OK
Oklahoma Senate Bill SB1959

Oklahoma 2024 Regular Session

Oklahoma Senate Bill SB1959 Compare Versions

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4-An Act
5-ENROLLED SENATE
29+HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION
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31+STATE OF OKLAHOMA
32+
33+2nd Session of the 59th Legislature (2024)
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35+ENGROSSED SENATE
636 BILL NO. 1959 By: Alvord, Bullard, and Jett
737 of the Senate
838
939 and
1040
11- Hasenbeck, Maynard, Roe,
12-and Stark of the House
41+ Hasenbeck and Maynard of
42+the House
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1346
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1649 An Act relating to consumer protection; defining
1750 terms; allowing for damages to be sought under
1851 certain conditions; prohibiting commercial ent ities
1952 from distributing certain material without
2053 verification; providing for lawful access to certain
2154 material; preventing a commercial en tity from being
2255 held liable under certain conditions; prohibiting a
2356 commercial entity from retaining individual ’s
2457 information; exempting certain providers; requiring
2558 Attorney General to take certain action; authorizing
2659 Attorney General to develop certain regulations;
2760 providing for severability; providing for
2861 codification; and providing an effective date .
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32-SUBJECT: Age verification and explicit materials
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3366
3467 BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
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3668 SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
3769 in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791 of Title 15, unless there is
3870 created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
71+As used in this act:
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4299 1. “Child pornography” means the same as used in Section 1024.1
43100 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
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45101 2. “Child sexual exploita tion” means the same as used in
46102 Section 843.5 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
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48-ENR. S. B. NO. 1959 Page 2
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50103 3. “Commercial entity” means a corporation, limited liability
51104 company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship, or
52105 other legally recognized entit y;
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54106 4. “Digitized identification card ” means a data file available
55107 on any mobile device, which has connectivity to the Internet,
56108 through a state-approved application that allows the mobile device
57109 to download the data file from a state agency or any authorized
58110 agent of a state agency that contains all of the data elements
59111 visible on the face and back of a license or identification card and
60112 displays the current state of the licensed or identification card;
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62113 5. “Distribute” means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver,
63114 transfer, transmit, circulate, or disseminate by any means;
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65115 6. “Harmful to minors” means the same as terms defined in
66116 Sections 1040.75 through 1040.77 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma
67117 Statutes;
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69118 7. “Internet” means the international computer network of both
70119 federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks;
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72120 8. “Minor” means any person eightee n (18) years of age or
73121 younger;
122+9. “News-gathering organization ” means any of the following:
74123
75-9. “News-gathering organization ” means any of the following:
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76149
77150 a. an employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news
78151 source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of
79152 current news and public interest, while operating as
80153 an employee as provided in this subsection, who can
81154 provide documentation of such employment with the
82155 newspaper, news publication, or news source, or
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84156 b. an employee of a radio broadcast station, television
85157 broadcast station, cable television operator, o r wire
86158 service while operating as an employee as provided in
87159 this subsection, who can provide documentation of such
88160 employment;
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91-ENR. S. B. NO. 1959 Page 3
92161 10. “Obscene material” means the same as used in Section 1024.1
93162 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
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95163 11. “Publish” means to communicate or make information
96164 available to another person or entity on a publicly available
97165 Internet website;
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99166 12. “Reasonable age verification methods ” means verifying that
100167 the person seeking access to the available material is eighteen (18)
101168 years of age or older by using the following methods:
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103169 a. use of a digitized identification card as defined in
104170 this section,
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106171 b. verification through an independent, thir d-party age
107172 verification service that compares the personal
108173 information entered by the individual who is seeking
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109201 access to the material that is available from a
110202 commercially available database, or aggregate of
111203 databases, that is regularly used by governmen t
112204 agencies and businesses for purpose of age and
113205 identity verification, or
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115206 c. any commercially reaso nable method that relies on
116207 public or private transactional data to verify the age
117208 of the person attempting to access the material;
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119209 13. “Substantial portion” means when more than a third of the
120210 total material available on the website meets the definition of
121211 material harmful to minors as defined in this section; and
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123212 14. “Transactional data” means a sequence of information that
124213 documents as exchange, agreemen t, or transfer between an individual,
125214 commercial entity, or a third party used for the purpose of
126215 satisfying a request or event. Transactional data may include, but
127216 not be limited to, records from mortgage, education, and employment
128217 entities.
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130218 SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
131219 in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.1 of Title 15, unless there
132220 is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
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135-ENR. S. B. NO. 1959 Page 4
136221 A. Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
137222 publishes or distributes obscene material , or material that depicts
138223 or promotes child pornography or chil d sexual exploitation, on the
139224 Internet may be held liable to an individual for nominal damages,
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140252 actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as ordered
141253 by the court.
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143254 B. A commercial entity that has violated this act in a manner
144255 that satisfies standards for imp osition of punitive damages
145256 elsewhere provided by law may be held liable to an individual for
146257 punitive damages.
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148258 C. Individual claims that satisfy the generally applicable
149259 standards for joinder or class action elsewhere provide d by law or
150260 rules of court, as applicable, may combine their claims in a single
151261 action.
152-
153262 SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
154263 in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.2 of Title 15, unless there
155264 is created a duplication in numbering, reads as fo llows:
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157265 A. Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
158266 publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet
159267 from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material
160268 shall provide Internet service subsc ribers and cellular service
161269 subscribers the opportunity, before any individual using such
162270 services may access the material, to request that access to the
163271 material by subscription service be denied.
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165272 B. Upon such request by an Internet service subscriber or
166273 cellular service subscriber, a commercial entity shall, without
167274 charge, block access to its website on any device seeking to access
168275 its website using the s ubscriber’s Internet service or cellular
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169303 service subscription so that a minor does not receive mater ial
170304 harmful to minors via that subscription.
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172305 C. A commercial entity that fails to provide Internet service
173306 subscribers or cellular service subscribers an o pportunity to
174307 request that access to the commercial entity’s website be blocked is
175308 in violation of this act and may be held liable to the minor, by and
176309 through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for nominal damages,
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178-ENR. S. B. NO. 1959 Page 5
179310 actual damages, court costs, and reas onable attorney fees as ordered
180311 by the court.
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182312 D. A commercial entity that, after receipt of such re quest to
183313 block access, allows a minor to access material harmful to minors on
184314 its website is in violation of this act and may be held liable to
185315 the minor, by and through the minor ’s parent or legal guardian, for
186316 actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as o rdered
187317 by the court.
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189318 E. A commercial entity that has violated this act in a manner
190319 that satisfies the standards for imposition of punitiv e damages
191320 elsewhere provided by law may be held liable to the minor, by and
192321 through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for punitive damages.
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194322 F. Individual claims that satisfy the generally applicable
195323 standards for joinder or class action elsewhere prov ided by law or
196324 rules of court, as applicable, may combine their claims in a single
197325 action.
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199353 G. A commercial entity sha ll not be held liable for allowing
200354 access to its website if the entity performs reasonable age
201355 verification methods to verify that the ind ividual attempting to
202356 access the material from its website is not a minor.
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204357 H. A commercial entity o r third party that performs reasonable
205358 age verification methods shall not retain any identifying
206359 information of the individual after access has been granted to the
207360 material.
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209361 I. A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained
210362 identifying information of the indi vidual, except as is reasonably
211363 necessary to effectuate a block request under this section , shall be
212364 liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the
213365 identifying information, including court costs and reasonable
214366 attorney fees as ordered by the court.
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216367 J. This section shall not apply to any bona fide news or public
217368 interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and shall not be
218369 construed to affect the rights of a news -gathering organization,
219370 unless the organization ’s website contains a substantial portion of
220371 material harmful to minors.
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222-ENR. S. B. NO. 1959 Page 6
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224372 K. No Internet service provider, affiliate or subsidiary of an
225373 Internet service provid er, search engine, or cloud service provider
226374 shall be held to have violated the provisions of this s ection solely
227375 for providing access or connection to or from a website or other
228376 information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system, or
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229404 network not under the provider’s control, including transmission,
230405 downloading, storing, or providing access, to the extent that s uch
231406 provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the
232407 communication that constitutes obscene material or material harmful
233408 to minors.
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235409 SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
236410 in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.3 of Title 15, unless there
237411 is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
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239412 A. The Attorney General may seek injunc tive and other equitable
240413 relief against a commercial entity that fails to comply with the
241414 provisions of this act.
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243415 B. The Attorney General is authorized and directed to develop
244416 and publish, consistent with the provisions of this act, guidance or
245417 regulations as appropriate to assist commercial entities to comply
246418 with this act.
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248419 SECTION 5. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
249420 in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 791.4 of Title 15, unless there
250421 is created a duplication in numbering , reads as follows:
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252422 If any one or more provisions, sections, subsections, sentences,
253423 clauses, phrases, or words of thi s act or the application thereof to
254424 any person or circumstance is found to be unconstitutional, the same
255425 is hereby declared to be severabl e and the balance of this act shall
256426 remain effective notwithstanding such unconstitutionality. The
257427 Legislature hereby declares that it would have this act, and each
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258455 provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
259456 thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more provisions,
260457 sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words be
261458 declared unconstitutional.
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263459 SECTION 6. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
264460
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266-ENR. S. B. NO. 1959 Page 7
267-Passed the Senate the 5th day of March, 2024.
268-
269-
270-
271- Presiding Officer of the Senate
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274-Passed the House of Representatives the 23rd day of April, 2024.
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278- Presiding Officer of the House
279- of Representatives
280-
281-OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
282-Received by the Office of the Governor this _______ _____________
283-day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
284-By: _________________________________
285-Approved by the Governor of the State of Oklahoma this _______ __
286-day of _________________ __, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
287-
288- _____________________ ____________
289- Governor of the State of Oklahoma
290-
291-
292-OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
293-Received by the Office of the Secretary of State this _______ ___
294-day of _________________ _, 20 _______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
295-By: _________________________________
461+COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON RULES, da ted 04/11/2024 - DO PASS,
462+As Coauthored.