Text of MO HB 236 (2025)

FIRST REGULAR SESSION HOUSE BILL NO. 236 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE GALLICK. 0209H.02I 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 material available to another person or 33 entity on a publicly available internet website; 34 (8) "Reasonable age-verification methods", any commercially available database 35 that is regularly used by businesses or governmental entities for the purpose of age and 36 identity verification, or any other commercially reasonable method of age and identity 37 verification. 38 2. (1) Any commercial entity for which it is in the regular course of trade or 39 business to publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the internet shall be held 40 liable if the entity fails to perform reasonable age-verification methods to verify the age 41 of individuals attempting to access the material. 42 (2) Any commercial entity or third party that performs the required age- 43 verification shall not retain any identifying information of the individual after access 44 has been granted to the material. 45 (3) (a) Any commercial entity that is found to have violated this section shall be 46 liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor accessing the material, 47 including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the court. 48 (b) A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained identifying 49 information of the individual after access has been granted to the individual shall be 50 liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying 51 information, including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees as ordered by the 52 court. HB 236 2 53 3. (1) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any bona fide news or 54 public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and shall not be construed to 55 affect the rights of any news-gathering organizations. 56 (2) No internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine, or 57 cloud service provider shall be held to have violated the provisions of this section for 58 providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on 59 the internet or a facility, system, or network not under that provider's control, including 60 transmission, downloading, storage, access software, or other to the extent such 61 provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that 62 constitutes material harmful to minors. ✔ HB 236 3