Legislature(2023 - 2024)BARNES 124
01/31/2024 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB159 | |
| HB100 | |
| HB254 | |
| HB273 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 89 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 254 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | HB 159 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 100 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 37 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 273 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 254-PROHIBIT PORNOGRAPHY TO MINORS
4:30:48 PM
CHAIR SUMNER announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 254, "An Act relating to liability for publishing
or distributing pornography to minors on the Internet."
4:31:05 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SARAH VANCE, Alaska State Legislature, as prime
sponsor, read the sponsor statement for HB 254 [included in
committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
House Bill 254 stands out as a crucial legislative
initiative, addressing the growing public health
crisis related to the influence of pornography on
minors. It serves as a proactive measure to disrupt a
tool employed by traffickers, preventing easy access
to young would-be victims through explicit content.
Recent years have witnessed an alarming exposure of
minors to pornography, facilitated by advances in
technology and the widespread availability of explicit
content on the internet. This early exposure
contributes to the hyper-sexualization of young minds,
promoting bullying in schools and setting unreasonable
self-expectations, necessitating urgent legislative
action.
House Bill 254 recognizes the disturbing connection
between pornography and exploitation. It acknowledges
that individuals involved in pornography may be
victims of exploitation, blurring the line between
consensual adult participation and sex trafficking.
Some are forced into participating against their will,
revealing a sinister aspect of the adult industry.
The bill also addresses the link between the demand
for pornography and the demand for commercial sex,
including trafficking victims. The normalization of
explicit content in society is argued to contribute to
an increased demand for sexual services, perpetuating
sex trafficking. Organized crime networks profit from
both pornography and exploitation, utilizing explicit
content as a lure to manipulate and control vulnerable
individuals.
One alarming aspect necessitating urgent legislative
intervention is the role of pornography in the tactics
employed by human traffickers. By restricting minors'
access to explicit material, House Bill 254 serves as
a crucial tool in the fight against human trafficking,
contributing to the overall well-being and safety of
the next generation.
In conclusion, passing House Bill 254 is an urgent and
necessary step in safeguarding the mental, emotional,
and physical health of our youth. It reflects a
collective responsibility to create a secure and
nurturing environment, allowing minors to develop into
healthy, well-adjusted individuals free from the
corrosive influence of explicit material.
4:35:36 PM
BOB BALLINGER, Staff, Representative Sarah Vance, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Vance, prime sponsor,
read the sectional analysis for HB 254 [included in committee
packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Section 1: Adds a new section that establishes civil
liability if the person or entity intentionally
publishes or distributes pornography and does not use
a "commercially reasonable age verification method."
The section also defines a "commercially reasonable
age verification method" and regulates how identifying
information is handled.
Sections 1 (b), (c), and (d) exempt news, public
interest sites, internet service providers, search
engines, and cloud service providers.
Finally, Section 1 (e) provides definitions for terms
used in this bill.
4:38:02 PM
REPRESENTATIVE RUFFRIDGE offered his understanding that online
age verification programs are typically easy to bypass. He
asked if HB 254 would require identification to be transmitted
and the business would verify it, or if it would require a
program that just asks for the user's birthday.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE answered that, on the first page of the
bill, it would require the business to use a commercially
available age verification method.
4:39:37 PM
MR. BALLINGER cited Section 1 subsection (a), starting on line
11, which read as follows:
In this subsection, "commercially reasonable age
verification method" includes requiring the person
attempting to access the pornography to provide a
digitized identification card, requiring the person to
comply with a commercial age verification system that
verifies age using government-issued identification,
or another method that relies on public or private
transactional data.
MR. BALLINGER advised that PornHub is a leading provider of
pornography on the Internet, and that in some states, it has
withdrawn.
4:40:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CARRICK said there have been several state data
breeches, and asked if there are concerns of data theft when
uploading an identification card to access a site.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE responded that everyone puts their data
into websites all the time. She stressed that privacy is
important to her, so a provision was written in the bill that
disallows a company verifying user ages to retain the data; they
will be subject to civil liability if data is retained.
REPRESENTATIVE CARRICK asked for a list of companies that do
online age verification services, as well as how other states
that approved similar laws go about contracting with the
services.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE answered that she couldn't answer what
companies do this services, but advised that the state would not
be involved in the setting up of age verification, as that would
be the website's responsibility.
4:44:12 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked how age verification would work in
practice, and how fraud could be avoided.
MR. BALLINGER answered that Louisiana, for example, contracted
with an age verification service provider to create a portal.
He offered to follow up with a list of such providers and noted
that there are about 10 of them. He pointed out that PornHub
pulled out of North Carolina and Arkansas.
4:46:06 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS said there are many companies that collect
data, and that the current language in HB 254 would not endanger
Alaskans' private information any more than online companies
already harvest themselves.
4:46:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS stressed that exploitation of minors is
bad. He asked whether the right to remove material for minors
who are subjected to "revenge porn" should be added to the bill.
He further asked about the possibility of broader action against
Internet exploitation of minors, like facial recognition.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE commented that her staff is looking into
artificial intelligence (AI) exploitation. She said she is open
to ideas on what can be done.
4:48:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER stated, "This is an area that's ripe for
broad legislative action." He asked about page 1 and 2,
regarding the violators who retain the personal data, and what
liability they would be under.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE answered civil liability; this allows an
individual, who was harmed by the publishers of the site, be
able to prove to the courts how it harmed them. She said civil
liability poses a higher threat to large companies than criminal
liability.
4:50:27 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CARRICK commented that the potential for identity
theft is a concern of hers. She pointed to page 3, Section 5
and said the bill defines "pornography" as something that is of
"prurient interest". She explained that, federally speaking,
the term is broad. She pointed to Section 7 and said that it
would be difficult determining what on a website is a
"substantial portion", or one-third of the total material,
containing pornography; there's room for interpretation. She
said that the bill could be broadly defined to include websites
other than just PornHub, like Netflix. She commented that
requiring Alaskans to provide their ID when accessing sites,
like Netflix, would be a major violation of privacy. She noted
that Montana, a state which has passed a law like HB 254, is
already being bypassed by people switching their virtual private
network location to show they are in another state. She thanked
the bill sponsor for bringing the bill forward but conveyed that
it may not solve the issue.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE responded that the purpose of HB 254 is to
protect children from harm from content on the Internet.
4:55:13 PM
CHAIR SUMNER announced that HB 254 was held over.