Rhode Island 2025 Regular Session

Rhode Island Senate Bill S0153 Compare Versions

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

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5	5	2025 -- S 0153
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7	7	LC000602
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9	9	S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
10	10	IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
11	11	JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025
12	12	____________
13	13
14	14	A N A C T
15	15	RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDR EN --
16	16	VLOGS
17	17	Introduced By: Senators DiMario, LaMountain, Burke, McKenney, Patalano, Quezada,
18	18	Ujifusa, Gallo, Sosnowski, and Pearson
19	19	Date Introduced: January 31, 2025
20	20	Referred To: Senate Judiciary
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22	22
23	23	It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
24	24	SECTION 1. Chapter 28-3 of the General Laws entitled "Employment of Children" is 1
25	25	hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections: 2
26	26	28-3-1.1. Definitions. 3
27	27	When used in this chapter the following words and phrases are constituted as follows: 4
28	28	(1) "Compensation" means anything of value, to include money or funds received in 5
29	29	exchange or for consideration for providing a service, work or product. 6
30	30	(2) "Family" means a group of persons related by blood or marriage, including civil 7
31	31	partnerships, or whose close relationship with each other, is considered equivalent to a family 8
32	32	relationship by the individuals. 9
33	33	(3) "Minor" means any person under eighteen (18) years of age. 10
34	34	(4) "Online platform" means any public-facing website, web application, or digital 11
35	35	application, including a mobile application, to include, but not be limited to, a social network, 12
36	36	advertising network, mobile operating system, search engine, email service, or Internet access 13
37	37	service. 14
38	38	(5) "Superintendent of schools" means an individual employed in accordance with the 15
39	39	provisions of chapter 2 of title 16 and exercising the powers and duties enumerated in § 16-2-11. 16
40	40	(6) "Trust fund" means an arrangement that allows or requires an entity or individual to 17
41	41	place assets or compensation in an account to benefit another person or entity. 18
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45	45	(7) "Vlog" or "Vlogging" means content shared on an online platform in exchange for 1
46	46	compensation. 2
47	47	(8) "Vlogger" means an individual or family that creates video content, performed in Rhode 3
48	48	Island, in exchange for compensation, and includes any proprietorship, partnership, company, or 4
49	49	other corporate entity assuming the name or identity of a particular individual or family for the 5
50	50	purposes of that content creation. 6
51	51	28-3-9.2. Minors featured in vlogs. 7
52	52	(a) A minor under the age of eighteen (18) is considered engaged in the authorized work 8
53	53	of vlogging, when the following criteria are met at any time during the previous twelve (12) month 9
54	54	period: 10
55	55	(1) At least thirty percent (30%) of the vlogger's compensated video content, produced 11
56	56	within a thirty (30) day period included the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor. Content 12
57	57	percentage is measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor 13
58	58	visually appears or is the subject of an oral narrative in a video segment, as compared to the total 14
59	59	length of the segment; and 15
60	60	(2) The number of views received per video segment, on any online platform meet the 16
61	61	online platform's threshold for the generation of compensation or the vlogger received actual 17
62	62	compensation for video content equal to or greater than ten cents ($0.10) per view. 18
63	63	(b) With the exception of § 28-3-9.3, the provisions of this chapter do not apply to a minor 19
64	64	engaged in the work of vlogging. 20
65	65	(c) All vloggers whose content features a minor under the age of eighteen (18) engaged in 21
66	66	the work of vlogging, shall maintain the following records and shall provide them to the minor on 22
67	67	an ongoing basis: 23
68	68	(1) The name and documentary proof of the age of the minor engaged in the work of 24
69	69	vlogging; 25
70	70	(2) The number of vlogs that generated compensation as described in subsection (a) of this 26
71	71	section during the reporting period; 27
72	72	(3) The total number of minutes of the vlogs that the vlogger received compensation for 28
73	73	during the reporting period; 29
74	74	(4) The total number of minutes each minor was featured in vlogs during the reporting 30
75	75	period; 31
76	76	(5) The total compensation generated from vlogs featuring a minor during the reporting 32
77	77	period; and 33
78	78	(6) The amount deposited into the trust fund established in § 23-3-9.3 for the benefit of the 34
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82	82	minor engaged in the work of vlogging, as required by § 28-3-9.3(a)(1). 1
83	83	(d) If a vlogger to include, but not limited to, a family member, whose vlog content features 2
84	84	minors under the age of eighteen (18) engaged in the work of vlogging fails to maintain the records 3
85	85	as provided in subsection (c) of this section or to deposit compensation required by the provisions 4
86	86	of this chapter, the minor, through the minor's parents, guardian or representative, may commence 5
87	87	a civil action to enforce the provisions of this chapter. 6
88	88	28-3-9.3. Minors engaged in the work of vlogging -- Trust fund. 7
89	89	(a) A minor satisfying the criteria described in § 28-3-9.2(a) shall be compensated by the 8
90	90	vlogger. The vlogger shall set aside from gross earnings on the video content, including the 9
91	91	likeness, name, or photograph of the minor in a trust account, to be preserved for the benefit of the 10
92	92	minor upon reaching the age of majority, according to the following distribution formula: 11
93	93	(1) Where only one minor meets the content threshold described in § 28-3-9.2, the 12
94	94	percentage of total gross earnings on any video segment, including the likeness, name, or 13
95	95	photograph of the minor, shall be as follows: 14
96	96	(i) For a video segment including the likeness, name or photograph of the minor that is 15
97	97	equal to or greater than thirty percent (30%) of the vlogs, compensation shall be paid to the minor, 16
98	98	in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the gross earnings; 17
99	99	(ii) For video segments including the likeness, name or photograph of the minor that is 18
100	100	equal to or greater than fifty percent (50%) of the vlog but less than seventy-five percent (75%), 19
101	101	compensation shall be paid to the minor in the amount of twenty-five percent (25%) of the gross 20
102	102	earnings; and 21
103	103	(iii) Any video segment including the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor equal to 22
104	104	or greater than seventy-five percent (75%) of the vlog, shall result in compensation paid to the 23
105	105	minor in the amount of fifty percent (50%) of gross revenues. All compensation shall be paid and 24
106	106	deposited into a trust account pursuant to the provisions of this section. 25
107	107	(2) Where more than one minor meets the content threshold described in § 28-3-9.2 and a 26
108	108	video segment includes more than one of those minors, the percentage described in subsection 27
109	109	(a)(1) of this section for all minors in any segment, shall be equally divided between the minors, 28
110	110	regardless of differences in percentage of content provided by the individual minors. 29
111	111	(b) A trust account required under this section shall provide, at a minimum, the following: 30
112	112	(1) That the funds in the account shall be available only to the minor engaged in the work 31
113	113	of vlogging; 32
114	114	(2) That the account shall be held by a bank as defined in § 6A-4-105, corporate fiduciary 33
115	115	as defined in § 6A-3-307, or trust company as defined in § 18-13-1, as those terms are defined in 34
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119	119	title 7 and shall be specifically identified as belonging to the minor; 1
120	120	(3) That the funds in the account shall become available to the minor engaged in the work 2
121	121	of vlogging, upon the minor attaining the age of eighteen (18) years or upon the minor being 3
122	122	declared emancipated or upon an order of a court of competent jurisdiction; and 4
123	123	(4) That the account meets the requirements of chapter 7 of tile 18. 5
124	124	(c) If a vlogger knowingly or recklessly violates this section to include a violation by a 6
125	125	family member, a minor satisfying the criteria provided of § 28-3-9.2(a) may, through an action 7
126	126	brought by a parent, guardian or representative, enforce the provisions of this chapter to include, 8
127	127	but not limited to, establishment of a trust account. The court may award, to the minor in the action 9
128	128	brought by the parent, guardian or representative who prevails in any action to enforce the 10
129	129	provisions of this chapter, the following damages: 11
130	130	(1) Actual damages; 12
131	131	(2) Punitive damages; and 13
132	132	(3) Attorneys' fees and litigation costs. 14
133	133	(d) This section does not affect a right or remedy available under any other law of the state. 15
134	134	(e) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to have any effect on a party that is neither 16
135	135	the vlogger nor the minor engaged in the work of vlogging. 17
136	136	28-3-9.4. Right to be forgotten. 18
137	137	(a) Upon the age of majority, any individual to whom as a minor child, as defined in § 28-19
138	138	3-1.1 of this chapter, previously applied may request the permanent deletion of any video segment 20
139	139	including the likeness, name, or photograph of the individual from any internet platform or network 21
140	140	that provided compensation to the individual's parent or parents in exchange for that video content. 22
141	141	(b) A social media platform that receives a deletion request under subsection (a) of this 23
142	142	section shall take all reasonable steps to permanently delete all content for which the request was 24
143	143	made. 25
144	144	(c) A contract between a vlogger and a social media platform for the creation of video 26
145	145	content that would reasonably be anticipated to feature a minor child shall include notification to 27
146	146	the social media platform of the rights of the child under this section. 28
147	147	(d) An internet platform or network shall take all reasonable steps to permanently delete 29
148	148	the video segment for which a request described in subsection (a) of this section has been made. 30
149	149	(e) Any contract with an internet platform or network for the exchange or uses of video 31
150	150	content that would reasonably be anticipated to include greater than a de minimis use of a vlogger's 32
151	151	minor child shall include notification to the internet platform or network of the minor child's future 33
152	152	rights as provided in this section. 34
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156	156	SECTION 2. Section 28-3-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-3 entitled "Employment 1
157	157	of Children" is hereby amended to read as follows: 2
158	158	28-3-1. Places and times where employment of children prohibited. 3
159	159	No Except in occupations specifically authorized by § 28-3-9.2, no child under fourteen 4
160	160	(14) years of age shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work at any time in any business or 5
161	161	industrial establishment in this state. No child under sixteen (16) years of age shall be employed or 6
162	162	permitted or suffered to work at any time in any factory, mechanical, or manufacturing 7
163	163	establishment within this state. A child who has reached the fourteenth (14th) birthday, but has not 8
164	164	reached the sixteenth (16th) birthday, may be employed only between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9
165	165	7:00 p.m; except that a child who has reached the fourteenth (14th) birthday, but has not reached 10
166	166	the sixteenth (16th) birthday, may be employed until 9:00 p.m. but only during school vacations; 11
167	167	and except as provided in § 28-3-3 no child under sixteen (16) years of age shall be employed or 12
168	168	permitted or suffered to work in any business establishment within this state. Every person willfully 13
169	169	violating the provisions of this section shall be fined as provided in § 28-3-20. 14
170	170	SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. 15
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172	172	LC000602
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177	177	EXPLANATION
178	178	BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
179	179	OF
180	180	A N A C T
181	181	RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EMPLOYMENT OF CHILD REN --
182	182	VLOGS
183	183	***
184	184	This act would establish a statutory framework designed to protect minors who are 1
185	185	engaging in the business of vloging on social media and the Internet. This act would also authorize 2
186	186	that a representative of the minor to file a lawsuit on the minor's behalf, even with respect to family 3
187	187	members, to enforce the minor's rights, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. 4
188	188	This act would take effect upon passage. 5
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190	190	LC000602
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