Legislative Update: 3.13.23
Age Verification Bills
The biggest news since our last update is that Florida introduced HB 472, a Louisiana copycat bill. If you live or work in Florida, take action!
FSC also submitted a position letter to the California Assembly’s Judiciary Committee and Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee detailing why AB 1501 is a terrible bill that should not make it out of committee.
Other states made their AVS bills a priority as their 2023 legislative sessions wound down:
Utah’s SB 287 passed. The final step will be for the Governor to sign the bill.
Both HB 1315 and SB 2346 passed in Mississippi despite being slightly different takes on the exact same subject.
Arkansas’ SB 66 passed both committees and is now awaiting a vote by the full House to pass.
Arizona’s SB 1503 got a significant overhaul to become a Louisiana copycat before passing the Senate.
Iowa joined the party, introducing HF 489.
South Carolina added device filtering bill: S 591
The Texas House introduced 2 additional AVS bills for some reason: 3585 and 3570.
Pleasure Products & Retail Bills
In Kentucky, SB 115 had begun as a zoning restriction. On March 10, the entire text of the bill was swapped out for a ban on kids attending drag shows.
Our Issues in the News
A couple of articles from the last two weeks that directly relate to issues our industry currently faces.
Age Verification Mandates Would Undermine Anonymity Online
Our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation rightly point out why requiring age verification to use the internet is a terrible idea.
State Legislatures Threaten Right to Anonymous Speech
Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the U.S. Naval Academy, Jeff Kosseff, argues that being forced to show ID to use platforms undermines the First Amendment.
