ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session
	Senate: TTMC DP 3-2-2-0 | 3^rd Read DP 16-12-2-0-0

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SB 1125: internet; material harmful to minors

Sponsor: Senator Rogers, LD 7

Committee on Judiciary

Overview

Adds a new chapter to A.R.S. title 18 establishing age verification requirements and liabilities for commercial entities that distribute material harmful to minors on the internet.

History

A.R.S. title 18 regulates information technology, including chapters on government information technology; governmental reporting of information; the property technology sandbox; and network access, services and security.

While the substantive provisions of these laws vary, as of December 5, 2023, the following nine U.S. states had passed legislation requiring some form of age-verification for access to certain materials on the internet:

1) Arkansas (Ark. Code § 4-88-1301 et seq.);

2) California (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.99.28 et seq.);

3) Louisiana (La. Rev. Stat. § 51:2121);

4) Mississippi (Miss. Code § 11-77-1 et seq.);

5) Montana (Mont. Code § 30-14-159);

6) North Carolina (N.C. Laws 2023-132 (H.B. No. 8));

7) Texas (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 129B.001 et seq.);

8) Utah (Utah Code § 78B-3-1001 et seq.);

9) Virginia (Va. Code § 8.01-40.5). 

Provisions

1. Requires a commercial entity that intentionally or knowingly publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material to verify that any person attempting to access the material is at least 18 years old. (Sec. 1)

2. Allows a commercial entity to verify a person's age through either of the following methods:

a) by comparing the internet protocol (IP) address with IP address blacklists;

b) any other commercially reasonable method of age and identity verification. (Sec. 1)

3. Allows an internet user with a minor child to submit a request to the user's internet service provider to have one or more of the user's IP addresses added to, or removed from, a blacklist, but states that an internet service provider is not under any obligation to confirm that an internet user who submits such a request has a minor child. (Sec. 1)

4. Subjects a commercial entity that violates these requirements to civil liability for damages, including attorney fees and costs, resulting from a minor's access to material harmful to minors. (Sec. 1)

5. Specifies that these new provisions do not impose an obligation or a liability on a provider or user of an interactive computer service on the internet. (Sec. 1)

6. Defines material harmful to minors as any description or representation of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse that meets all of the following:

a) appeals to the prurient, shameful or morbid interest of minors;

b) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minor;

c) is, when taken as a whole, lacking in serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. (Sec. 1)

7. States that, for purposes of these new provisions, a substantial portion means that more than 33.33% of the total material on a website is explicit sexual material harmful to minors. (Sec. 1)

8. Defines interactive computer service and internet. (Sec. 1)

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12.                   SB 1125

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