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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 59th Legislature (2024)
ENGROSSED SENATE
BILL NO. 1959 By: Alvord, Bullard, and Jett
of the Senate
and
Hasenbeck and Maynard of
the House
An Act relating to consumer protection; defining
terms; allowing for damages to be sought under
certain conditions; prohibiting commercial ent ities
from distributing certain material without
verification; providing for lawful access to certain
material; preventing a commercial en tity from being
held liable under certain conditions; prohibiting a
commercial entity from retaining individual ’s
information; exempting certain providers; requiring
Attorney General to take certain action; authorizing
Attorney General to develop certain regulations;
providing for severability; providing for
codification; and providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791 of Title 15, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in this act:
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1. “Child pornography” means the same as used in Section 1024.1
of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
2. “Child sexual exploita tion” means the same as used in
Section 843.5 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
3. “Commercial entity” means a corporation, limited liability
company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship, or
other legally recognized entit y;
4. “Digitized identification card ” means a data file available
on any mobile device, which has connectivity to the Internet,
through a state-approved application that allows the mobile device
to download the data file from a state agency or any authorized
agent of a state agency that contains all of the data elements
visible on the face and back of a license or identification card and
displays the current state of the licensed or identification card;
5. “Distribute” means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver,
transfer, transmit, circulate, or disseminate by any means;
6. “Harmful to minors” means the same as terms defined in
Sections 1040.75 through 1040.77 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma
Statutes;
7. “Internet” means the international computer network of both
federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks;
8. “Minor” means any person eightee n (18) years of age or
younger;
9. “News-gathering organization ” means any of the following:
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a. an employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news
source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of
current news and public interest, while operating as
an employee as provided in this subsection, who can
provide documentation of such employment with the
newspaper, news publication, or news source, or
b. an employee of a radio broadcast station, television
broadcast station, cable television operator, o r wire
service while operating as an employee as provided in
this subsection, who can provide documentation of such
employment;
10. “Obscene material” means the same as used in Section 1024.1
of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
11. “Publish” means to communicate or make information
available to another person or entity on a publicly available
Internet website;
12. “Reasonable age verification methods ” means verifying that
the person seeking access to the available material is eighteen (18)
years of age or older by using the following methods:
a. use of a digitized identification card as defined in
this section,
b. verification through an independent, thir d-party age
verification service that compares the personal
information entered by the individual who is seeking
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access to the material that is available from a
commercially available database, or aggregate of
databases, that is regularly used by governmen t
agencies and businesses for purpose of age and
identity verification, or
c. any commercially reaso nable method that relies on
public or private transactional data to verify the age
of the person attempting to access the material;
13. “Substantial portion” means when more than a third of the
total material available on the website meets the definition of
material harmful to minors as defined in this section; and
14. “Transactional data” means a sequence of information that
documents as exchange, agreemen t, or transfer between an individual,
commercial entity, or a third party used for the purpose of
satisfying a request or event. Transactional data may include, but
not be limited to, records from mortgage, education, and employment
entities.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.1 of Title 15, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
publishes or distributes obscene material , or material that depicts
or promotes child pornography or chil d sexual exploitation, on the
Internet may be held liable to an individual for nominal damages,
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actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as ordered
by the court.
B. A commercial entity that has violated this act in a manner
that satisfies standards for imp osition of punitive damages
elsewhere provided by law may be held liable to an individual for
punitive damages.
C. Individual claims that satisfy the generally applicable
standards for joinder or class action elsewhere provide d by law or
rules of court, as applicable, may combine their claims in a single
action.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.2 of Title 15, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as fo llows:
A. Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet
from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material
shall provide Internet service subsc ribers and cellular service
subscribers the opportunity, before any individual using such
services may access the material, to request that access to the
material by subscription service be denied.
B. Upon such request by an Internet service subscriber or
cellular service subscriber, a commercial entity shall, without
charge, block access to its website on any device seeking to access
its website using the s ubscriber’s Internet service or cellular
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service subscription so that a minor does not receive mater ial
harmful to minors via that subscription.
C. A commercial entity that fails to provide Internet service
subscribers or cellular service subscribers an o pportunity to
request that access to the commercial entity’s website be blocked is
in violation of this act and may be held liable to the minor, by and
through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for nominal damages,
actual damages, court costs, and reas onable attorney fees as ordered
by the court.
D. A commercial entity that, after receipt of such re quest to
block access, allows a minor to access material harmful to minors on
its website is in violation of this act and may be held liable to
the minor, by and through the minor ’s parent or legal guardian, for
actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as o rdered
by the court.
E. A commercial entity that has violated this act in a manner
that satisfies the standards for imposition of punitiv e damages
elsewhere provided by law may be held liable to the minor, by and
through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for punitive damages.
F. Individual claims that satisfy the generally applicable
standards for joinder or class action elsewhere prov ided by law or
rules of court, as applicable, may combine their claims in a single
action.
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G. A commercial entity sha ll not be held liable for allowing
access to its website if the entity performs reasonable age
verification methods to verify that the ind ividual attempting to
access the material from its website is not a minor.
H. A commercial entity o r third party that performs reasonable
age verification methods shall not retain any identifying
information of the individual after access has been granted to the
material.
I. A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained
identifying information of the indi vidual, except as is reasonably
necessary to effectuate a block request under this section , shall be
liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the
identifying information, including court costs and reasonable
attorney fees as ordered by the court.
J. This section shall not apply to any bona fide news or public
interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and shall not be
construed to affect the rights of a news -gathering organization,
unless the organization ’s website contains a substantial portion of
material harmful to minors.
K. No Internet service provider, affiliate or subsidiary of an
Internet service provid er, search engine, or cloud service provider
shall be held to have violated the provisions of this s ection solely
for providing access or connection to or from a website or other
information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system, or
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network not under the provider’s control, including transmission,
downloading, storing, or providing access, to the extent that s uch
provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the
communication that constitutes obscene material or material harmful
to minors.
SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.3 of Title 15, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. The Attorney General may seek injunc tive and other equitable
relief against a commercial entity that fails to comply with the
provisions of this act.
B. The Attorney General is authorized and directed to develop
and publish, consistent with the provisions of this act, guidance or
regulations as appropriate to assist commercial entities to comply
with this act.
SECTION 5. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.4 of Title 15, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering , reads as follows:
If any one or more provisions, sections, subsections, sentences,
clauses, phrases, or words of thi s act or the application thereof to
any person or circumstance is found to be unconstitutional, the same
is hereby declared to be severabl e and the balance of this act shall
remain effective notwithstanding such unconstitutionality. The
Legislature hereby declares that it would have this act, and each
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provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more provisions,
sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words be
declared unconstitutional.
SECTION 6. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON RULES, da ted 04/11/2024 - DO PASS,
As Coauthored.