Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Assembly Bill AB730 Compare Versions

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

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3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 ASSEMBLY BILL 730
5	5	December 6, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives GUSTAFSON, ROZAR, ALLEN,
6	6	BEHNKE, BODDEN, BRANDTJEN, DITTRICH, GUNDRUM, MURPHY, MURSAU,
7	7	O'CONNOR, RETTINGER, SPIROS and WICHGERS, cosponsored by Senators
8	8	WANGGAARD and JACQUE. Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice and
9	9	Public Safety.
10	10	*AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE*
11	11	AN ACT to create 100.75 of the statutes; relating to: the distribution of certain
12	12	materials to minors.
13	13	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
14	14	This bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and intentionally
15	15	publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website
16	16	that contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity
17	17	performs reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals
18	18	attempting to access the website. “Material harmful to minors” is defined in the bill
19	19	to include material that is designed to appeal to prurient interests, that principally
20	20	consists of descriptions or depictions of actual or simulated sexual acts or body parts
21	21	including pubic areas, genitals, buttocks, and female nipples, and that lacks serious
22	22	literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. In the bill, “reasonable age
23	23	verification methods” includes various methods whereby the business entity may
24	24	verify that an individual seeking to access the material is not a minor. Under the bill,
25	25	persons that perform reasonable age verification methods may not knowingly retain
26	26	identifying information of the individual attempting to access the website after the
27	27	individual's access has been granted or denied.
28	28	A person that violates the provisions of the bill may be subject to civil liability
29	29	for damages caused by the violation.
30	30	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
31	31	enact as follows:
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35	35	SECTION 1 ASSEMBLY BILL 730
36	36	SECTION 1. 100.75 of the statutes is created to read:
37	37	100.75 Publishing and distributing certain materials to minors. (1)
38	38	DEFINITIONS. In this section:
39	39	(a) “Business entity” means a proprietorship, partnership, firm, business trust,
40	40	joint venture, syndicate, corporation, limited liability company, or business
41	41	association, including all wholly owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries,
42	42	parent companies, or affiliates of such an organization or entity.
43	43	(b) “Distribute” means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmute,
44	44	circulate, or disseminate by any means.
45	45	(c) “Material harmful to minors” means material that is all of the following:
46	46	1. Material that the average person, applying contemporary community
47	47	standards and taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, would find
48	48	to be designed to appeal or pander to prurient interests.
49	49	2. Material that exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions
50	50	of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of any of the following, in a
51	51	manner patently offensive with respect to minors:
52	52	a. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast.
53	53	b. Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or
54	54	genitals.
55	55	c. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation,
56	56	flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act.
57	57	3. Material that when taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political,
58	58	or scientific value for minors.
59	59	(d) “Minor” means an individual under 18 years of age.
60	60	(e) “News-gathering organization employee” means any of the following:
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88	88	SECTION 1
89	89	ASSEMBLY BILL 730
90	90	1. An employee of a print, online, or mobile platform newspaper, news
91	91	publication, or news source that provides current news and public interest
92	92	information, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as an employee of the
93	93	newspaper, news publication, or news source.
94	94	2. An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
95	95	television operator, or wire service, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as
96	96	an employee of the radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
97	97	television operator, or wire service.
98	98	(f) “Publish" means to communicate or make information available to another
99	99	person on a publicly available Internet website.
100	100	(g) “Reasonable age verification methods” means verification by a business
101	101	entity using any of the following methods to determine that an individual seeking
102	102	access to material harmful to minors is not a minor:
103	103	1. A commercial age verification system that verifies age using the individual's
104	104	government-issued identification card or by using any commercially reasonable
105	105	method that uses public or private transactional data gathered about the individual.
106	106	2. A government-issued digitized identification card.
107	107	(h) “Substantial portion” means more than 33 1/3 percent of the total material
108	108	on a website.
109	109	(2) PROHIBITIONS. (a) No business entity may knowingly and intentionally
110	110	publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that
111	111	contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity performs
112	112	reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to
113	113	access the website.
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139	139	SECTION 1 ASSEMBLY BILL 730
140	140	(b) A person that performs a reasonable age verification method in compliance
141	141	with par. (a) may not knowingly retain identifying information of the individual
142	142	attempting to access the website after the individual's access has been granted or
143	143	denied.
144	144	(3) CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) An individual injured by a minor's access of materials
145	145	harmful to minors due to a violation of sub. (2) (a) may bring a claim seeking damages
146	146	resulting from the injury.
147	147	(b) An individual injured by a person's retention of identifying information in
148	148	violation of sub. (2) (b) may bring a claim seeking damages resulting from the injury,
149	149	court costs, and reasonably attorney fees notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1).
150	150	(4) EXEMPTIONS. (a) This section does not apply to any bona fide news or public
151	151	interest broadcast, video, report, or event, and may not be construed to affect the
152	152	rights of any news-gathering organization employee.
153	153	(b) No Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine,
154	154	or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated this section on the basis of the
155	155	entity having provided access or connection to or from a website, content on the
156	156	Internet, or a facility, system, or network not under that entity's control, or the
157	157	entity's provision of communicating, transmitting, downloading, intermediate
158	158	storage of, providing access software for, or other services that communicate
159	159	material harmful to minors, if that entity is not responsible for the creation of the
160	160	content that constitutes material harmful to minors.
161	161	(END)
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