Indiana became the ninth state to sign age verification legislation yesterday, joining Louisiana, Utah, Montana, North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas in requiring pornography companies to check the ages of their online consumers.
Described by Politico as “perhaps the most bipartisan laws in the country,” age verification laws empower parents to protect their children online by making it harder for kids to access harmful content like pornography.
“Sexually explicit content is harming our children and resulting in a mental health crisis,” Family Foundation of Kentucky explains their support of Kentucky House Bill 241. “We need these bills to help us to protect them.
Nineteen states besides Indiana hope to pass age verification laws this year. Most of the bills follow the policy recommendations laid out by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) and the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) in 2022:
They require companies who publish a “substantial” amount of adult content — usually 1/3 or more of their total production — to check the age of every person accessing their website.
They create a way for parents to sue pornography companies if their kids access content they shouldn’t.
Some states have also added age restrictions to social media — another one of IFS and EPPC’s recommended policies. If passed, House Bill 3 in Florida would prevent children under 14-year-old from creating social media accounts, and require 14- and 15- year-olds to get parental consent before making an account.
HB 3 is awaiting the governor’s signature after passing Florida’s House and Senate last week.
Still other bills, like Oklahoma HB 3097, would force pornography companies to honor parents’ request to prevent certain phones, laptops and internet modems from accessing their obscene website.
Other bills, like House Bill 295 in Ohio, create way for the state to prosecute pornography companies who fail to follow the age verification rules. HB 295 would allow Ohio’s Attorney General to charge companies who fail to check users’ age with a third-degree felony, in addition to civil penalties. The bill would make using a fake-ID to fool age verification tech a misdemeanor.
While not perfect, age verification laws greatly restrict the amount of porn young people can consume. After Louisiana became the first state to pass such legislation in 2022, traffic to Pornhub.com from that state dropped by 80%, one spokesperson told IFS.
Scroll below to see which states have active age verification bills. To find out more about age verification and parents’ rights legislation in your state, contact your local Focus on the Family-allied Family Policy Council.
Graphic courtesy of Free Speech Coalition. Blue states have proposed age verification laws; dark grey states have passed them.
ALASKA
HB 254: held in House Judiciary Committee on March 15.
ARIZONA
HB 2586: passed the House; read in Senate for the second time on March 6.
SB 1125: passed the Senate; read in House for a second time on February 26.
ALABAMA
HB 164: passed the House; referred to Senate committee for review on March 6.
DELAWARE
HB 265: passed out of committee on January 23.
FLORIDA
HB 3: passed the House; passed the Senate on March 6.
GEORGIA
HB 910: passed out of House Judiciary Committee on March 13.
IDAHO
HB 498: passed House; passed Senate State Affairs committee on February 28.
ILLINOIS
HB 4247: referred to House Judiciary Committee on January 31.
SB 2590: referred to Senate Assignments Committee on October 18, 2023.
INDIANA
SB 17: signed into law on March 13
IOWA
HB 2546: placed on House Judiciary Committee Calendar on February 15.
SB 2227: heard in Senate Technology Subcommittee on February 12.
HB 2051: passed out of House Judiciary Subcommittee January 23.
KANSAS
SB 394: passed the Senate; referred to House Judiciary Committee on February 19.
KENTUCKY
HB 241: referred to House Committee on Committees on January 11.
MISSOURI
HB 1993: passed out of the House General Laws Committee on March 12.
MICHIGAN
HB 5009: referred to House Committee on Energy, Communications and Technology in September 2023.
NEBRASKA
Online Age Verification Liability Act: referred to House Judiciary Committee on January 10.
OHIO
SB 212: referred to Senate Financial Institutions and Technology Committee on January 24.
HB 295: pending House Committee action.
OKLAHOMA
HB 3097: passed the House; referred to the Senate on March 12.
SB 1960: referred to Senate Business and Commerce Committee on February 6.
SOUTH CAROLINA
HB 3426: referred to House Judiciary Committee on January 10.
TENNESSEE
HB 1614: on Criminal Justice Committee calendar for March 19.
SB 1643: referred to Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on January 10.
WISCONSIN
AB 730: passed House; referred to Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families on February 19.
The post Pornography Age Verification Laws: What They Are and Which States Have Them appeared first on Daily Citizen.
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