Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3570 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	88R22751 SHH-D
2	2	By: Schatzline, Ordaz, Schaefer, H.B. No. 3570
3	3	A. Johnson of Harris, et al.
4	4	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3570:
5	5	By: Lozano C.S.H.B. No. 3570
6	6
7	7
8	8	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
9	9	AN ACT
10	10	relating to restricting access to sexual material harmful to minors
11	11	on an Internet website.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. The heading to Chapter 120, Business & Commerce
14	14	Code, is amended to read as follows:
15	15	CHAPTER 120. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND INTERNET WEBSITES
16	16	SECTION 2. Chapter 120, Business & Commerce Code, is
17	17	amended by adding Subchapter E to read as follows:
18	18	SUBCHAPTER E. SEXUAL MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS
19	19	Sec. 120.201. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
20	20	(1) "Commercial entity" includes a corporation,
21	21	limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole
22	22	proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity.
23	23	(2) "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide,
24	24	deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any
25	25	means.
26	26	(3) "Minor" means an individual younger than 18 years
27	27	of age.
28	28	(4) "News-gathering organization" includes:
29	29	(A) an employee of a newspaper, news publication,
30	30	or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of
31	31	current news and public interest, who is acting within the course
32	32	and scope of that employment and can provide documentation of that
33	33	employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source;
34	34	and
35	35	(B) an employee of a radio broadcast station,
36	36	television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire
37	37	service who is acting within the course and scope of that employment
38	38	and can provide documentation of that employment.
39	39	(5) "Publish" means to communicate or make information
40	40	available to another person or entity on a publicly available
41	41	Internet website.
42	42	(6) "Sexual material harmful to minors" includes any
43	43	material that:
44	44	(A) the average person, applying contemporary
45	45	community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole and
46	46	with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander to the
47	47	prurient interest;
48	48	(B) in a manner patently offensive with respect
49	49	to minors, exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of
50	50	descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction
51	51	of:
52	52	(i) a person's pubic hair, anus, or genitals
53	53	or the nipple of the female breast;
54	54	(ii) touching, caressing, or fondling of
55	55	nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or
56	56	(iii) sexual intercourse, masturbation,
57	57	sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory
58	58	functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and
59	59	(C) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary,
60	60	artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
61	61	(7) "Transactional data" means a sequence of
62	62	information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer
63	63	between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for
64	64	the purpose of satisfying a request or event. The term includes
65	65	records from mortgage, education, and employment entities.
66	66	Sec. 120.202. PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS.
67	67	(a) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes
68	68	or distributes on an Internet website, including a social media
69	69	platform, sexual material harmful to minors shall use reasonable
70	70	age verification methods as described by Section 120.203 to verify
71	71	that an individual attempting to access the material is 18 years of
72	72	age or older.
73	73	(b) A commercial entity that performs the age verification
74	74	required by Subsection (a) or a third party that performs the age
75	75	verification required by Subsection (a) may not retain any
76	76	identifying information of the individual after access has been
77	77	granted to the material.
78	78	(c) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
79	79	publishes or distributes material on an Internet website that is
80	80	found to have violated this section is liable to the parent or
81	81	guardian of the minor for damages resulting from a minor's access to
82	82	the material, including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees
83	83	as ordered by the court, except as provided by Subsection (d).
84	84	(d) A social media platform is not liable as provided by
85	85	Subsection (c) unless the platform fails to remove or restrict
86	86	through age verification sexual material harmful to minors before
87	87	the 45th day after the date on which the material was published or
88	88	distributed.
89	89	(e) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
90	90	publishes or distributes material on an Internet website, or a
91	91	third party that performs the age verification required by
92	92	Subsection (a) that is found to have knowingly retained identifying
93	93	information of an individual after access has been granted to the
94	94	individual is liable to the individual for damages resulting from
95	95	retaining the identifying information, including court costs and
96	96	reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court.
97	97	Sec. 120.203. REASONABLE AGE VERIFICATION METHODS. (a) In
98	98	this section, "digital identification" means information stored on
99	99	a digital network that may be accessed by a commercial entity and
100	100	that serves as proof of the identity of an individual.
101	101	(b) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally
102	102	publishes or distributes material on an Internet website or a third
103	103	party that performs age verification under this subchapter shall
104	104	require an individual to:
105	105	(1) provide digital identification; or
106	106	(2) comply with a commercial age verification system
107	107	that verifies age using:
108	108	(A) government-issued identification; or
109	109	(B) a commercially reasonable method that relies
110	110	on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an
111	111	individual.
112	112	Sec. 120.204. APPLICABILITY OF SUBCHAPTER. (a) This
113	113	subchapter does not apply to a bona fide news or public interest
114	114	broadcast, website video, report, or event and may not be construed
115	115	to affect the rights of a news-gathering organization.
116	116	(b) An Internet service provider, or its affiliates or
117	117	subsidiaries, a search engine, or a cloud service provider may not
118	118	be held to have violated this subchapter solely for providing
119	119	access or connection to or from a website or other information or
120	120	content on the Internet or on a facility, system, or network not
121	121	under that provider's control, including transmission,
122	122	downloading, intermediate storage, access software, or other
123	123	services to the extent the provider or search engine is not
124	124	responsible for the creation of the content that constitutes sexual
125	125	material harmful to minors.
126	126	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.