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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to restricting access to sexual material harmful to minors |
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on an Internet website; providing a civil penalty. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Title 6, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is |
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amended by adding Chapter 129B to read as follows: |
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CHAPTER 129B. LIABILITY FOR ALLOWING MINORS TO ACCESS PORNOGRAPHIC |
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MATERIAL |
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Sec. 129B.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: |
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(1) "Commercial entity" includes a corporation, |
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limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole |
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proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity. |
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(2) "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, |
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deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any |
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means. |
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(3) "Minor" means an individual younger than 18 years |
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of age. |
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(4) "News-gathering organization" includes: |
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(A) an employee of a newspaper, news publication, |
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or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of |
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current news and public interest, who is acting within the course |
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and scope of that employment and can provide documentation of that |
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employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source; |
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and |
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(B) an employee of a radio broadcast station, |
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television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire |
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service who is acting within the course and scope of that employment |
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and can provide documentation of that employment. |
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(5) "Publish" means to communicate or make information |
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available to another person or entity on a publicly available |
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Internet website. |
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(6) "Sexual material harmful to minors" includes any |
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material that: |
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(A) the average person, applying contemporary |
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community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole and |
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with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander to the |
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prurient interest; |
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(B) in a manner patently offensive with respect |
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to minors, exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of |
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descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction |
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of: |
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(i) a person's pubic hair, anus, or genitals |
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or the nipple of the female breast; |
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(ii) touching, caressing, or fondling of |
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nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or |
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(iii) sexual intercourse, masturbation, |
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sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory |
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functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and |
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(C) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, |
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artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. |
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(7) "Transactional data" means a sequence of |
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information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer |
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between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for |
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the purpose of satisfying a request or event. The term includes |
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records from mortgage, education, and employment entities. |
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Sec. 129B.002. PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS. |
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(a) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes |
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or distributes material on an Internet website, including a social |
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media platform, more than one-third of which is sexual material |
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harmful to minors, shall use reasonable age verification methods as |
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described by Section 129B.003 to verify that an individual |
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attempting to access the material is 18 years of age or older. |
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(b) A commercial entity that performs the age verification |
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required by Subsection (a) or a third party that performs the age |
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verification required by Subsection (a) may not retain any |
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identifying information of the individual. |
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Sec. 129B.003. REASONABLE AGE VERIFICATION METHODS. (a) |
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In this section, "digital identification" means information stored |
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on a digital network that may be accessed by a commercial entity and |
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that serves as proof of the identity of an individual. |
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(b) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally |
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publishes or distributes material on an Internet website or a third |
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party that performs age verification under this chapter shall |
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require an individual to: |
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(1) provide digital identification; or |
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(2) comply with a commercial age verification system |
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that verifies age using: |
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(A) government-issued identification; or |
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(B) a commercially reasonable method that relies |
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on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an |
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individual. |
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Sec. 129B.004. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. (a) This chapter |
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does not apply to a bona fide news or public interest broadcast, |
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website video, report, or event and may not be construed to affect |
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the rights of a news-gathering organization. |
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(b) An Internet service provider, or its affiliates or |
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subsidiaries, a search engine, or a cloud service provider may not |
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be held to have violated this chapter solely for providing access or |
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connection to or from a website or other information or content on |
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the Internet or on a facility, system, or network not under that |
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provider's control, including transmission, downloading, |
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intermediate storage, access software, or other services to the |
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extent the provider or search engine is not responsible for the |
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creation of the content that constitutes sexual material harmful to |
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minors. |
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Sec. 129B.005. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION. (a) If the |
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attorney general believes that an entity is knowingly violating or |
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has knowingly violated this chapter and the action is in the public |
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interest, the attorney general may bring an action in a Travis |
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County district court or the district court in the county in which |
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the principal place of business of the entity is located in this |
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state to enjoin the violation, recover a civil penalty described by |
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Subsection (b), and obtain other relief the court considers |
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appropriate. |
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(b) A civil penalty imposed under this section may be in an |
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amount equal to not more than the total, if applicable, of: |
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(1) $10,000 per day that the entity operates an |
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Internet website in violation of the age verification requirements |
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of this chapter; |
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(2) $10,000 per instance when the entity retains |
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identifying information in violation of Section 129B.002(b); and |
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(3) if, because of the entity's violation of the age |
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verification requirements of this chapter, one or more minors |
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accesses sexual material harmful to minors, an additional amount of |
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not more than $250,000. |
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(c) The amount of a civil penalty under this section shall |
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be based on: |
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(1) the seriousness of the violation, including the |
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nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation; |
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(2) the history of previous violations; |
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(3) the amount necessary to deter a future violation; |
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(4) the economic effect of a penalty on the entity on |
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whom the penalty will be imposed; |
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(5) the entity's knowledge that the act constituted a |
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violation of this chapter; and |
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(6) any other matter that justice may require. |
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SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |