Text of MO HB 1993 (2024)

SECOND REGULAR SESSION HOUSE BILL NO. 1993 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE GALLICK. 4014H.01I DANA RADEMAN MILLER, Chief Clerk AN ACT To amend chapter 537, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to civil liability for publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the internet. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows: Section A. Chapter 537, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be 2 known as section 537.104, to read as follows: 537.104. 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean: 2 (1) "Commercial entity", includes corporations, limited liability companies, 3 partnerships, limited partnerships, sole proprietorships, or other legally recognized 4 entities; 5 (2) "Distribute", to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmute, 6 circulate, or disseminate by any means; 7 (3) "Internet", the international computer network of both federal and 8 nonfederal interoperable packet-switched data networks; 9 (4) "Material harmful to minors", all of the following: 10 (a) Any material that the average person, applying contemporary community 11 standards, would find taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors is 12 designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest; 13 (b) Any of the following material that exploits, is devoted to, or principally 14 consists of descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of any of 15 the following, in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors: 16 a. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast; EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. 17 b. Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or 18 genitals; or 19 c. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, 20 flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and 21 (c) The material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or 22 scientific value for minors; 23 (5) "Minor", any person under eighteen years of age; 24 (6) "News-gathering organization", any of the following: 25 (a) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news source, printed or on 26 an online or mobile platform, of current news and public interest, while operating as an 27 employee as provided in this paragraph, who can provide documentation of such 28 employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source; or 29 (b) An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable 30 television operator, or wire service while operating as an employee as provided in this 31 paragraph, who can provide documentation of such employment; 32 (7) "Publish", to communicate or make information available to another person 33 or entity on a publicly available internet website; 34 (8) "Reasonable age verification methods", include verifying that the person 35 seeking to access the material is eighteen years of age or older by using any of the 36 following methods: 37 (a) Provide a digitized identification card; or 38 (b) Require the person attempting to access the material to comply with a 39 commercial age verification system that verifies in one or more of the following ways: 40 a. Government-issued identification; or 41 b. Any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private 42 transactional data to verify the person attempting to access the information is at least 43 eighteen years of age or older; 44 (9) "Substantial portion", more than thirty-three and one-third percent of total 45 material on a website that meets the definition of material harmful to minors; 46 (10) "Transactional data", a sequence of information that documents an 47 exchange, agreement, or transfer between an individual, commercial entity, or third 48 party used for the purpose of satisfying a request or event. Transactional data can 49 include, but is not limited to, records from mortgage, education, and employment 50 entities. 51 2. (1) Any commercial entity that knowingly or intentionally publishes or 52 distributes material harmful to minors on the internet from a website that contains a 53 substantial portion of such material shall be held liable if the entity fails to perform HB 1993 2 54 reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access 55 the material. 56 (2) Any commercial entity or third party that performs the required age 57 verification shall not retain any identifying information of the individual after access 58 has been granted to the material. 59 (3) (a) Any commercial entity that is found to have violated this section shall be 60 liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor accessing the material, 61 including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court. 62 (b) A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained identifying 63 information of the individual after access has been granted to the individual shall be 64 liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying 65 information, including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the 66 court. 67 3. (1) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any bona fide news or 68 public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and shall not be construed to 69 affect the rights of any news-gathering organizations. 70 (2) No internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine, or 71 cloud service provider shall be held to have violated the provisions of this section for 72 providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on 73 the internet or a facility, system, or network not under that provider's control, including 74 transmission, downloading, storage, access software, or other to the extent such 75 provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that 76 constitutes material harmful to minors. ✔ HB 1993 3