Maryland 2023 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB711 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	hb0711
6	6
7	7	HOUSE BILL 711
8	8	C2, E4 3lr2723
9	9	HB 1286/22 – HGO
10	10	By: Delegate Hornberger
11	11	Introduced and read first time: February 7, 2023
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 – Public Service Announcements and 9 –1–1 Trust Fund 2
19	19	– Requirements 3
20	20
21	21	FOR the purpose of requiring certain social networks to dedicate a certain percentage of 4
22	22	advertisements on their platforms to certain public service announcements; 5
23	23	requiring certain social networks to pay a certain 9–1–1 social network fee; requiring 6
24	24	the Comptroller to perform certain duties relating to the collection of the 9–1–1 social 7
25	25	network fee; and generally relating to social networks and 9–1–1 emergency 8
26	26	telephone systems. 9
27	27
28	28	BY adding to 10
29	29	Article – Business Regulation 11
30	30	Section 19–107 12
31	31	Annotated Code of Maryland 13
32	32	(2015 Replacement Volume and 2022 Supplement) 14
33	33
34	34	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 15
35	35	Article – Public Safety 16
36	36	Section 1–301(a) 17
37	37	Annotated Code of Maryland 18
38	38	(2022 Replacement Volume) 19
39	39
40	40	BY adding to 20
41	41	Article – Public Safety 21
42	42	Section 1–301(w–1) and 1–313.1 22
43	43	Annotated Code of Maryland 23
44	44	(2022 Replacement Volume) 24
45	45
46	46	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 25
47	47	Article – Public Safety 26
48	48	Section 1–308(c) 27 2 HOUSE BILL 711
49	49
50	50
51	51	Annotated Code of Maryland 1
52	52	(2022 Replacement Volume) 2
53	53
54	54	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 3
55	55	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 4
56	56
57	57	Article – Business Regulation 5
58	58
59	59	19–107. 6
60	60
61	61	(A) IN THIS SECTION , “SOCIAL NETWORK ” MEANS A PUBLIC –FACING 7
62	62	WEBSITE OR DIGITAL A PPLICATION THAT IS P RIMARILY ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS 8
63	63	OF ENABLING PEER –TO–PEER COMMUNICATION B Y DIRECT MESSAGING B ETWEEN 9
64	64	TWO VISITORS OR USER S. 10
65	65
66	66	(B) IF A SOCIAL NETWORK H AS 500,000 OR MORE UNIQUE MONTH LY STATE 11
67	67	VISITORS OR USERS FO R A MAJORITY OF MONT HS DURING THE IMMEDI ATELY 12
68	68	PRECEDING 12 MONTHS, THE SOCIAL NETWORK S HALL DEDICATE AT LEA ST 2% OF 13
69	69	ALL ADVERTISEMENTS O N ITS PLATFORM TO PU BLIC SERVICE ANNOUNC EMENTS 14
70	70	WITH CONTENT RELE VANT TO RESIDENTS OF THE STATE. 15
71	71
72	72	(C) FOR PURPOSES OF DETER MINING UNIQUE MONTHL Y STATE VISITORS 16
73	73	UNDER THIS SECTION , A VISITOR OR USER WH O ACCESSES MORE THAN ONE WEBSITE 17
74	74	OR DIGITAL APPLICATI ON WITH A SINGLE ACC OUNT SHALL BE CONSID ERED ONE 18
75	75	UNIQUE VISITOR WIT H RESPECT TO THE GRO UP OF WEBSITES OR DI GITAL 19
76	76	APPLICATIONS IF EACH OF THE WEBSITES OR D IGITAL APPLICATIONS : 20
77	77
78	78	(1) IS OWNED BY THE SAME EN TITY; AND 21
79	79
80	80	(2) SHARES THE SAME ACCOUNT INF ORMATION OF THE VISI TOR OR 22
81	81	USER BETWEEN THE GRO UP OF WEBSITES OR DI GITAL APPLICATIONS. 23
82	82
83	83	Article – Public Safety 24
84	84
85	85	1–301. 25
86	86
87	87	(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 26
88	88
89	89	(W–1) “SOCIAL NETWORK ” MEANS A PUBLIC –FACING WEBSITE OR DI GITAL 27
90	90	APPLICATION THAT IS PRIMARILY ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS OF ENAB LING 28
91	91	PEER–TO–PEER COMMUNICATION B Y DIRECT MESSAGING B ETWEEN TWO VISITORS 29
92	92	OR USERS. 30
93	93
94	94	1–308. 31
95	95	HOUSE BILL 711 3
96	96
97	97
98	98	(c) The 9–1–1 Trust Fund consists of: 1
99	99
100	100	(1) money from the 9–1–1 fee collected and remitted to the Comptroller 2
101	101	under § 1–310 of this subtitle; 3
102	102
103	103	(2) money from the additional charge collected and remitted to the 4
104	104	Comptroller under § 1–311 of this subtitle; 5
105	105
106	106	(3) money from the prepaid wireless E 9–1–1 fee collected and remitted to 6
107	107	the Comptroller under § 1–313 of this subtitle; [and] 7
108	108
109	109	(4) MONEY FROM THE 9–1–1 FEE COLLECTED BY THE COMPTROLLER 8
110	110	UNDER § 1–313.1 OF THIS SUBTITLE; AND 9
111	111
112	112	(5) investment earnings of the 9–1–1 Trust Fund. 10
113	113
114	114	1–313.1. 11
115	115
116	116	(A) IF A SOCIAL NETWORK H AS 500,000 OR MORE UNIQUE MONTH LY STATE 12
117	117	VISITORS OR USERS FO R A MAJORITY OF MONT HS DURING THE IMMEDI ATELY 13
118	118	PRECEDING 12 MONTHS, THE SOCIAL NETWORK S HALL PAY A 9–1–1 SOCIAL 14
119	119	NETWORK FEE . 15
120	120
121	121	(B) (1) SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (2) OF THIS SUBSECTION , THE AMOUNT 16
122	122	OF THE 9–1–1 FEE UNDER THIS SECTI ON SHALL BE $1.25 FOR EACH UNIQUE 17
123	123	MONTHLY STATE VISITOR OR USER , PAYABLE ON THE LAST DAY OF EA CH MONTH. 18
124	124
125	125	(2) THE FEE DUE SHALL BE BASED ON THE TOTAL N UMBER OF 19
126	126	UNIQUE MONTHLY STATE VISITORS FOR TH E PRIOR MONTH . 20
127	127
128	128	(C) FOR PURPOSES OF DETER MINING UNIQUE MONTHL Y STATE VISITORS 21
129	129	UNDER THIS SECTION , A VISITOR OR USER WH O ACCESSES MOR E THAN ONE WEBSITE 22
130	130	OR DIGITAL APPLICATI ON WITH A SINGLE ACC OUNT SHALL BE CONSID ERED ONE 23
131	131	UNIQUE VISITOR WITH RESPECT TO THE GROUP OF WEBSITES OR DIGIT AL 24
132	132	APPLICATIONS IF EACH OF THE WEBSITES OR D IGITAL APPLICATIONS : 25
133	133
134	134	(1) IS OWNED BY THE SAME EN TITY; AND 26
135	135
136	136	(2) SHARES THE SAME ACCOUNT INF ORMATION OF THE VISI TOR OR 27
137	137	USER BETWEEN THE GRO UP OF WEBSITES OR DI GITAL APPLICATIONS . 28
138	138
139	139	(D) THE COMPTROLLER : 29
140	140
141	141	(1) SHALL ACT AS A COLLE CTION AGENT FOR THE 9–1–1 SOCIAL 30 4 HOUSE BILL 711
142	142
143	143
144	144	NETWORK FEE UNDER TH IS SECTION; 1
145	145
146	146	(2) SHALL DEPOSIT THE MONEY COLLECTED IN THE 9–1–1 TRUST 2
147	147	FUND; 3
148	148
149	149	(3) SHALL KEEP RECORDS O F 9–1–1 SOCIAL NETWORK FEES 4
150	150	COLLECTED AND DEPOSI TED FOR AT LEAST 4 YEARS AFTER THE FEE IS COLLECTED; 5
151	151
152	152	(4) MAY RETAIN AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO 0.50% OF THE 9–1–1 SOCIAL 6
153	153	NETWORK FEE TO COVER THE EXPENSES OF BILL ING, COLLECTING, AND KEEPING 7
154	154	RECORDS; 8
155	155
156	156	(5) SHALL DEVELOP AND DI STRIBUTE INFORMATION AL MATERIALS 9
157	157	TO SOCIAL NETWORKS R EGARDING PROPER PAYM ENT OF THE FEE REQUI RED 10
158	158	UNDER THIS SECTION ; AND 11
159	159
160	160	(6) SHALL ADOPT REGULATI ONS TO CARRY OUT THI S SECTION. 12
161	161
162	162	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 13
163	163	October 1, 2023. 14
164	164