ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
1
AN ACT relating to child protection; requiring age
verification for visiting websites with material harmful to
minors; specifying requirements and exceptions for age
verification; specifying remedies, liability and damages;
specifying applicability; and providing for an effective
date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 14-3-501 through 14-3-504 are created
to read:
ARTICLE 5
AGE VERIFICATION FOR WEBSITES WITH OBSCENE MATERIAL
14-3-501. Definitions.
(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Access software provider" means a provider
of software, including client or server software, or
enabling tools that do any one (1) or more of the
following:
(A) Filter, screen, allow or disallow
content;
(B) Pick, choose, analyze or digest
content;
(C) Transmit, receive, display, forward,
cache, search, subset, organize, reorganize or translate
content. ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
2(ii) "Child pornography" means as defined by
W.S. 6-4-303(a)(ii);
(iii) "Covered platform" means an entity that
operates a website that, in the regular course of business,
creates, hosts or makes available content that is material
harmful to minors that is provided by the entity, a user or
other information content provider for purposes of making a
profit. "Covered platform" includes an entity described in
this paragraph regardless of whether the entity:
(A) Earns a profit on the activities
described in this paragraph; or
(B) Creates, hosts, or makes available
content that is material harmful to minors as the sole
source of income or principal business of the entity.
(iv) "Interactive computer service" means any
information service, system or access software provider
that provides or enables computer access by multiple users
to a computer server, including specifically a service or
system that provides access to the internet and systems
operated or services offered by libraries or educational
institutions;
(v) "Information content provider" means any
person that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the
creation or development of information provided through the
internet or any other interactive computer service;
(vi) "Material harmful to minors" means any
picture, image, graphic image file, film, videotape or
other visual depiction that is obscene or is child
pornography; ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
3
(vii) "Minor" means a person who has not
attained the age of eighteen (18) years;
(viii) "Obscene" means as defined by W.S.
6-4-301(a)(iii);
(ix) "Reasonable age verification measures"
include:
(A) A Wyoming driver's license as defined
by W.S. 31-7-102(a)(xxv);
(B) A Wyoming identification card issued
under W.S. 31-8-101;
(C) A valid United States passport;
(D) A United States military card;
(E) A tribal identification card;
(F) A driver's license or identification
card issued by any state or outlying possession of the
United States;
(G) A credit card, except for cards that do
not require the person in ownership of the credit card
account to be eighteen (18) years of age or older;
(H) A debit card, except for cards that do
not require the person in ownership of the debit card
account to be eighteen (18) years of age or older; ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
4 (J) Any other means or method that reliably
and accurately can determine whether a user of a covered
platform is a minor.
14-3-502. Covered platforms with material harmful to
minors; age verification; exceptions.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 14-3-504,
any covered platform shall perform reasonable age
verification methods to verify the age of all persons
accessing or attempting to access the material and shall
prevent access by minors to the material.
(b) Any covered platform or third party that performs
the required age verification shall not retain any
identifying information of the person after access has been
granted to the material.
14-3-503. Covered platforms; age verification;
liability; limitations.
(a) Any parent or guardian of a minor who is
aggrieved by a violation of W.S. 14-3-502 shall have a
cause of action on the minor's behalf against the covered
platform that violated W.S. 14-3-502.
(b) Any person may bring a civil action against a
covered platform for knowingly retaining identifying
information of the person after access to the material
harmful to minors has been granted to the person in
violation of W.S. 14-3-502.
(c) Any covered platform that violates W.S. 14-3-502
shall be liable to a person for damages, including those ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
5
defined in this section, court costs and reasonable
attorney fees.
(d) A covered platform that is found to have
knowingly retained identifying information of a person in
violation of W.S. 14-3-502(b) after access to the covered
platform has been granted to the person shall be liable to
the person for damages for retaining the identifying
information, including court costs and reasonable attorney
fees.
(e) A plaintiff who brings a successful cause of
action under subsection (a) of this section shall, in
addition to the damages specified in subsection (c) of this
section, receive damages in an amount of five thousand
dollars ($5,000.00) for each instance that the covered
platform failed to perform reasonable age verification
methods to restrict a minor's access to material harmful to
minors. For purposes of this subsection, each failure to
perform age verification shall constitute a separate
violation.
(f) A person may bring an action under this section
regardless of whether another court has declared any
provision of this article unconstitutional unless that
court decision is binding on the court in which the action
is brought.
(g) No covered platform or information content
provider shall be entitled to assert that the outcome of
any previous litigation involving other parties, wherever
that litigation may have occurred, is a bar to any cause of
action authorized by this section.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law: ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
6
(i) Violations of W.S. 14-3-502 shall be
enforced exclusively through the civil actions provided in
this section;
(ii) No direct or indirect enforcement of this
article shall be taken or threatened by the state or any
other political subdivision of the state against any person
in any manner whatsoever except as provided in this
section.
(j) Except as provided in subsection (k) of this
section, any waiver, purported waiver or estoppel of a
person's right to bring an action as provided under this
section shall be void as unlawful and against public
policy. No court or arbitrator shall enforce or give effect
to a waiver or estoppel, notwithstanding any choice-of-law
provision or other provision in any contract or other
agreement.
(k) The prohibition in subsection (j) of this section
shall not apply to contractual waivers to the extent that
the application of the prohibition in subsection (j) of
this section would impair a contract or contract obligation
in violation of the constitutions of the United States or
Wyoming.
14-3-504. Covered platforms; age verification;
applicability and exceptions.
(a) This article shall apply only to minors who:
(i) Are permanent residents of Wyoming; ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
7(ii) Have resided in Wyoming for more than one
(1) year; or
(iii) Have been sojourning or present in Wyoming
for not less than thirty-one (31) consecutive days.
(b) This article shall not:
(i) Apply to any internet service provider, any
affiliate or subsidiary of an internet service provider,
any general purpose search engine or cloud service
provider;
(ii) Subject a covered platform to any cause of
action or liability to the extent the covered platform is
protected from liability or causes of action under federal
law;
(iii) Excuse any person from any other legal
duties arising from compliance with this article or relieve
any person from any other available legal remedies;
(iv) Apply in cases to the extent the article
would violate the commerce clause of the United States
Constitution.
(c) Any contract, agreement or other arrangement made
or entered in violation of this article shall be contrary
to law and public policy and shall be void and
unenforceable.
Section 2. Nothing in this act shall be construed to
impair or alter any contract, obligation or other agreement
entered into before the effective date of this act. ORIGINAL HOUSE
BILL NO. HB0043
ENROLLED ACT NO. 70, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
8Section 3. This act is effective July 1, 2025.
(END)
Speaker of the HousePresident of the SenateGovernorTIME APPROVED: _________DATE APPROVED: _________
I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.
Chief Clerk