Text of GA HB 910 (2024)

24 LC 56 0039 House Bill 910 By: Representatives Jasperse of the 11th, Cox of the 28th, Chastain of the 7th, Horner of the 3rd, Pirkle of the 169th, and others A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Title 39 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to minors, so as to 1 create a civil remedy for damages against commercial entities that distribute material harmful 2 to minors without performing age verification; to require that age verification information 3 not be retained; to provide for standards for liability; to provide for exceptions; to provide 4 for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. 5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: 6 SECTION 1. 7 Title 39 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to minors, is amended in 8 Chapter 5, relating to online internet safety, by adding a new Code section to read as follows: 9 "39-5-5. 10 (a) Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes 11 material harmful to minors on a website that contains a substantial portion of such material 12 shall verify the age of the individuals attempting to access such material through the use 13 of: 14 (1) A commercially available data base that is regularly used by businesses or 15 governmental entities for the purpose of age and identity verification; or 16 H. B. 910 - 1 - 24 LC 56 0039 (2) Another commercially reasonable method of age and identity verification. 17 (b)(1) A commercial entity that violates this Code section is liable to an individual for 18 damages resulting from a minor accessing material harmful to minors. 19 (2) Such action may be brought by a parent or guardian whose minor was allowed access 20 to the material. 21 (c)(1) When a commercial entity or third party performs a reasonable age verification, 22 the commercial entity shall not retain any identifying information after access to the 23 material has been granted. 24 (2) A commercial entity, or third party that performs the required age verification on 25 behalf of the commercial entity, that is found to have knowingly retained identifying 26 information of an individual after access to the material has been granted is liable to such 27 individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying information, including 28 court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees as ordered by the court. 29 (d) Any person authorized to bring a civil action under this Code section may seek and a 30 court may award any or all of the following types of relief: 31 (1) An injunction to enjoin continued violation of this Code section; 32 (2) Compensatory and punitive damages; 33 (3) All costs, expenses, and fees related to the civil suit investigation and proceedings 34 associated with the violation, including attorney's fees; and 35 (4) Any other relief a court of competent jurisdiction deems appropriate. 36 (e) This Code section shall not apply to any bona fide news or public interest broadcast, 37 website, video, report, or event and shall not be construed to affect the rights of any news 38 gathering organization. 39 (f) No internet service provider, or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine, or cloud 40 service provider shall be held to have violated the provisions of this Code section solely 41 for providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on 42 the internet or a facility, system, or network not under the control of that provider, 43 H. B. 910 - 2 - 24 LC 56 0039 including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access software, or other 44 related capabilities, to the extent such provider is not responsible for the creation of the 45 content of the communication that constitutes material harmful to minors." 46 SECTION 2. 47 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. 48 H. B. 910 - 3 -