEANS A PUBLIC –FACING WEBSITE OR DI GITAL 26
89	89	APPLICATION THAT IS PRIMARILY ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS OF ENAB LING 27
90	90	PEER–TO–PEER COMMUNICATION B Y DIRECT MESSAGING B ETWEEN TWO VISITORS 28
91	91	OR USERS. 29
92	92
93	93	1–308. 30
94	94
95	95	(c) The 9–1–1 Trust Fund consists of: 31 HOUSE BILL 1286 3
96	96
97	97
98	98
99	99	(1) money from the 9–1–1 fee collected and remitted to the Comptroller 1
100	100	under § 1–310 of this subtitle; 2
101	101
102	102	(2) money from the additional charge collected and remitted to the 3
103	103	Comptroller under § 1–311 of this subtitle; 4
104	104
105	105	(3) money from the prepaid wireless E 9–1–1 fee collected and remitted to 5
106	106	the Comptroller under § 1–313 of this subtitle; [and] 6
107	107
108	108	(4) MONEY FROM THE 9–1–1 FEE COLLECTED BY THE COMPTROLLER 7
109	109	UNDER § 1–313.1 OF THIS SUBTITLE; AND 8
110	110
111	111	(5) investment earnings of the 9–1–1 Trust Fund. 9
112	112
113	113	1–313.1. 10
114	114
115	115	(A) IF A SOCIAL NETWORK H AS 500,000 OR MORE UNIQUE MONTH LY STATE 11
116	116	VISITORS OR USERS FO R A MAJORITY OF MONT HS DURING THE IMMEDI ATELY 12
117	117	PRECEDING 12 MONTHS, THE SOCIAL NETWORK S HALL PAY A 9–1–1 SOCIAL 13
118	118	NETWORK FEE . 14
119	119
120	120	(B) (1) SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (2) OF THIS SUBSECTION , THE AMOUNT 15
121	121	OF THE 9–1–1 FEE UNDER THIS SECTI ON SHALL BE $1.25 FOR EACH UNIQUE 16
122	122	MONTHLY STATE VISITOR OR USER , PAYABLE ON THE LAST DAY OF E ACH MONTH. 17
123	123
124	124	(2) THE FEE DUE SHALL BE BASED ON THE TOTAL N UMBER OF 18
125	125	UNIQUE MONTHLY STATE VISITORS FOR TH E PRIOR MONTH . 19
126	126
127	127	(C) FOR PURPOSES OF DETER MINING UNIQUE MONTHL Y STATE VISITORS 20
128	128	UNDER THIS SECTION , A VISITOR OR USER WH O ACCESSES M ORE THAN ONE WEBSITE 21
129	129	OR DIGITAL APPLICATI ON WITH A SINGLE ACC OUNT SHALL BE CONSID ERED ONE 22
130	130	UNIQUE VISITOR WITH RESPECT TO THE GROUP OF WEBSITES OR DIGIT AL 23
131	131	APPLICATIONS IF EACH OF THE WEBSITES OR D IGITAL APPLICATIONS : 24
132	132
133	133	(1) ARE OWNED BY THE SAM E ENTITY; AND 25
134	134
135	135	(2) SHARE THE SAME ACCOU NT INFORMATION OF TH E VISITOR OR 26
136	136	USER BETWEEN THE GRO UP OF WEBSITES OR DI GITAL APPLICATIONS . 27
137	137
138	138	(D) THE COMPTROLLER : 28
139	139
140	140	(1) SHALL ACT AS A COLLE CTION AGENT FOR THE 9–1–1 SOCIAL 29
141	141	NETWORK FEE UNDER TH IS SECTION; 30 4 HOUSE BILL 1286
142	142
143	143
144	144
145	145	(2) SHALL DEPOSIT THE MONEY CO LLECTED IN THE 9–1–1 TRUST 1
146	146	FUND; 2
147	147
148	148	(3) SHALL KEEP RECORDS O F 9–1–1 SOCIAL NETWORK FEES 3
149	149	COLLECTED AND DEPOSI TED FOR AT LEAST 4 YEARS AFTER THE FEE IS COLLECTED; 4
150	150
151	151	(4) MAY RETAIN AN AMOUNT EQU AL TO 0.50% OF THE 9–1–1 SOCIAL 5
152	152	NETWORK FEE TO COVER THE EXPENSE S OF BILLING, COLLECTING, AND KEEPING 6
153	153	RECORDS; 7
154	154
155	155	(5) SHALL DEVELOP AND DI STRIBUTE INFORMATION AL MATERIALS 8
156	156	TO SOCIAL NETWORKS R EGARDING PROPER PAYM ENT OF THE FEE REQUI RED 9
157	157	UNDER THIS SECTION ; AND 10
158	158
159	159	(6) SHALL ADOPT REGULATI ONS TO CARRY O UT THIS SECTION. 11
160	160
161	161	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 12
162	162	October 1, 2022. 13