H.B. No. 1181

Statutes affected:
Introduced: ()
House Committee Report: ()
Engrossed: ()
Senate Committee Report: ()
Enrolled: ()

	AN ACT
	relating to the publication or distribution of sexual material
	harmful to minors on an Internet website; providing a civil
	penalty.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Title 6, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
	amended by adding Chapter 129B to read as follows:
	CHAPTER 129B.  LIABILITY FOR ALLOWING MINORS TO ACCESS PORNOGRAPHIC
	MATERIAL
	Sec. 129B.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
	(1)  "Commercial entity" includes a corporation,
	limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole
	proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity.
	(2)  "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide,
	deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any
	means.
	(3)  "Minor" means an individual younger than 18 years
	of age.
	(4)  "News-gathering organization" includes:
	(A)  an employee of a newspaper, news publication,
	or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of
	current news and public interest, who is acting within the course
	and scope of that employment and can provide documentation of that
	employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source;
	and
	(B)  an employee of a radio broadcast station,
	television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire
	service who is acting within the course and scope of that employment
	and can provide documentation of that employment.
	(5)  "Publish" means to communicate or make information
	available to another person or entity on a publicly available
	Internet website.
	(6)  "Sexual material harmful to minors" includes any
	material that:
	(A)  the average person applying contemporary
	community standards would find, taking the material as a whole and
	with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander to the
	prurient interest;
	(B)  in a manner patently offensive with respect
	to minors, exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of
	descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated displays or
	depictions of:
	(i)  a person's pubic hair, anus, or genitals
	or the nipple of the female breast;
	(ii)  touching, caressing, or fondling of
	nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or
	(iii)  sexual intercourse, masturbation,
	sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory
	functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and
	(C)  taken as a whole, lacks serious literary,
	artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
	(7)  "Transactional data" means a sequence of
	information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer
	between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for
	the purpose of satisfying a request or event. The term includes
	records from mortgage, education, and employment entities.
	Sec. 129B.002.  PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS.
	(a)  A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes
	or distributes material on an Internet website, including a social
	media platform, more than one-third of which is sexual material
	harmful to minors, shall use reasonable age verification methods as
	described by Section 129B.003 to verify that an individual
	attempting to access the material is 18 years of age or older.
	(b)  A commercial entity that performs the age verification
	required by Subsection (a) or a third party that performs the age
	verification required by Subsection (a) may not retain any
	identifying information of the individual.
	Sec. 129B.003.  REASONABLE AGE VERIFICATION METHODS. (a)
	In this section, "digital identification" means information stored
	on a digital network that may be accessed by a commercial entity and
	that serves as proof of the identity of an individual.