Text of WY HB 78 (2024)

2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0351 1 HB0078 HOUSE BILL NO. HB0078 Pornography and obscenity-crimes and penalties. Sponsored by: Representative(s) Penn, Angelos, Haroldson, Hornok, Knapp, Neiman, Rodriguez-Williams, Strock, Styvar, Trujillo and Ward and Senator(s) Hutchings and Laursen, D A BILL for 1 AN ACT relating to crimes and offenses; specifying 2 penalties for promoting obscenity on an internet website; 3 requiring a person who publishes material harmful to minors 4 to an internet website to require age verification to 5 access the website; prohibiting a person from retaining 6 identifying information related to age verification; 7 requiring the attorney general to provide for reporting of 8 violations; providing penalties; and providing for an 9 effective date. 10 11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming: 12 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0351 2 HB0078 1 Section 1. W.S. 6-4-301(a)(iii)(B) and 6-4-302(b)(i), 2 (ii) and by creating new subsections (d) through (g) are 3 amended to read: 4 5 6-4-301. Definitions. 6 7 (a) As used in this article: 8 9 (iii) "Obscene" is material which the average 10 person would find: 11 12 (B) Applying contemporary community 13 standards, depicts or describes sexual conduct in a 14 patently offensive way including, without limitation, 15 visual depictions of rape or sexual abuse; and 16 17 6-4-302. Promoting obscenity; material harmful to 18 minors; enforcement; penalties. 19 20 (b) Promoting obscenity is a misdemeanor punishable 21 upon conviction as follows: 22 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0351 3 HB0078 1 (i) If to an adult, by a fine not to exceed one 2 thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment for not to 3 exceed one (1) year, or both. If the obscene material is 4 published on an internet website accessible in Wyoming, the 5 fine under this paragraph shall be not more than one 6 thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each day the obscene 7 material is accessible on the internet website; 8 9 (ii) If to a minor, for each violation, by a 10 fine not to exceed six thousand dollars ($6,000.00) or by 11 imprisonment for not to exceed one (1) year, or both. If 12 the obscene material is published on an internet website 13 accessible in Wyoming, the fine under this paragraph shall 14 be not more than six thousand dollars ($6,000.00) for each 15 day the material is actually accessed by a minor and not 16 more than an additional one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) 17 per day for each additional day the obscene material is 18 accessible on the internet website. 19 20 (d) A person who publishes material harmful to minors 21 on an internet website where more than one-third (1/3) of 22 the content on the internet website is material harmful to 23 minors shall be guilty of providing access to material 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0351 4 HB0078 1 harmful to minors unless the person uses reasonable age 2 verification methods to verify the age of persons 3 attempting to access the material and prevent minors from 4 accessing the material. As used in this subsection: 5 6 (i) "Material harmful to minors" means any 7 material consisting of visual depictions of nudity, sex or 8 excretion that: 9 10 (A) Appeals to the prurient interest of 11 minors; 12 13 (B) Applying community standards, is 14 patently offensive with respect to what is suitable for 15 minors; and 16 17 (C) Lacks serious literary, artistic, 18 political or scientific value for minors. 19 20 (ii) "Reasonable age verification" means an age 21 verification system that verifies age using: 22 23 (A) Government issued identification; or 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0351 5 HB0078 1 2 (B) A method that reasonably relies on 3 public or private transactional data to verify the age of 4 the person. 5 6 (e) A violation of subsection (d) of this section 7 shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more 8 than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per day for each day 9 that material harmful to minors is accessible to minors on 10 the internet website. 11 12 (f) No person shall retain any personally identifying 13 information following any age verification completed under 14 subsection (d) of this section. A violation of this 15 subsection, including any violation by a third party used 16 as part of the age verification process, shall be a 17 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one 18 thousand dollars ($1,000.00). 19 20 (g) The Wyoming attorney general shall provide a 21 mechanism for a person to report potential violations of 22 this section to the attorney general's office. The Wyoming 23 attorney general may report potential violations of federal 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0351 6 HB0078 1 law to the child exploitation and obscenity section of the 2 United States department of justice. 3 4 Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2024. 5 6 (END)